Great piece. Harm that is overlooked is the naive founder who is built up to be ‘special’/manipulated to “perform” on stage primarily for the benefit of the startup hubs stats/reporting/funding/entertainment of others etc. When the theatre is over and the hub has ticked their boxes, the founder is suddenly dropped and the true motive of the hub is revealed. This can have a devastating mental impact on founders as so much has been given to this “opportunity”...only to be left hanging once the curtain has fallen. It’s incredibly damaging to founders and is borderline exploitive. The hub often has no real expertise after the theatre production. In saying this, there are hubs in NZ that are fantastic, but it’s time to get rid of the cowboys and streamline resources.
Great piece. Harm that is overlooked is the naive founder who is built up to be ‘special’/manipulated to “perform” on stage primarily for the benefit of the startup hubs stats/reporting/funding/entertainment of others etc. When the theatre is over and the hub has ticked their boxes, the founder is suddenly dropped and the true motive of the hub is revealed. This can have a devastating mental impact on founders as so much has been given to this “opportunity”...only to be left hanging once the curtain has fallen. It’s incredibly damaging to founders and is borderline exploitive. The hub often has no real expertise after the theatre production. In saying this, there are hubs in NZ that are fantastic, but it’s time to get rid of the cowboys and streamline resources.