Wayfarer Places 3rd at Australia’s Most Unstoppable Founder Showcase

We nearly didn’t go.

Part of the prize for placing in the One Roof x March Collective Australia’s Most Unstoppable Founder competition in April was tickets to Blackbird’s Sunrise and an invite to pitch at the Most Unstoppable Founder Showcase at Canva HQ in Sydney, a room bringing together every founder who applied to the original program.

Flights have gotten eye-wateringly expensive. … and we’re a pre-revenue hardware company, so like most early-stage startups, every “yes” comes with a very real trade-off. But this was one of those trips that felt too important to miss, so we scrounged for the cash and made it happen.

The Showcase format was very human. It wasn’t about the perfect deck or perfectly polished numbers (thank goodness, because we have none…). It was about the founder: the grit, the resilience, the ability to keep building even when the path is expensive, uncertain, and slower than anyone would like.

Out of 21 founders, Wayfarer placed 3rd, and we were the only pre-revenue hardware company in the room. We also took home our first-ever cash prize (!!), supported by Westpac.

Our absolute favourite part of the night was that every place-getter was building in disability.

In a world where disability is so often treated as “niche”, it was powerful to be in a room where disability-led work was recognised for what it is - ambitious, high-impact, and hugely necessary. Huge congratulations to Sarah (TomCare) for taking out 1st and Catherine (Support Plus) for 2nd.

And to close with an unashamed little flex: every time we’ve pitched Wayfarer, we’ve won or placed. We’re taking that as a signal that the problem is real, the story lands, and the momentum is there.