Our Story

We're called Mum's Garage because we started in Natalie's mum's garage, and well, the domain name was free.

How Mum's Garage came to be

Mum's Garage was born out of our frustrations with the lack of early-stage support for budding entrepreneurs in New Zealand.

We realised that the lack of the right kind of support for early-stage entrepreneurs in New Zealand was limiting a large number of people from progressing ideas and following dreams. The concept of entrepreneurship was unnecessary intimidating and the perceived barriers to entry for starting out in business were unnecessarily high.

So in August 2015 Mum's Garage was started, in founder Natalie Robinson's mum's garage, to provide a grassroots approach to starting businesses, without the hype, politics and the perception that entrepreneurship is only for the elite.

The garage wasn't anything special, by a long shot. It was cold, grungy, old and could only just fit one car. Nevertheless, every week we would have up to 10 people squeezed in, sitting around a heater, talking about ideas, passions and how to get started. It was a magical experience.

Mum's Garage was and still is, a community focused on developing people, rather than just a business or an investment.

The original Mum's Garage venue with Shay Wright writing on the blackboard wall
Natalie Robinson sitting in Mum's Garage

Stories from the early days:

Do Good Jobs Do Good Jobs, November 2015