Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services
Teresa Wojcik has created an Australian-first website, Your Season.
An ICON grant from the Canberra Innovation Network (CBRIN) helped Teresa Wojcik create an Australian-first website.
The point of difference for her fashion site, Your Season, is its organisation by seasonal colour palettes.
After having her colours done professionally, Teresa quickly identified a huge gap in the market.
“Shopping by colour palette wasn’t accessible in real life,” she said.
“The majority of stores were off limits because clothes weren’t in my colours.
“I’d go online but would spend hours and have hundreds of tabs open trying to find clothes I liked, and were in my palette,” Teresa said.
Her partner told her about CBRIN’s Innovation Connect (ICON) grants, and that’s when Teresa’s idea for Your Season came to life.
ICON grants are currently open and close 16 April 2024.
CBRIN receives funding from the ACT Government to support entrepreneurs, innovators and start-ups – like Your Season – in Canberra.
It offers business support, programs, grants and access to networks of other entrepreneurs.
“I got matched funding from the ICON grant for $30,000. It helped me build the Your Season website and work on the complex algorithm that feeds it.”
Teresa has already secured birdsnest.com.au, petalandpup.com.au, stfrock.com.au and Amazon Australia to list their clothes on her site.
She has ASOS and The Iconic in her sights for 2024. She’s also working on improving website functionality and getting other well-known brands on board.
“And there will always be work to do on the algorithm, it’s extremely complex and I want it to be the best it can be, even if my eyes are bleeding colours,” she said.
When asked what advice she had for anyone wanting to start a business in Canberra, she gave three tips:
- Lean into it – Go with your idea and seek out support, it’s there. The Canberra business community is very generous and you don’t have to do it by yourself.
- Understand things take longer than you expect – There can be pressure on you to go fast, to be first to market, but use the resources and support there are in Canberra to get you going.
- It’ll cost more than you expect – I’m not paying myself so I can build what I believe is a good product. But in the 10 years of working as a musician, I’ve received about $10,000 in funding, in one year in business I’ve received $75,000 in total. Look for funding to support your dreams.
Previous ICON grant recipients include Future Swirl and Aurabox.
For more on ICON grants, visit the CBRIN website.
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