The full program for the 2026 Development Summit in Melbourne is now stay, promising knowledgeable insights, highly effective management classes, and fearless conversations tailor-made to Australian startups, scaleups, and SMEs.
Offered by SmartCompany and Startup Each day, in partnership with Xero, the Development Summit will see the nation’s brightest entrepreneurs and innovators encourage a brand new technology of bold enterprise leaders.
Leigh Jasper, the serial founder and startup luminary behind $1.6 billion success story Aconex, will share an insider’s view of Australia’s innovation panorama in his opening keynote tackle.
And Angad Soin, managing director AU/NZ and international chief technique officer at Xero, will unpack what actually makes a profitable technique playbook.
From there, the day will break up into two streams.
Startup and scaleup attendees can count on sensible tips about constructing the best group and organisational tradition, by a dialog between Doug English, co-founder and CTO of worker engagement platform Tradition Amp, and Jeanette Cheah, co-founder and CEO of schooling platform HEX.
Startup Each day editor Simon Thomsen will anchor an ‘Ask Us Something’ session that includes prime entrepreneurial expertise, earlier than 4 standout founders showcase their concepts at The Startup Community’s lunchtime pitch competitors.
As Victoria reshapes its startup help methods, Lauren Morrey, COO of Breakthrough Victoria, Paz Pisarski, co-founder of The Group Collective, and Kirstin Hunter, CEO of crowdsourced funding platform Birchal, will tackle immediately’s challenges and tomorrow’s options in a session hosted by entrepreneur and Hype Man Media founder Dickie Currer.
And for founders able to tackle funding, main figures from Antler, Rampersand, Sq. Peg, and Big Leap will break down what buyers actually wish to see in 2026.
The SME stream will see David Koch — media character, finance commentator, and small enterprise advocate — clarify how he built and scaled Pinstripe Media, in dialog with SmartCompany deputy editor Tegan Jones.
Founders will hear the newest suggestions for sensible synthetic intelligence adoption in a panel session backed by Salesforce, earlier than a model growth masterclass.
Sebastian Neylan, head of progress at Up, Jessica Hatzis, co-founder of artistic branding company Willow & Blake, and Justin Dry, co-founder of Vinomofo, will anchor that dialogue.
On a regular basis methods to guard the psychological well being of small enterprise leaders will come to the fore within the afternoon, in a hearth chat between Janey Martino, the co-founder of Smiling Thoughts and CEO of Kic, and Deepak Singh, the founding father of Mission + Rhythm.
Each streams will result in 12 opt-in roundtable periods, the place delegates will cowl every little thing from capital management, burnout administration, SME hiring, and the proper exit technique.
Personal Media CEO Will Hayward will shut out the formal proceedings, earlier than informal drinks and networking alternatives, hosted by MySMB.
For extra details about the Development Summit on February 25, together with ticket gross sales, click on here.
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