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Murray Hurps

“Startup Stalwart”, Director of Entrepreneurship, University of Technology Sydney and Managing Director, Startup Muster

Murray Hurps is the Director of Entrepreneurship at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), a position he has held since May 2018.12 He is a prominent figure in the Australian startup ecosystem with over 20 years of experience in entrepreneurship and technology.1

Career Highlights

  • UTS Director of Entrepreneurship: Hurps leads initiatives to grow the number of student-founded startups at UTS and nurture the Ultimo precinct's startup environment.1

  • Fishburners CEO: From 2014 to 2017, he grew Australia's largest startup community from 100 to 750 desks across Sydney, Brisbane, and Shanghai, supporting 845 startups.1

  • Startup Muster Co-founder: He co-founded and led the largest survey of the Australian startup ecosystem.1

  • Ad Muncher Founder: At 16, Hurps founded Ad Muncher, an ad-blocking startup that grew to 100 million active users over 14 years.2

Entrepreneurship Advocacy

Hurps is passionate about Australian startups and believes universities are uniquely positioned to drive entrepreneurship.1 At UTS, he focuses on:

  1. Showcasing realistic pathways to self-employment through role-modeling.3
  2. Facilitating peer learning among startups in the UTS community.3

Under his leadership, UTS Startups has become the largest community of student-launched startups in Australia, with over 1,000 startups accepted into the program.3

Board Memberships

Hurps serves on the boards of several organizations, including:

  • Startup Muster
  • Australian Information Industry Association
  • WorkVentures
  • Spark Festival1

His work at UTS aims to inspire and support technology-enabled entrepreneurs, contributing to Australia's economic recovery and future growth.23

Highlights

Aug 29 · linkedin

With over 140,000 questions answered, we are well on our way to our largest ever survey of Australia's startup ecosystem, but we need your help.

If you are running a startup in Australia, or supporting startups in Australia, please visit startupmuster.com and make sure your opinions and experience are counted before submissions close September 9th.

If you can help reach more startups and supporters, please do.

Also please take a moment to appreciate the incredible talent we have in Dr Andrew Leigh MP, Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, including assistant minister responsibility for the Australian Bureau of Statistics (my favourite bureau).

Previously a professor of economics at ANU, with a PhD in public policy from Harvard.

Author of genuinely fascinating books including “Battlers and Billionaires: The Updated Story of Inequality in Australia”.

Prolific researcher: https://lnkd.in/gDKzX3fe

Triathlete and marathon runner.

Andrew has been engaging in Australian incubators like Fishburners for over ten years, with a huge tolerance for people like me that can't hold a candle to his understanding of the impact of startups.

Keep fighting the good fight Andrew, and thank you as always.

Also extra thanks to Harry Godber from Spark Festival for lining up this interview - looking forward to the festival kicking off next week!

Adam Spencer Muhammad Jafer (PhD Computer Science) Danielle H. Ed Husic MP Christopher Kirk Josh Griggs Pauline Fetaui David Burt Rowena Barrett Don Wright Victor Dominello Maria MacNamara Brodie McCulloch Daniel Petre David Thodey ⚡️ Michael Batko Mick Liubinskas Eamon Waterford Liz Jakubowski Kate Pounder Damian Kassabgi Alan Jones Steve King Andrew Stevens Cliff Obrecht Nick Molnar Mark Pesce Siobhan Curran Kate Cornick Julia Spicer OAM Judy Halliday Tony K. Caragh Waller Navleen Prasad Liza Noonan Tim Hristovski Peter Achterstraat AM FAICD(Life) Chris Gillings

Jul 25 · linkedin

Over 10,000 questions answered in our first 24 hours! 🏃‍➡️📋

The largest survey of Australia’s startup ecosystem, Startup Muster 2024 is now open, and this is your chance to make sure the progress, challenges and opportunities here in 2024 are understood.

If you are running a startup in Australia, or supporting startups in Australia, please visit startupmuster.com and make sure your opinions and experience are counted before submissions close on August 26th.

If you can help reach startups and supporters, please do. Assets are on our site, and we'll customise anything you need - every single response counts.

Please join me in thanking our 2024 supporters that have made this work possible: Commonwealth Bank, Vanta, Stone & Chalk, CSIRO, ACS (Australian Computer Society) Labs, UNSW, QUT (Queensland University of Technology), City of Sydney, City of Parramatta, Baxter IP, Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys, The Gild Group, Amplitude and Relevance AI 👏👏👏

Thank you Ed Husic MP for continuing to be the incredible advocate for progress that you are. Feel free to tag whoever should be in a video next 🙏

Thank you to the perfect team making this happen again this year, Adam Spencer, Muhammad Jafer (PhD Computer Science) and Danielle H. ❤️

And most of all, thank you to everyone that puts the time into sharing your input. I continue to be dedicated to making sure this data meaningfully progresses our startup ecosystem, and our country.

Jesse Arundell Chris Connor Andrew Antal Christopher Kirk Jacqui Duncan Olivia Grandjean-Thomsen George Feast Mateus Oliveira Silva Helen McHugh Josh Griggs Pauline Fetaui Paul Wallbank David Burt Rowena Barrett Bryn Davies Kels Bagust Sarah Baker Michael Di Lazzaro Chris Baxter Amit Shah Mark Drasutis Scott Henderson Caitlin McCartney

Related Questions

What are some of Murray Hurps' most notable achievements in the startup ecosystem?
How has Murray Hurps' role at UTS impacted student entrepreneurship?
What initiatives has Murray Hurps introduced to support startups at UTS?
Can you provide more details about Murray Hurps' time as CEO of Fishburners?
What is the significance of the Ultimo precinct in Sydney's startup ecosystem?
Murray Hurps
Murray Hurps, photo 1
Murray Hurps, photo 2
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Location

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia