Advance Queensland Young Starters’ Competition winners announced

6 June 2017: An app designed for fishing enthusiasts that helps digitally record people’s catch and easily brag about their success to friends and family has won the top prize at Advance Queensland’s Young Starters’ Competition.

The Advance Queensland initiative, supported by River City Labs, is aimed at promoting entrepreneurship by helping young Queenslanders acquire business skills to turn their startup ideas into a business with high-growth potential. A total of $45,000 worth of prizes were up for grabs.

The competition attracted 33 applications from aspiring entrepreneurs aged 15-24, out of which 21 teams from eight regions were pre-selected to participate in an intensive weekend bootcamp at River City Labs. Brisbane topped the list with 10 teams, followed by Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. A number of successful applications were also received from regional Queensland.

Grant Sampson, 16, from the Gold Coast, bagged the main prize of a startup assistance package valued at $30,000 for his innovative BragTag app idea. The app also provides recommendations on when and where people should go fishing next for successful experiences based on historical data from previous fishing trips.

Also recognised for their brilliantly executed ideas were Robert Joseph, 21, who won The People’s Choice Award for his skiing helmet-beanie solution dubbed Anti and Michael Dobrijevic, CTO, who was awarded the Startup Catalyst Youth Mission for their idea, Backyard Coach. Both hail from Brisbane.

Queensland Minister for Innovation Leeanne Enoch was on hand to announce the winners.

“We are excited to announce the winners of the Young Starters’ Competition. BragTag, Anti and Backyard Coach all are viable business ideas with bags of potential. We are very proud to be able to mentor these young entrepreneurs and bring their vision to life,” River City Labs CEO and Young Starters’ Competition judge, Peta Ellis, said.

“We were blown away by the calibre of the applications we received. Queensland has a lot to offer to the local ecosystem and we’re excited to see that the future is looking very bright thanks to the young aspiring entrepreneurs who have really innovative ideas.

“Australia needs more programs like the Young Starters’ Competition to foster entrepreneurship and innovation for the country and to support the younger generation bring their ideas to life.”

Successful applicants got to experience entrepreneurship as a legitimate career path, develop and pitch ideas to investors as well as attend mentoring and pitch coaching sessions to help them refine their projects.

Other judges were entrepreneur and Shark Tank star Steve Baxter and Cole Wilkinson, a partner at Pitcher Partners.

For more details on the Young Starters’ Competition, please visit http://advance.qld.gov.au/entrepreneurs-startups/young-starters-comp.aspx