Last month we were lucky enough to get some of our founders together for our first Galileo Founder Retreat, in Byron Bay. It was all sorts of amazing.

Founder Retreat is a way for the founders to all meet each other, to connect, work and play together over a few days. It's like an invite-only mini-conference but much more fun – only founders that receive investment from Galileo are invited.

After 6 months of working together through the Galileo program, it was the first time many of the founders have met each other in real life!

What did we do?

• We kicked off day 1 with an Aboriginal guided tour of Byron Bay which also marked national reconciliation day – we got got hear the incredible indigenous history of the Arakwal People and try some local Indigenous fruits from Walgun area (Cape Byron)
• Our founders hosted dinners, including an amazing ‘Tastes of Sri Lanka’ themed dinner cooked by Meena Tharmarajah, founder of Wriveted
• We did work too! Pitch practice, group sessions led by the founders and one-on-one sessions with Galileo Partners Hugh and James about each team’s fundraising strategy as we help everyone think about their next raise 
• We hosted a Wins Night where each team presented their biggest recent win and lesson that they’ve learned
• We distributed our first elements from the Galileo Merch line to founders. Coming to a fashion show near you soon…

What did we learn? 

• It’s important to celebrate the small and big wins along the way, startups are hard and everyone has achievements worthy of celebrating
• It’s still important, and enjoyable, for founders to connect and discuss things in real life – we’re going to keep and grow our blended approach of remote program and invite-only in-person events going forward
• We’re going to keep growing our Founder Retreat conference annually for the benefit of future and past founders. The success of the first retreat has really triggered us to think about how to best continue support for our portfolio founders, who were all very keen to come back in the future.
  

Want to join the next founder retreat? Apply now to Galileo.