Meet the founder, Colin Graham

Colin has experience in marketing, innovation and engaging talent. He has worked with over 300 startups and small businesses, 50 of the world’s leading companies and 12 regions.

Today, his principal interest is in developing innovative businesses and communities building on his work in international cities and the Sunshine Coast, one of Australia’s fastest growing regions.

Colin has degrees in Marketing and Entrepreneurship and his first job after graduating was in marketing with Dulux near London where he became International Product Manager.

At 26, he left Dulux to be the co-founder and CEO of Yellowbrick, focusing on graduate recruitment. Colin led the ‘Delivering the Promise’ project with 36 leading companies including Intel, P&G, and Deloitte.

Colin then joined the Career Innovation Company working on engaging talent projects with Global HR Directors from 18 companies including PwC and Unilever. He was the lead author of ‘ePeople, engaging talent in the entrepreneurial age.’

In 1999, Colin joined the Robert Gordon University in Scotland to create a Student Business Incubator before moving to Australia in 2002 to be the Founding CEO of the Innovation Centre at the University of the Sunshine Coast.

At that time, the Sunshine Coast was primarily known as a lifestyle and tourism region with few tech businesses. The Innovation Centre went on to support over 260 startups in ICT, creative, healthtech and cleantech sectors.

Today, the Sunshine Coast is increasingly recognised as an innovation hotspot, ranked sixth in Australia by Startup Blink, just behind the major capital cities.

Colin established Causeway Innovation in 2012 to build on insights from working with startups, small businesses and communities. In 2021/22, he was also part of the leadership team for the Sunramp Healthtech Accelerator.