Fishburners, Australia’s biggest startup venture, introduced Virtual Membership Plans in the list of services it offers. With the help of this option, members will now be able to access the world-class network of events, mentors, perks, and community offered by Fishburners Sydney and Brisbane locations without being physically present at the workspace.

Further, the idea behind the inception of this plan is to provide people a cost-effective alternative to renting a space for work. To enumerate, virtual members can live stream Fishburners’ popular weekly Friday Night Pitches, network with other members via dedicated online channels and access the same extensive collection of perks such as up to $100K in Google cloud credits.

Moreover, these virtual memberships provide tenants with the same benefits as a regular member. They can access the member and company directories in addition to being mentored by great business professionals. Not to mention, they can use the big library of the center which comprises of great collections of various genres including accounting, legal and marketing tools. This giant library was developed with the help of partners including Google for Startups, Chartered Accountants ANZ and UTS. If the need arises, the virtual members can also access a physical desk available at any of the Sydney, Brisbane and Shanghai hubs.

Fishburners partners and programs:

The 2017 StartupAUS Crossroads report revealed that “more than 150 regional areas have higher than average rates of innovative capacity”. Regional founders are finding the introduction of virtual membership to be a breakthrough in startup development. Fishburners is actively seeking to partner with regional startup hubs to extend the resources and communities that have helped startups flourish in their respective areas. Apart from this, Fishburners has also partnered with Atto which is a new pre-accelerator for female founders. Atto is an online program which was set up to help female founders launch tech companies in an independent and sustainable manner. Fishburners is keen to grow after seeing physical memberships from women rise from 5% to 30% female in recent years.

The CEO of Fishburners, Pandora Shelley in one of her statements said, “The value of Fishburners is in the community. We want to help incredible ideas come to life and with the new virtual membership program, we can invite founders to connect, inspire and grow startup communities wherever they are. There are huge costs involved in setting up coworking spaces which can really sting in rural areas, so this is a huge step in cultivating a truly wholesome, Australian startup ecosystem.”

The views of members availing Virtual Membership at Fishburners:

Fishburners virtual member and founder of Pointer Remote Roles, Jo Palmer, says“I started my own business to be able to help people find work, and employers find talent, without the barrier of location so the virtual memberships program not only works for me from my regional location at The Rock in southern NSW but also fits into the philosophy of my business! The virtual membership gives me access to loads of great resources and opportunities that can be a little harder to come by in the regions. Plus access to other startups is a huge benefit. We can play a part in growing other startups by giving them access to the skills they need to scale, without them having to rent another desk in a coworking space. It is also fantastic to have a desk in Sydney if I’m ever up there for work!”

Fishburners virtual member and founder of KidsWantu, Anne-Marie Walton, says “I’m a mother to 2 lads and based in a region outside of Brisbane, so getting to a physical co-working space with a wonderful reputation like Fishburners Brisbane, was not on the cards for me! I became a virtual member to have access to top-quality workshops and presentations, become part of a genuine caring (online) community and to have the ability to access a physical co-working space once a month to tie in with my Brisbane work trips. So far I have met some wonderful people who have helped me on my journey and I’ve also been able to help and add value to others. I love having a bank of past events which I can dip in and out of for learning as needed.”

About Fishburners:

Fishburners is a startup community with 383 startups and 728 entrepreneurs across the Sydney and Brisbane hubs, as well as over 100 virtual members. Being Australia’s first startup spaces more than 1,250 startup ventures have been part of the not-for-profit operations since it opened, including high-profile alumni such as Koala, GoCatch, graphic design marketplace DesignCrowd, Code Camp, Tinybeans, Mad Paws, Jayride, GradConnection, and Hyper Anna. Fishburners is also home to Australia’s largest event space dedicated to startups and entrepreneurship.