The prime minister describes them as builders of the economy - Steve Baxter says we should let them do "crazy ass things".
Startup businesses were the theme of the day as Malcolm Turnbull pledged $15 million to give entrepreneurs a leg up.
Speaking to entrepreneurs at River City Labs in Brisbane on Wednesday, Mr Turnbull recounted his own startup experiences with wife Lucy.
Some of them didn't work, but that's OK.
"I'm pumped up because what you are doing is driving our economic future.
"You're creating hundreds of jobs, delivering millions of dollars of exports, you are harnessing the boom, the ideas boom, that can go on forever."
The $15 million will expand the government's incubator support program, which initially received $8 million in last year's $1.1 billion innovation agenda.
The funding will increase the number of incubators, which help startups access funding and get ideas to market.
River City Labs is a hub that mentors startups founded four years ago by investor and entrepreneur Steve Baxter, who is also a "shark" on the television program Shark Tank, where budding entrepreneurs present ideas to judges who decide whether to invest in them.
He says Mr Turnbull has reset the language around innovation and failure.
"We should let all the smart young people try as many crazy ass things as we can, support them and if it doesn't work, we should then not demonise them.
"We should hail them as triers and doers and give them the tools to take that experience and recycle it into something else."
Mr Turnbull interviewed several startup founders about their experience - including Robert McLeay, founder of Dose Me, which calculates personalised medication dosages for individuals.
In some patient groups, personalised dosage is halving the mortality rate. In children with leukaemia, it's increasing survival by 15 per cent.
It was an idea hatched over a barbecue.
"So that was a barbecue starter, not a barbecue stopper?" Mr Turnbull said.
It wasn't all fun and jokes on Wednesday, as Mr Turnbull was followed around Brisbane by union protesters who called him a "slime bag" and a "dud".
A handful of protesters from the Electrical Trades Union gathered outside the Brisbane hotel where Mr Turnbull was staying, carrying union flags and signs saying "Stop Medicare and hospital cuts".
Several then piled into a maroon ute and followed the media bus from the hotel to the event where they waited for Mr Turnbull to arrive.
"What about your money in Panama, Malcolm, you slime bag," one yelled as the prime minister walked out of his car.
"Have a real go for Australia, you dud."
The group began their protest again, joined by several climate protesters, as Mr Turnbull left the building an hour later.
