Startup Breakfast Club: Getting Started with Your Startup

Good startup ideas can be easy to come up with, but executing them well is considerably harder. This is why getting the guidance and support you need early on in your entrepreneurship journey is crucial. At this first Startup Breakfast Club of 2021, we are kicking-off with the most fundamental topic: How to get started with your startup. First off, our very own Jacob Varghese will cover how to put your ideas into a concrete one-page business plan called the Lean Canvas. This framework will help you understand the fundamentals of your business including your customers, problems, solutions, etc.

Next up, we will have our Chief Awesome Officer, Marian Johson, talk about how you can validate your business idea with potential customers. Rigorous and disciplined customer validation ensures that customers’ needs exist and the product/service that you build will meet those needs. Not doing appropriate validation (or not listening to the results!!!) are one of the most common startup mistakes so… Let us help you make sure not to make them!

As always, there will be free-flowing coffee along with tasty bacon slider breakfasts; and plenty of lessons to be shared. So make sure you book your tickets, come along to learn and network with your startup community.

Get tickets

Meet your speakers

Jacob Varghese
Head of Innovation @Ministry of Awesome

Jacob manages our accelerator and corporate innovation programmes. He was an investment banker before joining MoA and has been with us for three years playing a key role in founding Te Ōhaka. He loves to work with young entrepreneurs and new businesses specifically supporting them in their investment readiness and R&D. From 2021 he will also be teaching Innovation and Business in Ara’s Enterprise and Digital Innovation Department.

Marian Johnson
Chief Awesome Officer @Ministry of Awesome

Marian Johnson is Chief Awesome Officer at Ministry of Awesome. She is an experienced senior executive with 20 years experience developing and executing marketing and business growth strategies for software and edutech startups in NZ as well as with entertainment multinationals Universal Studios and Discovery Networks in the US and Europe. She is passionate about the startup and innovation ecosystem in Canterbury and committed to its ongoing success.

About Startup Breakfast Club

Ministry of Awesome’s Startup Breakfast Club – powered by MYOB – is your monthly morning caffeine hit where you’ll find valuable social networks, gain business insight, and find the critical support you need to power your venture forward.

Startup Breakfast Club is sponsored by MYOB. Access all the accounting features that startups need, all in one place for just $5 p/m.