GRIST Program

10 fun filled days of advice, mentoring and education on how to test your business idea to make sure it works and delivers the impact you're aiming to achieve.

We come together as a cohort for an entrepreneurial education and peer networking opportunities. The mandatory workshops are intensive, dedicated, whole-day learning opportunities to come to terms with all the factors that influence trading for impact.

The purpose of this is to encourage you to fully immerse yourself in the progress of social venture building and in connecting with your peers who are very likely to be your future collaborators and (we hope!) friends.

At the end of each content block you'll design a market test for you to go out and talk to your customers and beneficiaries to get feedback on your ideas to further develop your enterprise.

GRIST culminates in a Graduation Ceremony and community celebration. You will pitch your ventures and reflect on your adventures in GRIST with our social innovation community. We will also help you to prepare an ASK, to let our community know how they can continue to support your Social Enterprise.

No. Participants for our programs are selected through an extensive review process to ensure that we have the right expertise to support you over the entire Accelerator program.

We have learned through trial and error that the best approach is to strictly limit participation for those who are most ready and have clear impact narratives to address pressing social, cultural and environmental challenges right here in our region.

We seek start-up social ventures that intend to grow quickly through the acquisition of new customers in new or existing markets. We want to build entrepreneurial capacity rather than teach you how to get an increase in donations or Government funding.

The Mill House Ventures team, facilitators and mentors are people who know how to help entrepreneurs succeed, and many of these are already successful entrepreneurs. They understand what you’re going through in starting an innovative new business. They are each committed to social entrepreneurship and are willing to draw on personal and professional networks to benefit your ventures.

We will provide the learning resources and program support so you can complete each stage and apply insights and new knowledge to your venture.

The Mill House will host a Graduation event designed to expose your venture to a range of social impact investors in our region.

We will support you to be able to do the best pitch possible and we will activate the network to get the right people in the room. Your pitch will help you access the next stage of development based on where you land at the end of the program—you might be looking for potential investors, partners, team members, or customers.

After Graduation, you will become an Alumni of Mill House. Mill House graduates is a growing ecosystem of Change Makers and Social Enterprise ventures adding to the status and reputation of Social Enterprise in the Canberra region, and across the world. We also invite you to consider Social Enterprise Council of NSW & ACT (SECNA) membership to maintain connections to a community of practice and like-minded ventures trading for impact.

We understand that developing any small business, especially for-purpose ventures, takes time.

The GRIST program is designed to learn quickly, challenge your idea and, just like going to the gym, it might feel uncomfortable and sweaty, but we want you to come out stronger. It’s not for everyone though!

We encourage people who are not sure to have a consult with our Team first. Consultations are always free at The Mill House Ventures.

• The GRIST is valued at over $10,000 AUD – Thanks to our Sponsor Members, program participants are only asked to contribute $1,750 AUD for the entire program per venture for up to 2 participants
• Need financial support? We have the discretion to support our Change Makers who are experiencing financial difficulties. We also offer flexible payment terms. There is a place to indicate in your application that you will need Fee Help
• Also, consider the value of your time. In addition to the learning time and workshops, you will also have tasks to complete between sessions. We recommend that the Principal Founder will need at least 2-3 days a week during the program to be available to put the time in to develop your business and financial model and test your assumptions in the market. We encourage the participation of teams who can share the load so that your wellbeing and health are prioritised.

GRIST in 2024 will start with a retreat to get you out of your usual headspace to meet the cohort and start your accelerated journey.

Retreat 4-5 June

Session 2: 18-19 June

Session 3: 2-3 July

Session 4: 23-24 July

Session 5: 13-14 August

Graduation and Impact Showcase: 26 September