Chris Kirk is stepping away from nationwide startup hub Stone & Chalk after 2.5 years as CEO and 10 years as a founding group member.
Kirk wrote to the organisation’s “alumni” on Wednesday afternoon to say he’ll step down on April 10 as a part of a deliberate transition.
“This hasn’t been a simple choice, nevertheless it’s been a deeply thought-about one, and I consider it’s the appropriate second,” he wrote.
“Once I joined the founding group in 2015, Stone & Chalk was simply an concept on a web page. We began with 41 startups in a constructing marked for demolition. I might by no means have imagined we’d develop to help greater than 3,000 Australian startups and scaleups, or play a job in serving to founders increase over $4 billion in capital alongside the way in which.”
Stone & Chalk chair Richard Kimber praised his contribution.
“Chris took on the CEO function with a transparent goal: to construct a stronger Stone & Chalk for founders,” he stated.
“Chris is a passionate champion of entrepreneurs and a values-driven chief. On behalf of the Board, I thank Chris for the impression he has had on Stone & Chalk and the neighborhood we serve.”
Monetary turnaround
Kirk was beforehand normal supervisor of the Adelaide Stone & Chalk hub at Lot Fourteen, which he launched there in 2019 in partnership with the South Australian authorities.
He took on the highest job in September 2023 at a difficult time for the organisation, following the sudden departure of the previous CEO. The nonprofit enterprise posted mixed losses of $8.45 million over two years to June 2023, ballooning to $6.95m that monetary yr.
On the time, the board declared “there’s a materials uncertainty associated to occasions or situations that will forged vital doubt on whether or not the corporate will proceed as a going concern”.
Kirk and his group spent the following six months righting the ship to fortify Stone & Chalk’s monetary place, securing further funding and securing organisation’ and safe ‘s long-term sustainability.
Stone & Chalk cast a powerful relationship with the NSW authorities throughout the turbulent relocation of the Sydney Startup Hub, the place it was a founding tenant, final yr. The organisation now runs the 8,000 sqm Tech Central Innovation Hub (previously the Scaleup Hub) at 477 Pitt Road, close to Sydney’s Central Station, and likewise has hubs in Melbourne and Adelaide.
Final yr Kirk hosted celebrations for Stone & Chalk’s tenth anniversary on the Innovation Hub, celebrating a number of the greater than 3000 of startups which have handed via the organisation’s doorways over that point.
“I’ve grown up alongside the startup neighborhood. I’ve watched expertise startups transfer from a side-show to a central driver of our nation’s future prosperity,” he stated.
The hunt for a brand new CEO is already effectively superior with a shortlist confirmed. The Board will announce the incoming CEO within the coming months.
Household time
After reworking the enterprise within the final two years, Kirk is planning a brief break along with his two younger youngsters, then “turning my consideration again to the place I can have the best impression in shaping the following wave of firms, platforms, and future industries”.
The outgoing CEO praised the organisation’s group, saying “They’ve created a tradition the place founders assist founders by default, and that legacy will outlast any CEO.”
Kirk stated watching the startups at Stone & Chalk, he discovered that firms have seasons.
“I consider the easiest way to steer an organization you’re keen on is to know precisely when to go away it. Stone & Chalk’s basis is strong; our mission to help 10,000 Australian success tales over the following 10 years is obvious,” he stated.
“Now’s the appropriate time for a brand new chief to drive that mission ahead.
“To the founders who trusted us with their ambitions, the companions who backed the imaginative and prescient, and the Stone & Chalk group who make magic occur day by day, thanks.”
