Accelerator demo days usually follow a script: a founder, a clicker, an audience, and a slide deck that resembles a hockey stick; they rarely include product demonstrations.
Techstars Sydney broke that mold this week.
On Monday, December 8th, the Australian outfit of the global accelerator, which counts 22 unicorns among its alumni, hosted its largest Australian event to date at the ICC in Sydney.
Dubbed "Demo the Future," the event sold 1,220 tickets. But with so many tickets sold, the punters wanted more than just a pitch for investment; they wanted to see product demos.
In a landscape where "Demo Days" often devolve into fundraising roadshows, Techstars Sydney Managing Director Christie Jenkins pushed for a return to engineering roots.
Techstars Sydney Managing Director Christie Jenkins
“We completely reimagined what a founder pitch should be,” Jenkins said. “Each founder shared what the future of their industry will look like in ten years... Then they gave actual product demos. We put the ‘demo’ back in Demo Day.”
The "Elite Sports" approach to accelerators
The cohort of 12 startups was subjected to a program structure heavily influenced by Jenkins’ own background as a top-ranked athlete. Moving away from the typical remote-friendly trend, utilising Special Forces coaches and professional athletes to train the founders.
Jenkins argues there is a missing link in how the industry prepares early-stage entrepreneurs.
“We expect founders to lead their companies from idea to IPO, but never teach them the skills to do so," Jenkins said. "VCs focus on growth, advisors focus on product, accelerators focus on fundraising, the market focuses on valuation.”
According to Jenkins, the physical proximity of the cohort was essential for performance pressure. “When the founder on your left signs 30 customers in a week, you up your game. When the founder on your right ships code releases 5 times a day, you see what the standard for speed is,” she said.
Meet the cohort
The 12 founders showcasing their technology represented a diverse spread of sectors, from deep tech to consumer apps. Let’s meet the founders who pitched.
Kirk Simmons, founder of Briefcase, is reimagining the courts with digital infrastructure for faster, fairer, accessible justice.
Joni Pirovich, founder of Crystal aOS, is powering licensed crypto companies to launch safely across 200+ countries with automated compliance.
Jad Al Masri, founder of MuseAI, is giving musicians a creative workspace to capture, search, and collaborate on sound.
Mohammad Tavakkoli Yaraki, Ph.D. and Samira Sadeghi, Ph.D, co-founders of OncoRevive, are detecting cancer 20× faster and cheaper using chemistry-driven innovation for same-day results.
Nathan Croxton, founder of Onsite, is transforming strata management by automating 90% of repetitive admin tasks.
Michael (Rahulan) Ragavan, founder of Our Leg Up, is unlocking home equity as a new investment asset for homeowners.
David Stephen Sta.Maria and Silven E., co-founders of Sedso. (Techstars ‘25), are helping brands stay visible in the AI-powered search era with Generative Engine Optimisation.
Amy Stevens, founder of Slice, is automating property transaction workflows to make buying and selling seamless.
Mitch Sigley, founder of VetNotes.com, is automating clinical note-taking for vets and builds shared intelligence across practices.
Michelle (Turnbull) Reeves, founder of Xillions AI, is turning fans into creators through a new marketing category of brand–audience co-creation.
The Scene
The event leaned into spectacle, featuring a keynote from Ben Shewry, the chef behind Attica, a top 20 global restaurant, and capping off with an afterparty on a three-storey boat on Sydney Harbour.
Ben Shewry
While the pageantry was high, Jenkins emphasised that the core metric remains the founders' ability to influence the future.
“Today, our technology leaders are more powerful than our world leaders," Jenkins said. "As proud as we are of the progress the founders made in their companies, from tripling revenue in three months to signing Beyoncé’s brands and the NFL as customers, we’re even more proud of their leadership.”