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Argument, Think Autism Melbourne 2026
A Melbourne panellist taught entrepreneurship for 14 years and never used the tools
In short
At Think Autism Melbourne in 2026, a panellist argued that business plans and model canvases are built for top down thinkers who are comfortable predicting, and that autistic founders need a method that starts from what they control.
Read it instead, 5 minutesThe transcript
The story
A panellist on the autistic entrepreneurship panel at Think Autism Melbourne on 30 May 2026 had taught entrepreneurship at university for 14 years and had been in business for 25. The panellist told the room something about those two careers that did not fit together. “I never used any of the tools that I taught.”
Reflecting on it, the panellist said that the mainstream approaches to building a business, the business plan and the business model canvas, are top down. The panellist summed up the logic of those tools in one sentence. “So, there’s structure first, and then you’re filling in the detail.” Autistic people, the panellist argued, work the other way. They are bottom up thinkers, starting from the detail and letting the shape emerge.
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Sources the story draws on
- Causation and Effectuation: Toward a Theoretical Shift From Economic Inevitability to Entrepreneurial Contingency (opens in a new tab), effectuation.org publications library
- Effectuation publications (opens in a new tab), University of Virginia Darden School of Business
- Over half a million people take part in largest ever study of psychological sex differences and autistic traits (opens in a new tab), University of Cambridge
- National Autism Strategy 2025 to 2031, First Action Plan 2025 to 2026 (opens in a new tab), Department of Social Services
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