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At Startmate, mentors and alumni have always been our unfair advantage.
They’re the operators, founders, and investors who’ve been in the trenches, the ones who know that early-stage building is messy, fast, and full of competing priorities.
In 2025, we’re doubling down on the mentor value prop for the Accelerator.
Introducing Startmate Founder Streams
For the first time, every founder in the Startmate Accelerator will be matched with a dedicated Founder Stream Lead, an experienced founder who’s lived the journey themselves.
It’s not one-size-fits-all advice; it’s mentorship that meets founders where they are, with guidance specific to their business model, stage, and sector.
Whether you’re chasing AI, B2B, consumer growth, or hardware milestones, your Stream Lead is there to cut through the noise and help you focus on what really matters.
We have four streams, designed to give founders targeted, high-impact mentorship:
AI Stream with Google, Microsoft, Canva, Leonardo.ai and Build Club
The AI stream is supported by a whole suite of expert mentors to give the right support at the right time to the right founder. The mentors leaning in are Google Chief Technologist, Natalie Piucco, Canva’s Head of AI, Danny Wu, Microsoft’s Monique Alvis from an AI UX angle, Leonardo.ai’s Riccardo Grinover on all things AI product development and Build Club’s founder Annie Liao.
B2B Stream with Geoff McQueen
Geoff bootstrapped Accelo (professional services automation platform) to over $1M in ARR, then flipped the business to the US and scaled it to $14M ARR and profitability. He raised $15M, grew the team globally, and ultimately exited in an all-cash PE deal.
Consumer Stream with SJ Kurtini
Sarah-Jane founded a family photo-sharing platform, Tinybeans. She bootstrapped Tinybeans from a 2-person startup to an ASX-listed company, moving the HQ from Sydney to the US. Sarah-Jane now spends her time coaching early-stage founders on positioning and messaging.
Hardware Stream with Tom McLeod
Tom built and exited a B2B SaaS company, and has since invested in 50+ early-stage startups (focus on deeptech), many of which have gone on to raise $100M+. He serves as a Venture Partner at Black Nova Venture Capital and University of Melbourne while also acting as an Executive Director at i14 (recently raised $4M Seed to build novel generative AI architecture).
Why we’re doing this
In the chaos of early-stage building, it’s easy to get pulled in a hundred directions. That’s why we’ve introduced streams led by former founders. They work side by side with founders every week to set ambitious goals, de-risk assumptions, pressure-test strategies, and keep founders laser-focused on progress that compounds.
Each stream lead brings hard-won experience; they’ve bootstrapped, fundraised, scaled, and exited. They’ve made the tough calls and know exactly how to help founders navigate them.
This structure makes the Startmate Accelerator more personalised, more practical, and more powerful than ever.
Designed for impact
Across 12 weeks, founders meet weekly with their stream leads and peers, building momentum together. These sessions combine targeted mentorship with peer learning; founders share what’s working, swap tactics, and hold each other accountable.
Because the best guidance doesn’t come from theory. It comes from people who’ve done it before.
