Makerteers Glasgow Launch Event | Scotland's First Venture-Building Programme for Makers
Makerteers Glasgow Launch
Scotland's first venture-building programme for makers starts here.
Thursday 17 September | 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
The Glasgow Collective
Makerteers is Scotland's first six-month venture-building programme for makers, supported through the Scottish Government's Ecosystem Fund.
Designed to help ambitious makers, designers, inventors and product entrepreneurs move from Maybe to Market, the programme combines practical workshops, expert support, proven tools and a powerful peer network to help turn great products into stronger businesses.
Applications are now open for the first Makerteers cohort.
Only 40 fully funded places are available:
20 East Coast Makerteers
20 West Coast Makerteers
If you're considering applying, this launch event is the perfect opportunity to meet the team, hear from founders who have built real product businesses and discover whether Makerteers is right for you.
👉 Apply now: https://makerteers.com/apply
Join us for a very special launch evening
Whether you're thinking of applying to Makerteers, already building a maker or product business, or simply want to learn from people who have turned ideas and skills into successful ventures, this evening is for you.
Meet the Makerteers team, discover the thinking behind the programme and connect with a community of makers, designers, inventors and product entrepreneurs from across Glasgow and the West of Scotland.
The Schedule
6:00 PM | Doors open, networking and maker showcase
6:30 PM | Welcome and introduction to Makerteers
In Conversation | Michael Corrigan, CEO of Trtl
Meet the Maker Panel | Sadie Smith, Siobhan Thomson and Andrew Flynn
8:30 PM | Networking
9:00 PM | Close
In Conversation with Michael Corrigan, CEO TRTL.
From Christmas Fair to Global Travel Brand
How do you turn a product first tested on a small stand at a Christmas fair into one of Scotland's most successful global consumer brands?
Join us In Conversation with Michael Corrigan, CEO of Trtl, as we explore the remarkable journey from the original Trtl travel pillow prototype to a multi-million-pound international travel brand, with products now sold around the world and protected by multiple patents.
https://uk.trtltravel.com/
This will be an open and honest conversation exploring what it really takes to build a product business from the ground up.
Together we'll discuss:
Testing ideas early and learning from customers.
Building a globally recognised product brand.
Developing products people genuinely love.
The mindset required to navigate uncertainty, setbacks and growth.
Scaling manufacturing, teams and operations.
How Trtl is embracing AI to improve operational efficiency while protecting creativity and maintaining a personal connection with customers.
If you've ever wondered how a simple idea becomes a global product business, this is a conversation you won't want to miss.
Meet the Maker Panel
Making something brilliant is one challenge.
Building a sustainable business around it is another.
We'll be joined by three Scottish makers and product entrepreneurs with very different routes into business, bringing experience across textiles, fashion, product design, manufacturing, sustainability and global product development.
Together we'll explore:
How they got started
Moving from maker or designer to business owner
Developing products that customers actually want
The biggest challenges they have faced
Manufacturing and scaling without losing quality
Building confidence, networks and commercial ambition
Lessons they wish they had learned sooner
What they would tell someone starting today
Meet the panel
Sadie Smith
Founder | Sadie Smith Studio
Sadie is the founder of Sadie Smith Studio, creating beautifully crafted textiles, homeware and accessories inspired by contemporary Scottish design.
Her career has taken her from working with major retailers including John Lewis to experience in Hong Kong, before building her own independent Scottish maker business.
https://www.sadiesmithstudio.com/
Siobhan Thomson
Founder | WEAR Glasgow
Siobhan is the Glasgow-based maker behind WEAR Glasgow, an independent sewn-product development and production practice working with a network of creative and manufacturing collaborators.
With a background in garment development, pattern cutting and textile manufacturing, she supports designers, creatives and businesses from initial concepts and prototyping through to production, helping them explore practical manufacturing solutions in the UK and overseas.
Andrew Flynn
Founder & Designer | POTR
Andrew is the founder and designer behind sustainable botanical startup POTR, as well as a Product Design Engineering lecturer at the Glasgow School of Art.
His design career has spanned transport design with Airbus, consumer product development at Dyson and EV infrastructure at Wallbox in Barcelona.
Andrew has channelled that experience into building and scaling POTR, with the ambition of establishing a household sustainable product business here in Scotland.
Having raised its first round of investment last year, POTR continues to scale globally and bring new product innovations to market.
Three different businesses. Three different journeys. Plenty of useful scars.
Following the conversation, you'll have the opportunity to meet the panel, ask questions and connect with other makers and product entrepreneurs in the room.
Venue
We're delighted to be hosting the Glasgow launch at The Glasgow Collective.
A creative hub and home to independent makers, artists and creative businesses, it's a fitting place to launch a programme designed to help Scotland's makers build stronger businesses together.
The Glasgow Collective
15 E Campbell Street
Glasgow G1 5DT
Free parking is available on site.
Why attend?
Discover Scotland's first venture-building programme for makers
Hear from founders who have built and scaled real product businesses
Meet makers, inventors, designers and product entrepreneurs
Learn from the successes, mistakes and lessons of people already on the journey
Meet the Makerteers team before applying
Help shape the programme around the support Scotland's makers actually need
Building a great product is only half the challenge.
Building a stronger business around it is where Makerteers comes in.
Thursday 17 September | 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Let's Make More. Together.