How to Make a Difference in the World: A Talk with the Founder Catalyst Programme Director of the Ministry of Awesome

The Ministry of Awesome is a New Zealand-based organization that supports startups and innovators. They offer a range of programs, including mentorship, networking, and funding. The organization is committed to helping New Zealand startups succeed and build a stronger economy. It offers various programs, events, and resources to help individuals and startups turn their ideas into successful ventures. The Founder Catalyst Programme is an incubator program that helps founders develop the skills and knowledge they need to grow and scale their startups. With that, why don’t you join me in learning more about the Ministry of Awesome with its Founder Catalyst Programme Director, Jeffrey Ling.

What is the Ministry of Awesome and what services does it offer? 

The Ministry of Awesome has been around for more than 10 years. Initially, we were more to do with the post-earthquake city revitalization efforts. However, about five years ago, we pivoted to be completely focused on high growth startups in New Zealand. Also, we were initially serving Christchurch-based startups, but now are present nationwide. If you are a startup, whether you're bootstrapping or have raised your first round, and as long as you demonstrate the ability to have high growth potential, then we're more than happy to provide not only a space to work from, but also a program that caters to everything that you will need as a founder for your startup. We have incubation and accelerator programs, and host a lot of other events as well. We are proud to be the go-to startup hub in New Zealand.

Can you tell us about the role and objectives of the Founder Catalyst Programme within the Ministry of Awesome?

The Founder Catalyst Program is the name of our incubation program, but don’t let the word ‘incubation’ fool you about what we are actually capable of. It's a nine month long rolling intake program, soon to be revamped to become a six month long  quarterly cohort program. We have an extensive mentorship component and we are able to offer a lot of startup perks courtesy of our industry partners. We connect our fundraising founders with a substantial number of investors both locally and abroad. Upon acceptance into the program, we meet with the founders to work out their needs, wants, and goals. After we have done a thorough diagnostic of the founders and their startup, we then determine what would be the best way to help these founders. I often tell the founders that the best way to describe the Founder Catalyst program is that we are an incubation program that tailors the program experience to your circumstances. For example, if you are a startup ready for fundraising, we would focus extensively on fundraising for the entirety of your incubation duration. Of course, there are other startup issues that could arise throughout the duration of the program, like having co-founder issues or having troubles defining the pricing strategy. These are some of the common startup problems we deal with. It's purposely designed as a very fluid program in the sense that the objective is more about helping the founders to become commercially successful, whatever this entails. I always tell the founders, sky's the limit when it comes to what this incubator can do for them. Before we can help, the founders need to be able to articulate their issues and goals. This is why we spent a lot of time assessing the founders and their startups before having them accepted into the program.

So far, we have done 84 startups in the last two and a half years. This number is soon to reach the 100 mark by the end of June. We are able to proudly say that among those that have applied, some were able to raise more than a million New Zealand Dollars and would still want to be in the program. My job in the program is to ensure that each founder gets what they actually need to grow and scale.

What does the Founder Catalyst Programme of the Ministry of Awesome look for in a startup and what is the criteria for choosing which startups to scale?

The Ministry of Awesome is government funded. We have 2 major government agencies funding us right now. This is why an acceptance requirement is for startups to have something to do with New Zealand. That is, either you’re residing in New Zealand or at the very least, you will be able to build something that has some relevance to New Zealand. Our other requirements are more or less what you can normally expect from any other startup program out there. We prefer to work with startups that have some form of tractions and have gone beyond the ideation phase. We are industry agnostic. There is no limit as to who we can work with as long as you can demonstrate your product and/or business model to be innovative. 

Can you share some success stories or notable achievements of startups or founders who have gone through the Founder Catalyst Programme?

In the last two and a half years, we have had eight startups joining the million dollar club, meaning they were able to raise at least a million New Zealand dollars in their last round. The most successful one among them is a company called Partly, which focuses on connecting the auto parts in the world. One of the very cool features they have is to catalog the world’s auto parts to enable auto parts e-commerce. They were able to raise an equivalent of 37 million New Zealand dollars for their Series A at a 180 million New Zealand dollars valuation. That has given them a record breaking Series A raise in New Zealand history. What makes us extremely proud is that this startup is actually based in Christchurch since day one and we ]had the privilege of witnessing the growth of their team in our space for more than a year. They pivoted a few times before they stumbled across the current startup topic that led them to raise this massive amount. Success is definitely not an overnight story. Now, they're truly a global company with a new office set up in London.

Looking ahead, what are the future plans and goals for the Founder Catalyst Programme and the Ministry of Awesome as a whole? Are there any new initiatives or expansions on the horizon?

We are trying to see if we can be the most prolific startup organization to those in New Zealand and beyond. Of course, the focus will always be on New Zealand. We’re working hard to make sure that the government and the industry sectors can also understand the importance of working with global players. I am talking about one day welcoming talented founders from across the globe to come to New Zealand and do their startups here. New Zealand has so much potential to offer. We need to definitely make a better startup environment available in New Zealand for that. We have or have had programs designed to cater for different startups. Suffice to say, we are still evolving. We want to become more scalable in what we do and we are more than happy to share what we have learned so far. 

Jeffrey Ling is the Founder Catalyst Program Director of the Ministry of Awesome. As the Director of the program, Jeffrey is committed to growing and scaling startups in New Zealand to ensure that the startup ecosystem is able to reach its fullest potential. He is driven to make New Zealand a hub for foreign founders and investors and is responsible for selecting and incubating startups for the program, developing and delivering the program curriculum, and measuring the impact of the program.

Visit www.techshake.asia if you would like to know and connect more with the Ministry of Awesome.