Challenging journey in a highly supportive ecosystem. What does it take to build an innovation-first entrepreneurial venture in Canberra?
We wanted to learn from those who have been on this journey for some time. Not just the early-stage founders or people with ideas, but businesses that have customers, revenue or attracted investments to scale their ventures to national and international markets.
That is why we asked a wide range of innovation companies and participants in the Canberra Innovation Network’s Scale Up Leaders and SME Business Accelerator programs a simple question: What are you most proud of in your business, and what is it like to build that business from here?
The responses were insightful, personal, honest and powerful. Founders spoke of global ambition, local connection, and the gritty realities of trying to build and scale an innovative business in a small yet highly connected city.
Here is what we learned — the harsh, the good, and the great — directly from the voices of founders and leaders shaping Canberra’s entrepreneurial scene.
The Challenge: Isolation that tests your patience in a compact ecosystem
Let’s start with what’s hard.
While this was mentioned by a smaller number of people within our sample, there is no hiding from the fact that Canberra is a small market that is a bit distant from the major centers of economic gravity in the southern hemisphere. Especially for entrepreneurs working in niche industries or highly specialised fields, the small size of the ecosystem can feel limiting. “Mostly feeling lonely,” one founder shared, “as we have very few similar founders at the same stage as me.”
Access to capital and market opportunity can also be a challenge. It’s not like investors and customers are knocking on your door. You often need to look for capital and customers nationally or overseas.
The customers we do have in Canberra, have their specific purchasing patterns and selling to them is neither easy nor fast. “Pretty challenging, long sales cycle with Government,” one founder observed, citing multi-year efforts even with ready solutions. And smaller players, particularly in fields like information and communications technology, reported that informal vetting based on staff size and turnover means that procurement processes may favour larger, more established firms— even if a local company can offer more innovative or bespoke solutions.
Growth can also pull companies outward. As founders scale, manufacturing, specialised hiring, or capital needs push them to expand interstate or overseas. Yet many we spoke with remain strongly committed to Canberra referring to it as their “spiritual and intellectual home.”
The Good: World-class Connectedness
And yet — it’s this dense, connected environment where most innovation company founders find Canberra’s ecosystem biggest advantage.
While they may sometimes feel alone at the cutting edge in their fields, they also consistently describe the ecosystem as profoundly connected, collaborative, and supportive.
The Canberra Innovation Network (CBRIN) was repeatedly mentioned as the key catalyst for this connectedness. One founder captured it as:
“You might be the only person doing your specific thing — but you are never far from someone who wants to help you do it.”
In our SME Accelerator survey, companies spoke of finding critical hires, new clients, and long-term collaborators through CBRIN’s programs and events. One founder told us they received an introduction on the second day to the biggest asset they needed to grow — a software engineer they found in the same room!
Others reflected on the quality of the connections, describing the programs as places “where like-minded entrepreneurs come together.” One participant said:
“Without CBRIN, it would be much harder to connect with others on similar journeys.”
For many, the value extended far beyond a single workshop or session. Founders spoke of long-term networks, lasting mentoring relationships, and critical refinements to their business models that were inspired through participation.
The Great: World-Class Achievements, Born in Canberra
Despite the challenges — and perhaps because of the connected support — the achievements of Canberra’s entrepreneurs are impressive.
Several companies reported significant headcount growth following participation in accelerator programs — doubling their staff numbers and in one case growing from 40 to 100 employees after the accelerator. Others described major pivots, new market wins, and early international scaling sparked by new clarity around strategy and brand positioning.
From launching fully sovereign manufacturing capabilities that deliver rapid prototyping and production to support Defence and critical national infrastructure to becoming global market leaders in their fields, from onboarding nearly a million users onto global platforms to securing significant new client bases, the achievements these founders were proud of confirm that ambitious innovative ideas can be turned to nationally and globally relevant commercial realities from Canberra.
And we are impressed that respondents also care about the impact they are making through their solutions, services and infrastructure: Biggest achievement? Building systems that, while profitable, deliver services that improve opportunities in developing nations.
One deep-tech funder reflected:
“Looking back to six years ago, it seems like getting to where we are now, early scaling of our international sales, being the global market leader in our field and being courted by multinational partners, was a ridiculous fantasy. Yet here we are.”
One founder summed up the city’s appeal as:
“Canberra has everything a business needs — a vibrant, highly connected ecosystem, smart, talented people, and above all, a beautiful lifestyle in a city where you can both live and grow.”
Another female founder pointed to Canberra’s growing sophistication, saying:
“Business in Canberra is very diverse and working with CBRIN exposes you to that range of businesses and individuals. There’s more happening here than you think!”
We agree. Any business in Canberra can participate in and benefit from introducing innovation mindset to drive their future growth. You can benefit from connecting to the network and find your mentors, experts, peers, investors, new hires and inspiring people who can help your business move forward.
What is the Canberra Innovation Network and how can you engage?
Canberra Innovation Network links businesses and entrepreneurs to services, facilities and stakeholders that accelerate their innovation and growth. CBRIN promotes a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the ACT and takes a central role in growing the innovation ecosystem and building individual and corporate capability.
If you run a small business in Canberra and want to learn how CBRIN can help, do not hesitate to join the next cohort of the SME Business accelerator held on 28 May 2025.
https://cbrin.com.au/programs/business-accelerator
