Startup: Scale up or Wind down? A life changing fork in the road.

As a founder, what's your next move? How do you weigh up your options? Is there even life after winding up your first startup? It's a seminal moment in the career of every entrepreneur and a decision point that is too often equated to failure or the end of said entrepreneurial career. It's neither failure nor "the end" but it is scary. For this Startup Leadership event, we've convened a panel of entrepreneurs who have successfully navigated this milestone, to share their insights. Building a startup takes commitment. Commitment to your vision. Commitment to the problem you're solving. Commitment to yourself, your family and friends as well as your team. Persisting every day with the scepticism and the seemingly endless rejections. Experimenting and iterating, to gain some kind of traction in what you offer and your vision. Day after day battling the doubters. Sometimes you wonder if you're deluded or if it's like Steve Jobs' "Reality Distortion Field"? How do you even know as a Founder when you're at that crucial fork in the road? Where one path is persistence and more commitment toward a diminishing chance of success. The other path is closing down your current startup and moving on to something else. When you're at that fork, how can choose the better path confidently?  Join us for Q&A with our panel of experienced founders: Michelle Mannering Coming from both a Science and Arts background at the University of Melbourne, Michelle has spent the past two years in Melbourne’s entrepreneurial landscape. Running a multitude of events around innovation, technology, science, the arts, and entrepreneurship gave her great insights into the professional culture of Melbourne. Not only has she co-founded a company, Michelle is heavily involved in the startup community from running hackathons to MCing, speaking, and facilitating a range of events. She’s currently working with Melbourne-based company BajaBoard. Marie Ng Marie has founded and led 3 internet startups, and a mobile app development agency in NYC. With over 12 years of experience in product management and advertising in New York, London and Melbourne, Marie now leads the growth and innovation teams in Bupa, Australia. Nathan Gunn Nathan loves being an entrepreneur and if you're anything like him, you are also excited, from the time you wake up, about working on your idea/ business. What gets him really excited is programming and what it enables us to do. In particular taking a process that is long, laborious, or convoluted and complicated and simplifying it down. Using programming to make our lives simpler and easier. Work smart, not hard is one of his key mottos. Right now he’s venturing into the HR world, bringing a little disruption to an area that for years has been stuck in a neglected technological backwater. It's time we made things easier for not only employers but also employees. Agenda 6:00 Networking 6:30 Welcome 6:40 Panel Discussion + Q & A 7:20 Overview of the Startup Leadership Program (going in MEL since 2012) 7:30 Networking with drinks and canapés & Closing Startup Leadership Startup Leadership is a selective, General Management program for founders who have achieved a degree of traction and validation of a service or product and are now looking to make the next step as a business leader and to scale their business. Running globally since 2007 and in Australia since 2012, more than 80 founders have been through the Melbourne program so far. We are currently taking applications here for the next cohort and we will provide an overview of the program on the night straight after the panel.