UTS Startups

04/09/2026

💰🌱 Can capitalism actually help save the planet?

Today at Fridays @ UTS Startups, we welcomed Adnan Rasool, Founder of SustainTrue, for a conversation that went much deeper than sustainability buzzwords.

We explored the relationship between money, meaning, technology and impact, and what it actually takes to turn good intentions into something that creates real change.

One of the big themes from the conversation was that impact does not happen simply because we care about a problem. It needs people willing to build, experiment, understand the systems around them and think seriously about where capital is being directed.

For founders, that raises an important question: what happens when commercial opportunity and positive impact are designed to work together rather than compete?

A huge thank you to Adnan for sharing his experiences across investment, superannuation, consulting and entrepreneurship, and for giving our community an inside look at the thinking behind SustainTrue. 🙌

Another great Friday of conversations, ideas and connections at UTS Startups. 🚀

Impact Innovation SydneyStartups

04/09/2026

​Can Capitalism Save the Planet?
From capital to climate. Good intentions don’t create impact. Builders do.

Money. Meaning. Technology. Impact.

Speaker background: Adnan Rasool, Founder of SustainTrue, with experience across investment, superannuation, consulting and entrepreneurship.

28/08/2026

🐨🚀 UTS Startups at Taronga Zoo!

This week, our team headed to Taronga for a site visit with Garrick from the Hatch Taronga Accelerator Program, getting a behind-the-scenes look at how the program helps eco-startups grow.

Hatch is a 14-week accelerator supporting founders with:

🌱 Mentoring and expert advice
💡 Practical entrepreneurial skills
💰 Financial support
🏢 Access to space and the Taronga ecosystem
🌏 A pathway to create real impact for wildlife and the planet

One of the biggest takeaways from the visit?

Taronga is also a pathway for founders.

Whether you are building in sustainability, conservation, climate, technology or social impact, entrepreneurship can take you into places you might not expect.

Big thanks to Garrick and the Hatch team for having us and showing us what founders can build within the Taronga ecosystem. 🤝🐾

Sustainability Conservation StartupCommunity

21/08/2026

📚✨ A huge congratulations to Nakisah Williams, UTS alumna, UTS Startups founder and the founder of Craft Club, on the successful launch of her new book, Craft Club Yarn!

We were incredibly proud to host Nakisah’s book launch at UTS Startups and celebrate another exciting milestone in her founder journey. 🧶💖

From building a creative community and growing Craft Club, to now becoming a published author, it was amazing to see our community come together to support one of our own.

Congratulations Nakisah, we can’t wait to see what comes next! 🎉🚀

SydneyStartups

18/08/2026

🚀 Another project for the portfolio, another AI skill unlocked.

Yesterday’s GDG Sydney UTS workshop at our Startups event was all about turning AI knowledge into something students could actually build and demonstrate.

Led by Brett Morgan, Developer Relations Engineer at Google Cloud, the session introduced students to AI Agent Skills using Google Antigravity.

Students explored everything from modular Agent Skills and Socratic teaching agents to multi-agent pipelines, planning workflows, reflection loops and creating their own SKILL.md. 🤖🛠️

The bigger takeaway?

AI is creating opportunities for students to move beyond simply prompting models and start thinking about how intelligent systems are designed, structured and integrated into real workflows.

For CS and software engineering students, that means new technical skills and stronger portfolio projects. 💻

For entrepreneurs, it means understanding how agents could help prototype, automate and scale ideas. 💡

For everyone else curious about where AI development is heading, events like this are a chance to get hands-on early.

A big thank you to Brett Morgan and GDG UTS for sharing the knowledge with our student community. 👏

ComputerScience DeveloperCommunity Entrepreneurship SydneyTech

14/08/2026

🎤 A great product is only part of the story. You still need to make people understand why it matters.

This Friday’s Confessions with Sarah-Jane Kurtini gave our community a masterclass in startup storytelling, pitching and positioning.

From co-founding Tinybeans and taking it all the way to the ASX, to mentoring founders and now building Pitch Slap, Sarah-Jane shared the lessons she wishes she knew earlier.

A few that stuck with us 👇

💡 Start with the problem, not the product
✂️ If your pitch feels complicated, simplify it
🧠 Back your own capability and intuition
🤖 Use AI to help your thinking, not replace it
📖 Get your story right before worrying about your slides

That’s what Fridays @ UTS Startups is about. Bringing founders, builders and curious people together to hear the stories behind the success, including the mistakes, pivots and lessons you normally don’t see online.

If you’re building something in Sydney, studying at UTS, or just curious about startups and tech, come join us at the next one. 🚀

📍 UTS Startups, Tech Central
👀 Follow us to see who’s speaking next.

14/08/2026

14/08/2026

​Every Friday afternoon, the UTS Startups Event Space comes alive with stories, pitches and conversations that showcase the energy of Sydney's startup community. Each week brings something new, from founder confessions to panel discussions, all designed to connect, inspire and spark ideas.

​This Friday, we're getting candid with Sarah-Jane Kurtini, founder of PitchSlap, for a conversation about one of the hardest things founders have to do:

​Explain what you're building in a way that actually makes people care.

​PitchSlap is Sarah-Jane's latest venture, an end-to-end pitching system designed to help founders sharpen their narrative, turn it into a fundable pitch deck and get ready to have better conversations with investors. Rather than starting with prettier slides, PitchSlap starts with the story underneath them.

​Sarah-Jane brings experience from both sides of the startup journey. Before PitchSlap, she co-founded Tinybeans and experienced building, pitching, fundraising and taking a technology company all the way to IPO.

​For this edition of Confessions, we're digging into what founders get right, and very wrong, when telling their story.

​Schedule
� Doors Open: 3:30pm
� Pitch Competition: 4:00pm
� Networking: Until 6:00pm

​We'll finish with audience Q&A, so bring your pitch, your startup story, your fundraising questions and the thing about your business that you've never quite worked out how to explain.

​No perfect pitch decks required.