From a notebook idea to investor-ready in 14 weeks.
TechDojo is the cohort-based accelerator for ambitious New Zealand founders. Two intakes a year, twenty to fifty founders each, mentored by operators who’ve done it before — backed by MBIE.
Two free bootcamps to get you to the start line.
Whether you’re still circling an idea or already shipping prototypes, our pre-programme bootcamps make sure you arrive on day one of the accelerator with momentum. Free, online, and run six times a year.
Startup Ideation
A two-week sprint for pre-idea aspirants. Validate problems worth solving, find a co-founder, and build a one-pager that’d make a sceptical investor pause.
Vibe Coding
Ship your first working prototype in ten days, even if you’ve never written code. AI-assisted build sprints with a coaching mentor — for technical and non-technical founders alike.
The accelerator, week by week.
Every week is one live masterclass, one operating-cadence working session, and one mentor 1:1. You leave each week with something built, not just learned. Demo Day caps the cohort — a curated room of 80+ NZ and APAC investors.
Onboarding & Founder fit
Whakawhanaungatanga — meet your cohort, mentors, and define personal & company goals.
Problem & Customer
Sharpen the problem statement. Find your first 25 paying-intent customers.
Value Proposition
Articulate the value, the wedge, and the ‘why now’.
Market & TAM
Bottoms-up sizing. Investor-grade market reasoning.
Build & Iterate
Ship the smallest version that’s real. AI-assisted build sprints.
Sales & Distribution
Founder-led sales: motion, pipeline, deal cadence.
Pricing & Unit Economics
Margin, LTV, payback. The numbers behind the story.
Team & Hiring
Co-founder dynamics. First five hires. ESOP & equity.
Product-Market Fit
Measuring PMF. Leading indicators. The Sean Ellis test.
Storytelling
The narrative arc, the deck, the data room.
Fundraising Mechanics
SAFEs, term sheets, dilution. Negotiating from strength.
Investor Outreach
Lists, intros, the discipline of “no”. Closing a round.
Governance & Resilience
Boards, founder mental health, the long game.
Pitch & Polish
Rehearsals with investors as mock panel.
Demo Day & Beyond
A curated room of 80+ NZ & APAC investors. Lifetime alumni access.
Founders trained. Capital raised. Jobs created in Aotearoa.
Every metric we track is a public outcome. We publish FY26 results to MBIE and to the founders themselves, so you can see exactly what the programme has delivered before you apply.
The library — templates, AI tools, funding benchmarks.
Forty-plus battle-tested resources used by NZ founders to raise, hire, and ship. SAFEs, term sheets, financial models, and our funding-benchmarks dataset.
Open the library → ~20 events / yearEvents & bootcamps — across the motu.
Workshops in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. Demo Days. Founder dinners. The Kiwi PMF Stories live series.
See what’s on →Operators, not theorists.
Each founder is paired with three mentors — a sector specialist, a fundraising lead, and a founder-coach. The wall below is a sample of the network you’ll join.
From your first idea, to a Series A in five steps.
TechDojo is built around a deliberate capital pathway. We don’t just teach you how to raise — we walk you to the rooms where it happens.
Pre-idea
Free Ideation & Vibe Coding bootcamps. Find a co-founder. Validate the problem.
Idea
Apply to TechDojo. Cohort accepts you against problem clarity, founder fit, and traction signals.
Build
Weeks 1–8. Ship, sell, iterate. Mentor 1:1s and weekly operating cadence.
Raise
Weeks 9–14. Storytelling, mechanics, outreach. Investor introductions through our network.
Scale
Lifetime alumni access. Quarterly investor showcases. Follow-on intros to Series A.
The founders who took Aotearoa companies global.
A free interview series featuring NZ entrepreneurs who’ve achieved international product-market fit. Long-form, on the record, with the playbooks that worked — and the ones that didn’t.
How Halter found PMF in dairy farming’s most stubborn problem.
A two-hour conversation with co-founder Craig Piggott on the slow road from a paddock prototype to global rollout.
Volpara’s ten-year overnight success.
From a Wellington research lab to mammography clinics in 39 countries. The pricing pivot that unlocked it.
How Auror went from one Whakatāne dairy to 50,000 stores worldwide.
A masterclass in vertical-specific go-to-market and the patience that made it possible.
An accelerator for all of Aotearoa — not just the cities.
TechDojo’s model is hybrid by design. Most weeks are remote, with monthly in-person residentials rotating between Auckland, Wellington, Ōtautahi and Tauranga. Travel grants for regional and underrepresented founders.
- Wāhine-led companies52%
- Māori & Pasifika lead founders27%
- Founders outside Auckland / Wellington34%
- Founders from corporate switch41%
- University-affiliated founders22%
- First-time founders78%
Common questions, answered.
Who is TechDojo for?
Anyone in Aotearoa NZ — pre-idea, idea-stage, or shipping a product — who wants the structure, mentors, and capital path of a top accelerator without leaving the country, paying a fee, or giving up equity. We particularly welcome wāhine, Māori, Pasifika, and regional founders.
Does TechDojo take equity or charge a fee?
No. The 14-week accelerator is delivered free of charge and equity-free, with support from MBIE. Travel grants are available for regional and underrepresented founders.
How are founders selected?
Cohorts are 20–50 founders. We weight problem clarity, founder–market fit, and traction signals over polish. Two interview rounds with a panel of operators & alumni.
Do I need a co-founder to apply?
No, but we strongly recommend it. Our Ideation Bootcamp includes a co-founder match week if you’re looking — we’ve helped form 60+ teams since 2023.
What’s the time commitment?
Two live sessions per week (90 min each), one mentor 1:1 (60 min), plus 8–12 hours of independent build/sell time. You should treat the cohort as the primary use of your discretionary time.
What happens after the cohort?
Lifetime alumni access — quarterly investor showcases, mentor reconnects, follow-on capital intros, and an active founder Slack with 400+ alumni.
Stop circling the idea. Start building.
Cohort 02 of 2026 opens 04 October. Applications close 18 September. The Ideation Bootcamp on 24 May is a great way in.