If you’ve spent any time around Wellington’s startup ecosystem, you’ve probably heard us talk about Labs and Activate programmes in the same breath – Fintech Lab, Aurora Climate Lab, GovTech Activate, CreativeTech Activate. It’s easy to assume they’re all the same thing with different names slapped on. Each programme is unique, and it’s important for founders to understand which is the best fit.
So here’s a simple overview of what they are, why we run them, and how one is deliberately designed to lead into the other.
Labs: Big commitment, big leap
Creative HQ has run intensive startup accelerators for years. These days, we call the flagship ones ‘Labs’ – Fintech Lab, Aurora Climate Lab – and they’re not for the startup-curious. They run for three months and are hands-on, fast-paced and ask for serious time commitment from a founder. We often say you can make a year’s worth of progress on your company in three months inside a Lab.
But that’s a key consideration for a founder – because making that leap is a big decision. A three-month, high-intensity programme means real changes to how you manage your week, your income and your headspace. For a lot of founders, that might not be accessible right now. Whether that’s because of caring responsibilities (which we know can land disproportionately on women), financial pressure, day jobs or just not being at a stage where that level of commitment is feasible.
For a founder testing the waters of startup life, not being ready for that commitment shouldn’t be a prohibitor to progress. So while you may not be ready for a “Lab” (full accelerator), you may have a brilliant idea you want to explore… but need to keep flexibility around your existing life commitments.
Enter Activate: a softer, faster on-ramp
That’s exactly why we built our Activate programmes, which are tailored to different industry verticals (FinTech, GovTech, CreativeTech, ClimateTech).
Activate programmes are built around a fortnightly rhythm and smaller weekly time commitments than a Lab. You’re not disrupting your day job, family or life outside work to participate. You’re testing and experimenting with an idea in the margins of an already full life – and still making enough progress to know, with real evidence, whether it’s worth pursuing more seriously.
We lean heavily on AI tools inside Activate (in a different way to how we use them in Labs), because it means founders can move at a pace that simply wasn’t possible a few years ago. A few hours a week, spent well, can get you further than you’d expect.
Impact is the first thing we design for:
We can take someone from an idea on a whiteboard to genuine validation, wrapped in real support that will enable you to keep going after 10 weeks. Hand-in-hand with this sits inclusivity. We want founders from every part of Aotearoa, age range, background and gender walking through the door (in-person or virtual) – and that only happens if the programme itself doesn’t ask for commitments that not everyone is in a position to make.
So which one is “better”?
Spoiler: Neither – they’re just built for different stages.
A Lab is where you go once you’ve got something built and you’re chasing product-market fit, refining your pitch or getting investor-ready. It’s later-stage, higher-intensity and it assumes you have real traction to work with.
Activate is where you go to find out if you’ve even got something worth building in the first place – without needing to bet your livelihood on finding out.
Activate isn’t just a nicer entry point, it’s a potential pipeline into our Labs. Sadia Islam and Tanzeev Haque came into Fintech Activate with just an idea. They wanted to build a halal, interest-free financial platform for the more than 82,000 Kiwi Muslims currently shut out of standard banking products. They left with a validated concept and a clickable prototype, took that straight into Fintech Lab, built out a team, and now have 200+ people on a waitlist within 48 hours of opening sign-ups. That’s Nashrr.
Ashleigh Adair and Graeme Merrall had a similar path. Both spent years turning data into strategy at Google and LinkedIn before teaming up to tackle a problem nobody’s quite solved yet: businesses know they need to become climate resilient, but almost nobody can tell them a financially viable way to get there. They came through Aurora Activate, and the programme reshaped their roadmap more than the idea itself – narrowing twenty possible products down to one “north star” simulation platform. From there they moved into Aurora Climate Lab, and DataLoom is now mid-build on that core engine, running a beta pilot that cut research time by 85% and preparing to raise pre-seed.
Neither of those companies would have made it to a Lab without a lower-stakes place to start.
Wherever you are, there’s a step for you.
If you’ve got an idea and have the energy to explore it, Activate is your place to start – no need to disrupt your job or whānau to find out if it’s worth pursuing. If you’ve already built something and you’re chasing the next serious leap (most likely investment) a Lab could be your next step.
Either way, that’s why we designed a pipeline rather than a single high bar: more founders get in the door, more ideas get properly tested, and the ones with real legs get everything they need to go further, faster.
If neither option sounds right, there’s always Startup Aotearoa (free coaching), Founder Launch (free e-learning) or the plethora of events and meetups happening to connect you into the community, which you can keep an eye on via our Connect page.
Curious where you might fit? Reach out to our friendly team anytime.
