Resilience & Wellbeing Challenge

Purpose

Startup founders are the backbone of Western Australia’s innovation ecosystem, driving new ideas, building companies, and creating future economic and social impact. But behind this progress sits a growing challenge.

Insights from StartupWA’s latest founder survey (129 respondents) and Mental Health & Wellbeing Roundtable held in March highlight the scale of the issue: founders are experiencing high levels of stress, burnout, financial pressure and isolation, with many unaware of available support or hesitant to seek help.

Importantly, this is not just an individual challenge, it is a systemic one. Current ecosystem structures, expectations and support models are often not designed to proactively support founder wellbeing, leading to reactive interventions rather than sustained, preventative support.

This Challenge directly responds to that need.