Stellar is an experience that combines IRL co-working, capital and resources to help ambitious early-stage founders and their startups to unlock what’s possible, and beyond.

Cohorts run for 20 weeks, from February and July each year, where founders and their teams are side-by-side with up to 30 peers and amongst a community of service providers, mentors, and resources to help them reach their next step.

Founders and their teams leave the cohort as Stellar Alumni – a growing community and network that keeps supporting each other into the future.

Funded pre-seed and seed stage startups: Stellar is for ambitious founders and teams of funded pre-seed and seed stage startups that meet the pre-requisites and minimum requirements below.

Industry agnostic: we’re industry agnostic in who joins us. While we don’t have specialist facilities for those that need space for hardware or labs for example, we’d still love to have you in the space if you feel it could be good for you, and you have access to the facilities and specialist resources that you need elsewhere.

Varying founder experience levels: we are here to support first-time founders as well as deeply experienced experts in their fields, or those coming back for their second (or third or fourth…) time around. Having this deep and diverse experience is what will make each cohort uniquely special.

We’ve designed the Stellar support structures with this in mind too. We’re aiming to deliver founders a customisable experience that meets you where you’re at, rather than enforcing approaches where everyone is put in the same box. In Stellar, you’re climbing your own mountain while being supported by your peers, and supporting them as they climb theirs. Your starting point and goals for your startup, and for you personally, are set by you. What you achieve in your time in the cohort will be for you to assess, and we’ll be there to support you along the way.

Stellar is for any founder who is inspired to build beyond where they are today.

1) Agreeing to abide by our Code of Conduct

We want everyone to have a great experience. To do that, we need everyone to commit to our Code of Conduct - find it here.

2) 12-months runway

We want you to be focused on building rather than fundraising in Stellar (despite the fact that we know you are always fundraising!). You will need to have and to confirm that your startup has enough cash in the bank to cover operating and capital expenses for 12 months from the start date of the cohort, without assuming any significant upticks in revenue.

You may have this from your last fundraising round, or you may be self-funded – either way is welcome here.

3) Participation in the application process and if successful, execution of investment documentation

As part of our application process and investment (and see more about both below), we will need to engage with you and review key business information.

If you are selected into a future cohort, there will also be investment documentation for you to review, and which will need to be executed by your company/you as a director, and your existing shareholders.

The investment documents will need to be executed at least 2 weeks prior to the start date of the cohort, and we are here to help with this.

4) Commitment to the office in Armadale, Melbourne

We’re big ambassadors for the benefits of working alongside other incredible people day-to-day, and the magic that can happen as a result. We see the peer community in each cohort as being the main external factor that will help you to move from where you are when you start the cohort, to where you want to be by the end. Because of this, we expect your team to utilise the office space 5 days a week.

We also understand this may not be for everyone but we want to prioritise space in the cohort for those who might be able to maximise their time together in the office.

5) Being an active participant in Stellar

Stellar is a special experience, and we expect you to get involved and get the most out of what’s on offer. That might be connecting with your fellow cohort members, setting yourself transformative personal goals alongside your startup goals, or using the resources available to build better or create something you wouldn’t ordinarily have outside of this experience. With this, you can be sure that those who join you will also have the same mindset and approach.

We will invest our $30k on the same terms as your latest raise, typically via a SAFE. We also ask for a special right to embed the opportunity for us to invest in your startup in later rounds. If you move to the next round, and grow along with expectations, we’d love to back you in the future!

This is a pre-requisite to join any future cohort, and all startups joining the cohort will need to complete the same.

Yes, Stellar does have a program to support you and your team. It’s been designed to:

• Work alongside your normal workflows, with no forced programming, to not distract or detract from what you need to get done.

• Be delivered in a customisable way to meet you where you are – it doesn’t attempt to force a one-size-fits-all approach while recognising the power of peer-to-peer support.

The program offers ways to build your capacity and motions across your commercial know-how and high-performance leadership. So we’re on the same page, a few definitions for what we mean here:

Commercial know-how: knowing how to do everything needed from a functional business perspective so that you’re only innovating where you need to, and you’re as investable as you can be (from a founder and startup perspective).

High-performance leadership: knowing how to lead yourself and build and sustain your foundations for health and high performance, so that you can manage, lead, grow, retain and inspire your team, and create a more intentional culture.

The program, or rhythm, has been designed so that it is customisable to meet you where you are, and doesn’t attempt to force everyone into the same box or onto the same trajectory.  And, in each and every cohort, we’ll set the logistics of these rhythms, based on each cohort’s unique needs.

How this is offered:

• Accountability: you’ll have the opportunity to state or set goals for your startup, your team, and yourself, as you begin the cohort, and design the ways you’d like to use the resources in Stellar to best support yourself and your team to build momentum towards these, and/or for accountability.

• Resource library: a growing expert-led on-demand content and resource library, that will cover key topics and motions that are critical at this stage of growth, and needed for the next stages, bringing expert wisdom and discernment that you don’t get in AI output. This resource will grow throughout 2027 and beyond.

• Expert co-working days: instead of running sessions focused on key topics such as live webinars or ‘lunch and learns’, we’re going to host our experts in the Stellar space for up to a day at a time, so that you can ask your tailored questions, and start to build relationships with them 1:1. We’ll plan to have one to two of these days every week, so that you can participate in-and-around your timing and flows.

• Opportunities to connect you with specialist mentors 1:1: there will also be the opportunity to connect you with mentors outside of this regular rhythm in the space, when needed.  

• Culminating in a day for founders and teams to share their asks and connect with their next operators, investors and more, to support future growth.

Above all, our intention is for this program is to not distract or detract from your most important work: finding traction across every aspect of your business and personal goals to reach your next level.

See more about Stellar’s program above, in terms of what kind of support you can expect.

We’ll have experts and mentors across early-stage startups, growth, leadership, health and more joining the space regularly to co-work and support you and your team.

You’ll also be supported day-to-day by our Founder Success support concierge, Ashleigh Camm. Ash has worked hands-on with founder CEOs at the earliest stages and the scaling/exit stages throughout her career. She is super passionate about people*, and what can be achieved when we’re immersed in the conditions that support us to do our best work. And she’ll be on the journey with founders and their teams each cohort. If you want to know anything else about Ash, find more here.

*and nature/the planet, so expect some hikes and the like to happen throughout the cohort, as optional extras!

Cohorts run over 20 weeks twice per year and are not rolling. Each cohort will have a defined number of startups and people joining it, so that the cohort community can have that time together uninterrupted.

2027 cohort dates are:

Cohort 1 - start: Monday, 1 February 2027

Cohort 1 - end: Friday, 18 June 2027

Cohort 2 - start: Monday, 19 July 2027

Cohort 2 - end: Friday, 3 December 2027

You can express your interest in joining a cohort at any time by completing this expression of interest.

The EOI application deadline for each cohort is:

Cohort 1: 11 November 2026

Cohort 2: 3 May 2027

We're taking a minimum viable information approach to our application process to streamline this process for you and us. It looks like this, and we’ll keep you updated along the way:

Expression of Interest (EOI): we’d love to receive your EOI to hear more about you and your vision. We’ll then review it, and if we think you’d be a potential fit for Stellar, we’ll share an Application Form with you.  

Application Form: once we receive your Application Form (post your EOI above), we’ll review this, and if we still think you and your startup might be a potential fit for Stellar, we’ll set up an interview with you.

First interview: this will be an opportunity to explore more about you, your startup, and why you’d like to join a Stellar cohort, and give you the opportunity to ask any questions of us too.

Due Diligence, including second interview: after the interview, if we still think you would be a great fit for the next Stellar cohort, we’ll share our information request list with you for due diligence purposes. We’ll also set up a second interview to dive deeper into your company and future plans.

This is when things get serious, and if you don’t make it here, there’s the potential that you might be right for the next cohort, and we’d love you to re-apply.

Final selection: assuming all is as expected, we’d love to welcome you and your team into the next cohort!

The EOI application deadline for each 2027 cohort is:

Cohort 1: 11 November 2026

Cohort 2: 3 May 2027

Apply here.

To participate in Stellar, you’ll need a homebase in Melbourne so you can join us in the office.

Unfortunately we don’t help with re-locations at this time.