If there was ever a perfect way to open the Feastival of Ideas, it was this.

When Mitchell Hughes stepped on stage, the room shifted. The founder of Next Gen Ventures didn’t arrive to talk about theory or polished startup clichés. He came to talk about hunger, the kind that pushes a generation to build before they’re “ready,” to disrupt before they’re “qualified,” and to prove that being underestimated can be the ultimate advantage.

Mitchell called them The Insatiable Generation. And he meant it.

The Spark

From lecture halls to leading one of Australia’s first student-led venture capital funds, Mitchell has seen both sides of the ecosystem. He’s pitched, failed, fundraised, and built from the ground up, all while still in his 20s.

It started with a simple question: If the world’s biggest startup success stories are being written by students on campuses across the US, why can’t the same be true for Australia?

That question became the foundation for Next Gen Ventures, a VC fund for students, by students,  and a platform designed to give young founders not just money, but confidence, credibility, and connection.

The Big Idea

Mitchell’s message was clear: young founders aren’t the future. They’re the present.

In Australia, some of the brightest startup stories are already being written by people under 25, but too often, they go unnoticed or undervalued. As Mitchell pointed out, student founders have already built some of the country’s most exciting startups, but most haven’t realised it yet.

While 90% of VC-backed founders fit a narrow mold, 98% of unicorns globally have come from bold ideas sparked on campus. Around the world, universities are breeding grounds for world-changing ventures. In the US, it’s the norm. In Australia, it’s just getting started.

And that’s exactly what Mitchell wants to change.

Turning Underdogs into Catalysts

Being a young founder isn’t easy. Mitchell didn’t sugarcoat it. There are challenges, lack of experience, smaller networks, limited capital, but every challenge has a counterweight.

He flipped the narrative. What if youth wasn’t a disadvantage, but a differentiator?

Young founders, he said, have something older generations can’t replicate: an instinct for experimentation, a comfort with technology, and a bias toward speed and optimism. In an AI-driven era, those traits aren’t liabilities. They’re superpowers.

The next wave of founders will be the ones who learn differently, question authority, and build tools that challenge the status quo, not because they have experience, but because they don’t know why something “can’t” be done.

Building the Bridge

Mitchell’s data was as sharp as his delivery. He showed that while the number of student founders is growing globally, Australia still has a gap, one that Next Gen Ventures is determined to close.

Through more than 20 events, 1000+ startup hours, and 4000+ hours of mentoring, Mitchell and his team have built an entire ecosystem around one mission: to empower young founders to take their ideas seriously.

Next Gen Ventures now connects over 20 student VCs and has raised more than $3 million to invest directly into youth-led startups. The goal isn’t just to find the next unicorn. It’s to make sure those unicorns are given the space to grow right here, not overseas.

Fuel for Ambition

As Mitchell closed his talk, he left the audience with a simple question that echoed long after he walked off stage:

What’s your move in supporting young ambition?

It wasn’t rhetorical. It was a challenge, to universities, investors, and industry leaders to rethink how they nurture talent.

Because this generation isn’t waiting for permission. They’re already building. They’re already scaling. They’re already rewriting what entrepreneurship looks like in Australia.

The Aftertaste

Mitchell Hughes didn’t just set the tone for HEXPO 2025. He embodied it. Bold, curious, and relentless, he reminded everyone that innovation doesn’t start with funding rounds or titles. It starts with hunger.

The Insatiable Generation isn’t coming. They’re already here. And at HEX, we’re here for it,  helping young founders learn, lead, and build without limits.

Stay tuned for more stories from the Feastival of Ideas as we spotlight the voices shaping the future of learning, leadership, and innovation.

Because this is only the first course.