Founder Story: How Ida Sports' Discovery Cut Costs & Raised $2.5M

In this practical session grounded in the Disciplined Entrepreneurship model, you’ll see the actual deck that raised the first $2.5 million for Ida Sports and unpack the customer discovery work that shaped it. Ben will share how early customer interviews helped Ida Sports more than halve production costs, refine their feature set, and avoid building the wrong product — reinforcing why early validation is critical for first-time founders.

Perfect for early-stage builders, this session blends theory and practice, with actionable insights you can apply immediately (and a timely lead-in to our upcoming pitch practice session).

Agenda:

• 7:30 am: Shameless plugs and announcements. Introduce yourself or announce your startup to the Perth startup community!
• 7:45 am: Founder Story: How Customer Discovery Halved Our Production Costs (Plus the $2.5M Deck)
• 8:30 am: Networking & delicious breakfast treats
• 9:00 am: Finish

About Ben Sandhu, Co-Founder - Ida Sports
Ben Sandhu is an entrepreneur, startup mentor, and program leader based in Perth, Western Australia. He works at the intersection of innovation, education, and venture creation, helping early-stage founders turn ideas into viable businesses. Ben currently designs and delivers entrepreneurship and accelerator programs at Curtin University, where he supports students, researchers, and deep-tech teams in areas such as customer discovery, traction, and commercialisation strategy.

Alongside his work in the startup ecosystem, Ben is a co-founder of Ida Sports, a women’s football boot company that has raised multi-million-dollar investment and gained international recognition for its mission to close the gender gap in sports equipment. His founder journey — spanning product development, manufacturing, fundraising, and global distribution — informs his practical, no-nonsense approach to mentoring new entrepreneurs.

Ben brings a strong blend of commercial thinking, facilitation skills, and real-world startup experience to every program he runs. He is known for making complex frameworks accessible, encouraging authentic storytelling in pitches, and helping founders focus on traction over theory. Outside of work, he is a loving father of a 1-year-old and loves his sport.

Live stream
This event will also be live-streamed by our live-stream sponsor, the amazing folks at Perth Video.

Access the live stream and all our post-event recordings here:
https://perthvideo.com.au/morning-startup-perth/

Coffee, Food and Sponsors
Tell Joey Zaza's you're heading to Morning Startup on the way in for a free coffee courtesy of Purpose Ventures, and enjoy some of their delicious breakfast treats courtesy of Everest Engineering.

And thanks to the amazing folks at Ammo Marketing and Beacham Group for keeping this meetup alive 🙏 ❤️