Startup Community readying for national roll-out

Online network Startup Community is rolling out nationally this month and seeking start-up operators to develop the community into a national hub.

The listings currently carry summaries and contact details for a range of start-ups, co-working spaces, accelerators and incubators and investors. These can also be viewed as a map.

Peter Argent, the founder of Startup Community, told StartupSmart he started the group in February to bring the Sydney start-up scene together.

“One of the ideas I had for the Sydney start-up scene is there were a lot of people out there doing cool stuff, but there was no place to see what everyone else was doing,” Argent says.

“I also kept seeing requests for lawyers and accountants who got start-ups, and wanted to make a place to help start-ups find these guys.”

The platform now has over 100 listings. It has grown organically, and Argent intends to continue to this approach to developing the community.

“At the beginning, I sent it out to people I did know in the community, and that kicked it off quite well,” Argent says. “It can go national right now. I’m adding a few more features this week, and from Monday I’ll drop all the reference to Sydney and replace them with Australia.”

Argent says once he’s added the new features, he intends to make the code open source so the model can be easily duplicated in other countries.

“The aim has always been to grow the tech community that’s here. It’s another piece in the puzzle to help kick off a really big tech ecosystem in Australia,” Argent says.

“The Sydney scene has been growing in the last year quite dramatically with all the conferences and the meet-up groups. The community is always positive and supportive.”

For Argent, the project is more a hobby than a business plan. He doesn’t intend to monetise it, but is looking forward to seeing it grow.

“We might hit a critical mass as we roll out, and then who knows where it could take us all,” Argent says.