Peter Farrell Cup

The Peter Farrell Cup (PFC), now in its 20th year, is UNSW's most prestigious competitive ideas program that is fast-tracking the next generation of entrepreneurs and start-ups.

Helping develop both current UNSW students and HDR candidates, the PFC offers applicants the necessary tools, skills, guidance and support to take their ideas from that initial light bulb moment to test and pitch, and potentially launch a real business!

The PFC culminates in a final pitch competition where participants get the opportunity to win a share of an incredible $20,000 cash prize pool to help take their ideas to the next level.

We are calling for current UNSW students and HDR candidates with the newest and most exciting innovative ideas or early-stage (pre-funding) startups to join us for this exciting program!

• Gain new skills, knowledge, ways of thinking, friends and plenty of opportunities
• Get matched with industry mentors with extensive "been there-done that" experience
• Participate in educational workshops (e.g. on Lean Startup Methodology, presentation skills and startup pitching)
• Get access to a world-class Makerspace Network
• The opportunity to pitch for a share in a huge $20K prize pool

Prize money:

$10,000 - 1st Prize

$5,000 - 2nd Prize

$3,000 - 3rd Prize

$2,000 - People's choice

You will also have plenty of additional opportunities to further develop and grow your startup beyond the PFC with the extensive hands-on support available from the UNSW Founders Program. 

Intellectual Property

Participants retain the copyright and any other intellectual property rights in their idea and startup.

Teams

Teams must comprise of at least 2 and no more than 5 members.

The team leader must:

1. Be a current UNSW (under/post grad) student or HDR candidate at the time of application
2. Have played the primary role in conceiving the idea
3. Complete and submit the PFC application form
4. Not participate in any more than one team that makes it through to the top 50

Other team members do not have to be UNSW students.

The Idea

Your idea must be:

1. Self-funded and pre-revenue (i.e. less than $3,000 from investors, paying customers, prize money or grants) at the time of the application
2. Legal in NSW and Australia

PFC
Date	What	Time	Venue
Friday, 24 January	Applications Open - Apply here
Thursday, 13 February	Information night	5.30 p.m. – 7.30 p.m.	MCIC
Tuesday, 18 February	Idea validation & application development workshop	4.00 p.m. – 6.00 p.m.	MCIC
Wednesday, 26 February	Applications close	4.00 pm.
Friday, 28 February	Shortlisted teams announced		Facebook + Email
Friday 6 - 7 March	Bootcamp + Social		MCIC
Wednesday, 11 March	Mentor Matchup	5.30 p.m. – 7.30 p.m.	Tank Stream Labs
Tuesday, 16 March	Perfecting Your Prototype	10.00 a.m. – 12.00 p.m. 2.00 p.m. - 4.00 p.m.	MCIC
Tuesday, 31 March	Workshop	4.00 p.m. – 6.00 p.m.	MCIC
Tuesday, 21 April	Pitch fest 1a	5.00 p.m. – 7.00 p.m.	MCIC
Wednesday, 22 April	Pitch fest 1b	5.00 p.m. – 7.00 p.m.	MCIC
Thursday, 23 April	Pitch fest 1c	5.00 p.m. – 7.00 p.m.	MCIC
Wednesday, 20 May	PFC Finals	5.30 p.m. –  9.30 p.m.	TBD

We have some valuable workshops if you need any help:

• Developing an idea? Register for our Idea Validation Workshop that is being held at MCIC on 24 February.
• Developing and completing the PFC Application form? The Idea Validation Workshop on the 24th of February will run you through the details.
• Finding a team? Finding a team member? Make sure to register and attend the PFC Info Night to be matched up with a team

The Peter Farrell Cup is named after Peter Farrell, 2001 Australian Entrepreneur of the Year and founder and chair of ResMed; a world-leading health company.

The same year Peter Farrell was awarded Australian Entrepreneur of the year, UNSW Business School launched the PFC as Australia's first ever pitching competition for student-led startups.

Held annually ever since, the PFC is now proudly brought to you by the UNSW Founders Program; UNSW’s platform for embedding entrepreneurial confidence in every student's experience

Don’t just take our word for it

eXsight – 2018 Peter Farrell Cup Winners

Affecting over a million Australians, colour blindness is a condition that can make it near impossible to read and interpret coloured information of any form at work, school and in other daily activities. eXsight is solving this problem by creating phone screen covers that help colour blind individuals differentiate between commonly confused colours. The screen cover is held in place, and stored when not in use, using a specially designed phone case. This cover can also be used for situations away from the phone.

Emma Casolin and Maggie Feng, co-founders of eXsight participated in the 2018 Peter Farrell Cup and took out the top prize of $10,000 to continue development of their business.

Emma said she was inspired by the experience of members of her family. "My brother has colour blindness and I noticed he has many problems at school and in his daily life," Casolin said. "I was sitting on the bus one day and thought, 'Why isn't there a filter to put on a phone for those who suffer from colour blindness?' And with help from my team, mentor and family, here we are."

Since the PFC, eXsight have participated in the New Wave Founders women's program and are currently part of our UNSW Founders Start program where they are working on the next iteration of eXsight.

For further information about the Peter Farrell Cup

Laura Earl
UNSW Founders - MCIC Program Manager
laura.earl@unsw.edu.au