⚡ From TV Stars to Special Forces. From Elite Sport to Top Founders. Discover what it takes to become a world-class leader.

🔥 A Special Forces Officer trains for years before they lead a team into the field.

🔥 An Olympian has a coach beside them every single day.

🔥 The best CEOs work with Executive Coaches.

They all know one thing: Leadership is a skill.

In the startup sector, many of us became leaders by starting or helping scale companies from zero.

But as leaders, we rarely step outside our companies and learn how to become better leaders (even though it might be the highest-leverage thing we can do).

EDGE is your day to do that.

We’re bringing together world-class leaders to share their exact skill sets. Learn from:

🔥 ​Special Forces leaders

🔥​ Australian sporting heroes

🔥​ Scientists on the frontier of psychological science

🔥​ Executive coaches

All tailored specifically to startups.

This is a premium, full-day event for people in the startup sector who lead: founders, senior operators and investors. It’s curated and capped at 150 people.

🚀 SESSIONS

🎯 Lead Like the Special Forces with Chris Marr

Complex versus complicated leadership: the core philosophy of Special Forces leadership training.

🌏 Where You’re From Is How You Lead with Osher Gunsberg
​Ever had feedback from a Dutch person? Or skipped over someone’s boss in Japan? Or tried Aussie humbleness with an American? Learn the 8 cultural scales that shape how we lead across cultures. We will be doing a live skit with legends from the Aussie startup ecosystem.

🧠 The Psychological Science of Great Founders
​What are the traits of unicorn founders? Did you know Sam Bankman-Fried has an empathy score of zero? We used psycholinguistics to study over 200 traits of top founders.

🎙️ Live Executive Coaching with Dave Shepherd and May Samali
The best athletes have coaches; the best founders do too. Watch live demonstrations of executive coaching (or volunteer yourself!) and meet some of Australia’s leading startup coaches.

🏆 Putting It to the Test with Ryan Deathridge
​A surprise challenge to apply the leadership skills from the day.

🏅 A Fireside with 4X Paralympian Ellie Cole

Meet Ellie Cole, a Paralympic swimmer who won 17+ medals between 2008 and 2020.

⚡ Networking

Join founders from pre-seed to $100M+ in revenue. Network with the investors and executive coaches who work with Australia's top founders.

🗓️ The Day

9:00 am: Coffee & Networking

10:00 am: Lead Like the Special Forces with Chris Marr

11:00 am: Where You’re From Is How You Lead with Osher Gunsberg

12:00 pm: Lunch

1:30 pm: The Science of Great Founders

2:15 pm: Live Executive Coaching with Dave Shepherd and May Samali

3:30 pm: Afternoon Networking

4:00 pm: Putting It to the Test: Leadership Challenge with Ryan Deathridge

5:30 pm: Networking & Canapes

6:30 pm: Fireside: Leadership in Elite Sport with Ellie Cole

7:00 pm: Event Concludes

👥 Featuring

Christie Jenkins (CJ). Founder and GP of Ampere. #1 in Australia and #10 in the world in 3 different sports.

Chris Marr. Co-Founder of Sonder and ThinkMD. Former Special Forces leader, sharing his core philosophy on leadership.

Dave Shepherd. Executive Coach and Former Head of HubSpot APAC, where he grew revenue from a few million to over $50 million.

Ellie Cole · Paralympian
Ellie is one of Australia’s greatest Paralympic swimmers. She won 17 Paralympic medals, including six golds, making her Australia’s most decorated female Paralympian.

May Samali Executive Coach and Fellow at the Institute of Coaching at Harvard Medical School, with leadership insights featured in Forbes and the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

Osher Günsberg · Session host
One of Australia’s most recognisable broadcasters, Osher hosted Australian Idol and The Bachelor and has spent years in radio.

Ryan Deathridge · Former Special Operations
Ryan is a former Special Operations operator. He will be guiding the afternoon leadership activity to help you put the skills you learn to the test.

Where You’re From Is How You Lead: Featured Guests

Akshat Agarwal · India
Akshat is building Arrayah. Before that, he helped launch Antler’s funds in Australia and the Middle East.

Shoe-G Ueyama · Japan
Shoe-G was the Growth and Operations Lead for Canva Japan, helping one of Australia’s biggest tech companies grow in one of the world’s most distinctive markets.

Dave Thompson · South Africa
Dave is the co-founder of RunRemote and an EDGE partner, building for a future where teams work across borders.

Gabriela Scharf · Brazil
Gabriela is a brand genius whose past experience spans Red Bull, WeWork and Roxy.

Hendrik Remigereau · Germany
Hendrik is a Partner at NZVC, a venture capital firm, backing founders building the next generation of companies.

Karen Chan GAICD · China
Karen is a Board Member of the Australian Investment Council, the peak body for private capital in Australia.

Sarah Nolet · USA
Sarah is Co-Founder and General Partner at Tenacious Ventures.

👥 Who is EDGE for?

EDGE is a premium, full-day event for people in the startup sector who lead:

• 🚀 Founders
• ⚙️ Operators
• 💰 Investors

Your tickets include full-day access to the entire schedule. All food and non-alcoholic drinks are provided. 🍽️

⚡ About Ampere

Ampere is a new Australian Accelerator. We believe that better leaders build better companies, so we invest in and coach founders on this basis. Applications open in 2027.

Ampere is founded and led by Christie Jenkins, who previously led the Techstars Accelerator, was an investor at Blackbird, and as a pro athlete was number one in the country and top 10 in the world in 3 sports.

📍 Location

Establishment Ballroom, Sydney

⚡ Partners

Fullstack is the accounting and R&D tax team for ambitious founders.

William Buck has provided exceptional accounting and advisory services for over 130 years.

RunRemote helps you hire outstanding, AI-fluent global talent. Thank you to William Buck for supporting this event.

Stripe helps you accept payments, offer financial services and implement custom revenue models, from your first transaction to your billionth

Nudge Productions helps you lead with content.

⚡Application-Only

With only 150 places, entry is by application. We review applications within 24 hours, and your card is only charged once you're approved

To stay up to date with Ampere, you can follow us on LinkedIn.

Please send any questions to gk@ampere.au.