Antler Australia's Residency Structure: A comprehensive guide for aspiring founders

Embarking on the entrepreneurial path can be intimidating and riddled with uncertainty and potential risks. Challenges may arise for founders in identifying the perfect co-founder, affirming their concept's viability, or establishing a network and solid route to funding. Antler Australia's residency offers a well-organised framework, mitigating the hazards associated with startup creation.

nina-leong

Nina Leong

Nina is an Associate in Scouting based in the Melbourne office. She has a passion for data and analytics and uses it to strategically identify the most exceptional founders and onboard them into the Antler program. Prior to Antler, she worked in PwC's Deals Advisory business and lead operations for the expansion of Deliveroo across Australia.

Becoming an entrepreneur can be daunting and often full of risk and unknowns. Founders can experience a wide array of problems including finding the right co-founder, validating their idea, or a clear pathway to capital. Antler Australia’s residency provides founders with a structured residency, de-risking the entrepreneurial journey. 

Here is the rundown of Antler’s residency structure and what founders can expect at each stage.

1. Pre-Residency 

In this initial stage, founders are introduced to others in their cohort of whom they will be building businesses alongside. This provides founders with the opportunity to network, share ideas as well as getting to know each other before the official commencement of the cohort.

2. Formation and Validation

Once the residency starts, founders enter into the formation and validation stage. This is where ideas are born and validated through design sprints and market research, as well as choosing the right co-founder to build a business with. The collaboration amongst founders allows everyone to observe working styles and provides alignments to values, fostering team formation.

3. Trackout: Pitching Your Idea

Once a team has been formed and an idea has been validated, teams will “trackout.” This is where founders pitch their idea and the co-founding team to Antler and receive feedback on their idea. If teams pass this stage, they will progress into Due Diligence. If not, teams will return to Formation and Validation with specific feedback to be addressed before they track out again.

4. Due Diligence

Once founders reach this stage, they will be paired with a dedicated coach who will support them for the next 5 weeks until their final pitch at an investment committee. In this stage, founders will be given specific feedback and traction that they need to gain for the best chance at securing investment. 

5. Investment Committee: The Final Pitch

The official residency ends with a final pitch to the investment committee. Founders pitch their business to Antler and a network of investors to secure pre-seed investment from Antler. Successful pitches will receive an investment from Antler and become an Antler portfolio company, unlocking opportunity for further investment, ongoing support and a global network in which founders can leverage.

Antler’s residency is often the best pathway for founders to start their entrepreneurial journey, given the structured approach to business building the long-lasting relationships that will form during the residency.

The most driven founders are joining Antler - the world's day zero investor - to solve important problems. Apply to join Antler in Australia, or sign up here to access insights and resources to help you on your founder journey.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Get the latest news and views from Antler’s global community

Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Must-read articles from Antler

Browse our collection of founder stories, industry insights and latest startup successes from Antler Australia

See articles
Insights
5 min read
Introducing Canada's Next Big Thing: A blueprint for future entrepreneurs

Exciting news for entrepreneurs ready to leave their mark: We've launched a pivotal initiative that spotlights the diverse opportunities within Canada's thriving industries.

Our report curates pivotal problem statements from Canada's leading tech visionaries, founders, and VCs, offering aspiring entrepreneurs a pathway to impactful innovation.

Discover 20+ big opportunities pinpointed by top Canadian minds, spread across six fast-growing industries. Each challenge is an invitation to create and innovate—leading the way to the future.

We hope it will serve as a roadmap for aspiring founders ready to build tomorrow's solutions today.

Insights
5 min read
Invest in women: fast-track progress

Making progress a certainty—our north star goal at Antler—can’t happen if driven and visionary people aren’t firing at all cylinders with the support they need to tackle the pressing problems of our time. We’re marking International Women’s Day by asking women founders and team members in Antler’s global community why women are essential to progress.

Insights
5 min read
How to secure venture capital as an underrepresented founder

There is growing recognition that diverse founders and diverse teams generate more innovative solutions, ultimately building stronger businesses in the long run. Read Antler in the UK portfolio director Sarah Finegan's recent article in Startups Magazine, offering 10 tips on securing venture capital as an underrepresented founder.

Insights
5 min read
From day zero to greatness: Magnus Grimeland on the Capital Allocators podcast

How can the world tackle the increasingly complex problems of our time? With a new global infrastructure backing the most driven founders. Listen to Antler founder and CEO Magnus Grimeland discuss this—and why we're building Antler—on the Capital Allocators podcast.

News
5 min read
Antler expands into Queensland, Australia

Antler is charting a new course for innovation by expanding our presence in Australia. We are launching in Queensland and partnering with the Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC).

Supported by the Queensland Government's Queensland Venture Capital Development Fund (QVCDF), the partnership is poised to transform the state's innovation sector. With a focus on bridging the early-stage funding gap, Antler and QIC are committed to attracting and nurturing the nation's top talent, driving forward Queensland's position on the global innovation stage.

Insights
5 min read
Bridging startups and industry leaders to drive purposeful innovation

As Jeff Bezos once said: “What’s dangerous is to not evolve.” While most business leaders understand that stagnation is fatal, for a host of reasons established companies often struggle to innovate—purposefully and powerfully.

Antler’s Business Development and Collaborations Group helps global corporates drive innovation excellence through high value-generating collaborations with Antler’s 1,000+ (and growing) global startup portfolio. In our collaboration with Investa, a leading Australian real estate investment manager and developer, we are connecting them to our global community of founders and the cutting-edge solutions they are building.

Read more about the powerful outcomes that happen when ambitious startups and industry leaders come together.

Insights
5 min read
The next wave of innovation: 27 industry trends set to define 2024

What will innovation look like as we move deeper into 2024? What are the biggest industry trends that will define the coming year?

We asked our global network of Antler Operators—founders, sector leaders, CxOs, and VPs from companies including Roblox, Airtable, Shopify, Spotify, Affirm, DoorDash, Uber, Hubspot, and more, who offer 1:1 advice to Antler portfolio companies, giving them extra firepower to help fast-track their growth.

News
5 min read
Antler leads $5.1M pre-seed funding for 37 startups across Southeast Asia

This marks the highest number of pre-seed deals completed in a single round in the region.