Morning Startup - Perth

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.

Morning Startup is a fortnightly meetup for WA startups, founders and entrepreneurs to help inspire and support entrepreneurship in WA. We're run by founders, for founders and our meetups are 100% free! Come along and connect with the WA startup community!

The details of this specific meetup are yet to be confirmed, but rest assured, if you're a WA startup, you'll walk away with new knowledge, connections, and start the day inspired!

Agenda:

• 7:30 am: Shameless plugs and announcements. Introduce yourself or announce your startup to the Perth startup community!
• 7:45 am: An awesome startup related talk, panel or pitch practice session!
• 8:30 am: Networking & delicious breakfast treats
• 9:00 am: Finish

Calling all startup founders!

On the first Wednesday of each month, let's get together for a tasty beverage or two, celebrate and/or commiserate the month that was, and share plans and ideas for the month yet to be!

You might even meet your future Co-founder, Engineering Lead, or Senior Vice President of Vibes & Alignment.

As Elon Musk could have once said, "All my success is due to drinking with other startup founders as often as possible".

This is a very casual, monthly, after-work event, in addition to our fortnightly Morning Startup meetups at Spacecubed. So if you're not a morning person, this is for you!

There will be no speakers or formalities. Just a bunch of startups, in a pub, having fun, and learning from each other.

Pizza will be provided courtesy of our amazing Morning Startup sponsors (see below), but make sure you save up ahead of time to cover the cost of your own exotic cocktails and Perth-priced-drinks.

To find us, ask the bar staff for the Founder Sundowner table and they'll point you in the right direction.

Look forward to seeing you there!

Get around our amazing sponsors!

Morning Startup is a fortnightly meetup for WA startups, founders and entrepreneurs to help inspire and support entrepreneurship in WA. We're run by founders, for founders and our meetups are 100% free! Come along and connect with the WA startup community!

The details of this specific meetup are yet to be confirmed, but rest assured, if you're a WA startup, you'll walk away with new knowledge, connections, and start the day inspired!

Agenda:

• 7:30 am: Shameless plugs and announcements. Introduce yourself or announce your startup to the Perth startup community!
• 7:45 am: An awesome startup related talk, panel or pitch practice session!
• 8:30 am: Networking & delicious breakfast treats
• 9:00 am: Finish