Just start
The hardest part is beginning. Everything else is iteration. The ones who win are the ones who begin.
Our story
It started with a simple belief.
Startup Club New Zealand brings together the most ambitious students in Aotearoa, founders and operators alike, to learn, build, and drive change together.
The why
Built on connection
Our story rests on one foundation: accelerating growth and connection across the New Zealand startup ecosystem.
Startup Club New Zealand was never only for founders. It is for the operators and the builders too, the people who join startups, scale them, and push the whole ecosystem forward. We connect the most ambitious people in Aotearoa with each other, with mentors, and with the companies shaping what comes next. Whether you want to start a company or help build one, this is your room.
A rising tide lifts all boats.John F. Kennedy
The journey
How we got here
2022
The club is born
Startup Club New Zealand begins, founded on a simple belief: the best way to learn how to build a startup is to actually build one.
The early years
A growing community
Workshops, speaker nights, and mentorship brought student builders together. Word spread, and the community grew past a thousand.
The inner circle
The Founders Circle
The Founders Circle brings the country's most serious founders into one room, built alongside Blackbird, Icehouse Ventures, GD1, and the University of Auckland's CIE.
The big stage
The Summit
The Summit is the largest student-led entrepreneurial event in Aotearoa: three days in Auckland that bring the whole community together.
Today
Just getting started
Over 1500 members and counting, with the best chapters still ahead.
The best way to predict the future is to invent it.Alan Kay
What we stand for
Principles
Build the room
You become the people around you. So we put the most ambitious people in the country in one place, on purpose.
Back each other
This is not a competition. The strongest builders lift the people building alongside them.
Put us on the map
Entrepreneurship in Aotearoa deserves a real stage. We are building it, one room at a time.
Talent wins games, but teamwork wins championships.Michael Jordan
1500+Members
20+Events a year
∞Infinite passion
The story is still being written
The best chapters are the ones we have not built yet. Come help us write them.
Become a member