Hearing from colleagues and friends about the difficulty of finding the right psychologist sparked a business idea for fourth-year honours psychology student Georgia Muriti.
Springboard to success: psychology student Georgia Muriti, pictured, presents her start up business plan to a community of entrepreneurs at the Macquarie Incubator.
Today, thanks to the MQ Incubator program, Georgia is the founder of Welv, a new digital platform designed to connect people with the right mental health professional for their needs. Her startup aims to improve the experience of finding a psychologist — a process that’s often confusing, impersonal and disheartening.
“Welv helps people navigate the space of finding a relatable psychologist for them,” Georgia says.
“It also helps psychologists match with clients they are equipped to support and naturally empathise with.”
From idea to launch
Georgia’s journey began with the Macquarie Incubator’s short introductory programs, Design Thinking and START. That initial spark led her into the Educate program – an intensive six-month experience where aspiring founders develop their business models, test assumptions and pitch to a panel of experts.
“We first met Georgia in our Design Thinking program,” says Incubator Manager James Linton.
The skills we teach are transferable across your career - our program has supported business ideas from AI in obstetrics to booking software for DJs - it's transformative.
“She just had this natural skill for communicating ideas. From there, she enrolled in our START course, learned lean startup methods, and developed her idea into a market-ready product.”
Throughout the program, Georgia learned skills in customer discovery, prototyping and pitching. She credits the Incubator with giving her both the confidence and the structure to turn her idea into something real.
“Being part of the Incubator gave me access to mentors and a whole community of other founders,” Georgia says.
“It made the process of building something from scratch feel less overwhelming.”
Now Welv has launched into the market, Georgia plans to pursue the business alongside her studies. For the team behind the Incubator, success stories like Georgia’s are exactly what the program is designed to support.
“The skills we teach are transferable across your career,” James says. “Even if a founder doesn’t end up launching a business, that’s okay. As long as we’ve made a meaningful impact in their confidence and their skill development, we’ve done our job.”
A life-changing experience
Founded in 2017, the Incubator is open to students, researchers and alumni from any faculty. It supports both early-stage and more mature ventures through a variety of programs, from short sprints to longer residencies. What makes the environment unique is its cross-disciplinary, open-minded approach.
Founder: psychology student Georgia Muriti, pictured, impressed Incubator mentors with the clarity of her vision for a new business in the field.
“We’re a sector-and scale-agnostic incubator,” James explains.
“That creates a really dynamic environment. We’ve had ideas from military blast protection, to AI in obstetrics to booking software for DJs.”
For students, the experience can be life-changing — not just in terms of launching a startup, but in developing real-world skills and networks that last a lifetime.
“It’s transformative,” James says. “Especially for international students, as they arrive without a network, without confidence in their English or their ideas. Then they get on stage, pitch their idea, and at the end they’re told: ‘That was fantastic.’”
A skillset for the future
This supportive, skills-based approach is part of what sets Macquarie’s program apart. There’s a strong focus on the ‘founder-fit’ – a term used to describe the alignment between a person’s life experience and the problem they want to solve.
“Georgia demonstrated that founder character that we’re looking for — that winning formula,” James says.
“There was such a clear fit between her and her idea. For investors and customers alike, that credibility makes a huge difference.”
As for James, his passion for supporting startups comes from years of working in medical technology and commercialisation. Today, he relishes the chance to help students bring their ideas to life.
“Now I get to work with startups from all weird and wonderful walks of life. Every day here is completely different. I’m always learning something new.”
For Georgia, that spirit of curiosity and constant growth is what she’ll take with her – whether she’s pitching to investors, building new features on Welv or sitting in a psychology lecture.
“I never thought I’d start a business, but this experience has made me confident I can do this again and again,” Georgia says.
“It’s been fun and fulfilling, I would recommend it to anyone. You can come in empty-handed but you will walk away with so much.”
The MQ Incubator programs are designed to nurture innovative thinking and support the growth and success of new business ideas.
