Our Story
It may be cliche to say that a business idea started on the golf course, but in the case of Slingshot - it really did.
Craig Lambert, Co-founder of Slingshot, left his career at Yahoo to begin a career in sport and also invest in tech companies. After five years, Craig began to again crave change and during a discussion about “what’s next”, Craig was introduced to Trent Bagnall by a mutual friend during a round of golf. Trent had recently sold a technology company that he’d spend 15 years building and was also looking for a new opportunity.
After meeting and realising they shared a similar vision to contribute to the Startup space, Trent and Craig went to Silicon Valley to explore options. It was there that they uncovered the true benefit of the accelerator model and the success seen by businesses who had spun out of accelerator programs. The likes of AirBNB and Dropbox were two such successes.
With a clarity of purpose to help startups gain traction and drive corporate growth - through accelerator programs - the two returned to Australia and began working with a cohort of Universities and businesses including PWC. Through that connection they were often invited to help Corporates think more like Startups because Corporates were starting to understand the benefits of operating at a faster, more agile pace as well as being able to spin out new ideas.
The Slingshot business as it exists today, is the result of one such invitation from NRMA, where Craig and Trent suggested an accelerator would be of greater benefit than a few hours of “thinking like a Startup”, which generally saw the well-intentioned Corporate return to business as usual. NRMA, through an accelerator, could learn from Startups, have the chance to change their culture and adopt new ideas from an immersive accelerator experience. A progressive chairman agreed, and the NRMA Accelerator began.
Slingshot have since run over 20 accelerator programs and has been able to connect countless Corporates with Startups. By doing so, Corporates have been brought into the Startup ecosystem and Startups have been able to gain access to funding, customers and distribution to help the scale to success.
Slingshot now employs over 15 people, with Karen Lawson as CEO pushing the Corporate innovation agenda. A Slingshot Corporate Accelerator means quality ideas from high calibre Startups and for Startups access to Corporates to drive growth.
Find out more about a Slingshot Accelerator here.
