Meet Jamie Pride, serial entrepreneur and Chief Entrepreneur in Residence at the WSU
Lithgow District Chamber of Commerce is exploring new ways to diversify Lithgow’s economic base. It wants to encourage enterprise in the region and to develop a culture of innovative business entrepreneurship.
To inspire this kind of activity in the region, the Chamber has developed a Start Ups program, which involves an initial information session to be held on 24 March and then a series of monthly mentoring workshops.
The Chamber is delighted to announce that Jamie Pride will be a key speaker at the 24 March event.
Jamie, a self-described ‘serial entrepreneur’, venture capitalist, author, speaker and mentor is Chief Entrepreneur in Residence at the successful Launch Pad initiative run by the Western Sydney University (WSU). Launch Pad has been running two successful start-up hubs in Parramatta and Penrith and is now looking to create a similar type of hub at the Lithgow Transformation Hub.
Jamie’s founded more than six technology start-ups and raised more than $60 million in funding. But Jamie is no stranger to failure either. This inspired him to write the 2018 book called Unicorn Tears: Why Startups Fail & How To Avoid It. The book was an effort to coach budding entrepreneurs through the highs and lows of business success and failure.
Jamie writes, “Being resilient and having the capacity to deal with stress are very important factors in business longevity and success”. For Jamie one of the keys to developing resilience is to be part of a supportive network. This is exactly what WSU is working towards creating at the Maldhan Ngurr Ngurra Lithgow Transformation Hub, and the Chamber is in full support of its mission.
Jamie will talk about how to stay resilient through the ups and downs of starting up and he’ll encourage new start ups to become a part of a peer support group to assist them along their new business journey. He will also be giving an overview of Launch Pad’s entry program ‘Pre-flight’. ‘Pre-flight’ is an intensive two-day course designed to develop resilient founders and equip them with the skills and entrepreneurial capabilities to grow as a start-up founder. The next planned intake for ‘Pre-flight’ is around mid 2022.
The Start Ups Information Session on the 24 March will give participants –
- An opportunity to meet and talk to experienced business experts and successful entrepreneurs
- An understanding of what funding and business support is available to them
- A place to discuss their idea
- The possibility to enrol in a monthly workshop program or the WSU’s Pre-flight course where participants can be mentored through their start up journey
