Help for business intender?

Hi just came across this post I note that this is about a month old though I run a Company here in Canberra and when I started in 2011 there was little or no assistance around locally so let me know if I can assist. Always happy to help/network/share experiences just drop me a line

Hi Anna

I am booked in to see you next week 🙂

I’m Anna from Lighthouse and I’m very happy to say that we are alive and well and very much open for business. Firstly to clarify, Lighthouse is not a government agency rather operates as an innovation consultancy. We deliver some government programs on behalf of the ACT and Federal governments. We offer free initial consultations and you are welcome to come and see us to discuss the various avenues of support available to help you with the development of your business. Please visit our website at http://www.lighthouseinnovation.com.au for our contact details.

The last people you need to “help” you establish a small business are government agencies who have no idea what is required to operate a small business.

It’s not too hard to work out if an idea has legs, and it doesn’t involve writing a business plan.

Get some knowledge, read some books, test the idea yourself in a couple of weeks without spending any real money. You will know whether your intended customers will buy and have a good idea about what they are likely to pay.

Try Running Lean* as a first step. You should be able to download and read over the weekend and start testing next week.

There are also a heap of blogs about this, try Steve Blank’s for a start.

* I have no connection to the book except that we practice lean development principles and this book explains it pretty well.

My understanding is that funding has dried up for small business support from the ACT govt. lighthouse
is now winding up as well due to lack of funding. There were a few other business incubators in canberra but I haven’t heard much about them lately. The ANU has ANU Connect, which focuses on technology commercialisation. There is also marketing angels, who seem to focus on marketing. Many of the accounting firms provide financial and legal consulting, but they seem not to be well set up as full service business incubators.
While Canberra would seem to be a great environment for business start ups, there are relatively few organisations that offer holistic support (incubation) services to the same extent as in US cities like Austin TX or in Silicon Valley.
You’re kind of stuck with individual consulting services in Canberra, so you may be better off casting a wider net.