Are you interested in visiting Silicon Valley? Or learning about the startup scenes in London, Berline, Israel or Asia? Founded in 2014 by Steve Baxter (Shark Tank, investor), Startup Catalyst takes groups of youths, startups, investors, corporates, and innovation leaders to international startup hotspots including Silicon Valley, Europe, Israel, and Asia with the goal of transforming the startup and innovation landscape in Australia. Their flagship program is the Youth Mission, where every year they take twenty young (18-29) tech-savvy, high-achieving Australians on a fully-sponsored two-week mission to Silicon Valley. Applications are invited from around Australia, and are selected for their potential to be Australia’s next batch of globally successful tech entrepreneurs. Over the past 2 years they have taken 40 youths on these missions. During the Mission the participants spend considerable time with tech giants including Facebook, Google, and Apple, plus a range of startups, investors, and accelerator programs, and also participate in a Startup Weekend where they form teams and work alongside local Silicon Valley residents. The next Youth Mission is scheduled for 13-25 November 2016. Online applications are currently open until 9 October 2016, from which shortlisted applicants will be interviewed. They are looking for 20 technically-skilled (software, UI/UX design, mechatronics, robotics, etc) youths (18-29) who have demonstrated leadership potential and an interest in entrepreneurship. The CEO of Startup Catalyst is in Perth to deliver this session. Aaron is also an Entrepreneur In Residence for the muru-D accelerator program in Brisbane, an angel investor, and a startup founder, with four successful exits.

If you read the title of this event and thought "WTF is a business plan, when would I bother writing one & where do I start?" this is the session for you. We will address: - the purpose of a business plan - understanding your audence & the questions they will have about your idea - how to answer those questions on paper ABOUT OUR FACILITATOR - NICK MAISEY Nick Maisey, Founder & Director at Befriend Inc founded Perth-based social enterprise Befriend Inc. in 2010 when he received an email from a fellow student looking for a friend. The student's honesty fascinated Nick and he began to research the problem of social disconnectedness in Australian. Realising that no one was facilitaing this gap Nick stepped in with Befriend Inc.  Befriend is now a Perth based not-for-profit organisation sparking an inclusive, connected world. They are now a community of more than 4,500 people from diverse backgrounds and all walks of life and host up to 25 social events per month!  ABOUT THE BIG IDEA You can also watch a webinar in this topic presented by Danya Sterling, Manager - Education Enterprises, The Big Issue. http://thebigidea.org.au/upcoming-sessions/.  Use the code "student2016" for access. ABOUT BLOOM: Bloom is a community of young people creating amazing things. We provide workshops, co-working space, mentoring and more to accelerate the growth of high-potential young entrepreneurs. Thanks to our partners for making this all possible! -Foundation Partner: St Catherine's College, UWA  -Gold Partner: The University of Western Australia  -Legal Partner: Squire Patton Boggs  Find out more at our website: http://www.bloom.org.au/

Tap the app, get a ride. Get behind the wheel as Derk Zomer joins us at the BloomLab to talk about the million-dollar mobile app that is operating in 487 cities worldwide and expanding.  Derk will talk about: - Passenger Service - What else does Uber do - UberEATS is coming to Perth There will be an opportunity for audience Q&A. ★Reserve your seat here: http://tdy.cl/e/IQbk4KY★ This is a FREE Bloom event. Spaces strictly limited. ABOUT DERK ZOMER Derk is a front-runner in the start-up industry; recipient of the 2014 Centre for Social Impact Scholarship and Founder of the not-for-profit charity, Mates on a Mission. Derk has a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance and Economics) and an MBA Graduate Certificate in Social Impact from UWA. He is recognised as a Global Shaper by the World Economic Forum. Through Mates on a Mission he and his team provide soccer lessons to over 200 young people and computer literacy lessons to more than 300 women annually in Uganda with seed capital of under $10 000. Derk currently works in Operations for Uber Technologies, an organisation known for their cutting edge technology in a sharing economy. They provide safe and affordable transportation options for users and flexible working arrangements to millions of providers around the world.  ================================================ ABOUT BLOOM: Bloom is a community of young people creating amazing things. We provide workshops, co-working space, mentoring and more to accelerate the growth of high-potential young entrepreneurs. Thanks to our partners for making this all possible! -Foundation Partner: St Catherine's College, UWA -Gold Partner: The University of Western Australia -Legal Partner: Squire Patton Boggs Find out more at our website: http://bloom.org.au/

Want to see what our entrepreneurs are up to? Bloom welcomes you to the BloomLab at St Catherine's College to hear some of our young entrepreneurs share their world-changing ideas, support up-and-coming Perth startups and meet people in the Bloom community. Entry fee is just $10 and we'll give this money to the best pitcher on the night as voted by you! We'll provide some food and drinks will be available for purchase too. We have limited capacity, so get your ticket now! ★ Get your ticket here: http://tdy.cl/e/3cGb3bY ★ WANNA PITCH? If you have an idea, prototype or business and want to take it further with Bloom's support, this is your opportunity! Potential co-founders, interns, partners and investors will all be in the room and you could win a prize for the best pitch. If you've never pitched before it can be a bit difficult to know where to get started. This slide deck template from Pollenizer will definitely help you out: http://bit.ly/2aF5s5q or you can contact Alex at alexandra@bloom.org.au for more advice. ★ Sign up to pitch here: http://bit.ly/2aCrVmu ★ ================================================ ABOUT BLOOM: Bloom is a community of young people creating amazing things. We provide workshops, co-working space, mentoring and more to accelerate the growth of high-potential young entrepreneurs. Thanks to our partners for making this all possible! -Foundation Partner: St Catherine's College, UWA -Gold Partner: The University of Western Australia -Legal Partner: Squire Patton Boggs Find out more at our website: http://bloom.org.au/  

When you have a world changing idea writing a budget can sound dry and scary, but we have found the perfect person to walk you through it! After studying Accounting and Entrepreneurship at Curtin, Kathleen Burton has done a pretty good job at avoiding the accounting world. However, It is a skill base that has been very handy during her non-profit and social enterprise career, skills that have seen her work in roles planning, launching and managing social enterprises in Perth and Canada. Kathleen is currently the Social Enterprise Development Manager at superstar organisation Befriend Inc, developing programs that make Perth a more inclusive and better connected place to live. In her spare time she sits on the management committee at Perth City Farm, specifically working on growing their enterprise activities. In her other spare time she enjoys reconciling and modifying her personal budget on a weekly basis. ABOUT THE BIG IDEA You can also watch a webinar in this topic presented by Damian Atkins, Chief Financial Officer, The Big Issue: http://thebigidea.org.au/upcoming-sessions/. Use the code "student2016" for access.

"If you can't explain it simply then you don't understand it well enough." - Albert Einstein  This coming Tuesday, Bloom mentor Cam Sinclair, an experienced business marketing and political campaign professional, with highly developed communication, technical and sales abilities will be running a pitching workshop out of the Bloom Lab.  Help prepare for the monthly 'Bloom Pitching Night' or just work on your pitching skills. Places are limited.

"Imagine living in a world where your local community is unified by a social purpose – companies, nonprofits and government work together to pool their resources to tackle city-specific issues." - Jeffery Effendi Incorporating your business's social purpose is an important way to attract your customer base. Attend this session to hear from Jeffery Effendi, Co-founder of DrawHistory about his experience working with enterprises locally and internationally and start to develop your own marketing strategy for your big idea.

Wondering how you can increase the impact of your research? Or maybe you're considering doing further research and are curious about the commercial opportunities which exist? Join an all-star panel to discuss: ● Can my research be commercialised with industry? ● How many people have done this before and what were the lesson learnt? ● Am I allowed to start up a business with the research I did for my postgraduate degree?  ● Where can I seek for advice and support? The panel will be facilitated by Shannon Ziegelaar (COO of Bloom). She will be joined by: ● Dr Peter Santa Maria director at SPARK Co-Lab ● Carolyn Williams CEO of the The Centre for Entrepreneurial Research and Innovation (CERI)  ● Dr Tom Hammond from the Curtin IP commercialisation team Christian Ford will also be giving a short 5 minute presentation at the start of the event on Curtin's CISCO internet of everything innovation centre and how they are connecting Curtin university researchers with businesses and industry leaders to research further and find solutions to social & business problems. Limited spots available, please RSVP as soon as possible!

Same job for most of your life, long service leave, gold rolex on retirement? No Chance. FYA’s research report series New Work Order shows we’re facing the biggest disruption to the world of work since the industrial revolution. • More than 50% of the workforce are in jobs that will be affected by automation • Nearly 60% of students are currently studying for occupations may not exist in the future • A 15 year old today will work at least 17 jobs across 5 industries Employers are demanding enterprising skills, which are considered as equally as important as role specific technical skills. But at the same time evidence highlights that young people aren’t equipped with the skills required for our new economy. Studying at Uni? At the start of your career? Working casual jobs until you have that ‘aha’ moment? Come along to understand the facts from thought-leader Jan Owen AM – The CEO of the Foundation for Young Australians. Be part of a dynamic conversation on how to combat those challenges, and take advantage of the opportunities of the new work order and be future proof. To be released – a number of incredible young people will be joining Jan on stage as part of a panel to discuss the new work order, the importance of entrepreneurship and building enterprise skills. Stay tuned! ABOUT BLOOM: Bloom is a community of young people creating amazing things. We provide workshops, co-working space, mentoring and more to accelerate the growth of high-potential young entrepreneurs. Thanks to our partners for making this all possible! -Foundation Partner: St Catherine's College, UWA -Gold Partner: The University of Western Australia -Legal Partner: Squire Patton Boggs Find out more at our website: http://bloom.org.au/

Understanding your market is important.  A project is more likely to work when you have buy-in from all important stakeholders and you can direct your energy to reaching your early adopters.  This session will have three parts: 1) A webinar with Rewan Weerasooriya, Founder of Rewardle. 2) A hands on example of market reserach in practice lead by Alastair Parker, co-founder of Cultured. 3) An opportunity to develop your own market research strategy.

Do you think you have the next "Big Idea" for a social enterprise?  At this week's workshop we will start to develop the business model around your "Big Idea" using a Lean Canvas.  You should come if: ☀️ You are in a team entering The Big Idea competition ☀️ You are an individual looking for a team for The Big Idea Competition ☀️ You would like to apply a Lean Canavs to a social enterprise you are working on. You don't need to be a UWA student or entering the competition to attend. If you are a UWA Undergraduate Student you can sign up for The Big Idea here: http://www.business.uwa.edu.au/school/csi/education/undergraduate/the-big-idea The Big Idea is brought to you through a collaboration between The Centre For Social Impact, The McCusker Centre for Citizenship, UWA Innovation Quarter and Bloom. 

Websites! In today's increasingly online community, they are an essential part of any entrepreneur/businesses marketing toolkit. It's very often the case that when bootstrapping your own business, you want to get the word out there and build a website without spending thousands of web design companies. Well with today's workshop, you'll be well on your way to creating your own websites from only $50/year. For 1 hour on Monday afternoon, we will be running an interactive workshop on Squarespace where you'll learn how to; - Get a 50% student discount on their web hosting - Create a basic landing page for a personal page - Create a number of different pages and link them together - Add images, calendars and interactive sections to your pages to make it stick out. - Discuss Search Engine Optimisation and Metrics. This event is free to anyone interested and just requires your attendance and a laptop so you can join in.  We hope to see you at the event!   ABOUT BLOOM: Bloom is a community of young people creating amazing things. We provide workshops, co-working space, mentoring and more to accelerate the growth of high-potential young entrepreneurs.   Thanks to our partners for making this all possible! -Foundation Partner: St Catherine's College, UWA -Gold Partner: The University of Western Australia -Legal Partner: Squire Patton Boggs   Find out more at our website: http://bloom.org.au/