What is Frank Lab?
Frank Lab is our six-month program that offers legal support and networking opportunities to help selected startups (for profit and for impact) grow their business. Jasmine Koh, Senior Associate & Head of Frank explains in this video:
Stay tuned for news about our next Frank Lab program. Our most recent Frank Lab focused on startups and scaleups geared towards innovating and enhancing technology and the digital economy.
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Prior to our technology/digital economy-focused Frank Lab, the previous year's program focused on women-led businesses, as part of our initiative to provide dedicated support and assistance to women working in startups and to reduce barriers to entry for women in growth businesses.
To find out more about the 10 amazing women-led businesses in our women-led Frank Lab cohort, check out the Frank Lab digital brochure.
Frank Lab overview
As part of the six-month program, participants will receive:
- $5,000 to spend on legal services/documents.
- Allocation of an experienced lawyer as your own trusted advisor.
- Regular meetings to assist in prioritising your legal and commercial needs.
- Access to our space, our technology and our Smarter Law solutions.
- Access to our networks, eg accountants, investors, etc.
Frank Lab is for startups
(for profit or for impact) that:
- Solves a genuine problem or serves a genuine need (which definitely includes social impact-focused startups).
- Has traction with customers or market validation.
- Are preparing to capital raise.
- Are looking to scale or move into other markets.
Applicants will be assessed based on the following broad criteria:
- The problem you are solving/your value proposition.
- Your team and people.
- Traction and customers.
- Legal and other professional support likely to be required in the next 12 months.
The Frank community
Frank Lab is capped at 10 startups. By applying, you automatically become part of our Frank community. If we are unable to offer you a place in this intake of Frank Lab, you can still access the following services:
- An obligation-free meeting to prioritise your business needs.
- Access to our dedicated team of industry experts.
- A commitment to fixed fees and cost certainty.
- Access to our network of connections (eg investors and accountants).
- All the benefits of being part of the Frank community – networking with like-minded startups, invitations to events and access to useful materials.
Frank Lab program
Read more about our Frank Lab businesses
Advisory Board members
Peter Williams
Peter Williams is a recognised thought leader and practitioner in Innovation. Peter started working with internet technologies in 1993 and in 1996 founded an eBusiness Consulting group, Deloitte Australia. Since that time Peter has been the CEO of the Eclipse Group, a Deloitte subsidiary, and then founded Deloitte Digital. He is also the Chairman of Deloitte’s Innovation Council and the Chief Edge Officer. He was recently named one of Australia’s top Digital Influencers and is an Adjunct Professor at RMIT.
Sheree Rubinstein
A free-spirited former lawyer turned entrepreneur, Sheree is the Founder of One Roof. For the past six years, One Roof was well known as the leading co-working operator in Australia dedicated to women-led businesses. When COVID-19 hit, the business was forced to pivot swiftly and shift the co-working empire to a digital membership model. In just over six months, One Roof has onboarded 450+ members across the country, hosted 200+ virtual masterclasses, co-hosted a massive female founder pitch night and seen great success among their community and membership. Sheree will offer her time as a mentor to the founders selected for Frank Lab 2021, and Hall & Wilcox will cover the cost for all Frank Lab 2021 cohort members to access One Roof's digital membership and benefits for one year.
Nathan Merzvinskis
Nathan is the Head of Business Operations at Skedulo, a San Francisco based startup building a platform for Deskless Workforce productivity. Having previously co-founded Everproof, a digital identity startup that was acquired in 2019 by GO1, Nathan continues to be an active participant in the Australian startup community as a mentor in the Startmate accelerator program, writer for The Startup and advisor to pre-seed and seed-stage companies.
Melissa Mack
A strategic brand and media consultant, Melissa is a ‘veteran’ (in startup years) of the tech PR/marketing industry. Melissa is also on the board of Fintech Australia and acts as a regular advisor on PR and communications to emerging entrepreneurs and founders. She previously led the comms and marketing at fintech scaleup MoneyPlace.
Melissa is a former journalist with The New Daily, an online non-paywalled Australian news site, and InDaily, a South Australian locally owned, free, independent digital news source. She has also held account manager, account director and consultant roles with PR firms Media & Capital Partners and BENCH PR.
Melissa now runs her own business, MelMack Communications, and helps passionate and driven entrepreneurs grow their profile, become thought leaders and take their business to the next level.