Startup Daily Best in Tech Awards 2025: Paz Pisarski named Future Leader of The Year

The Community Collective cofounder and CEO Paz Pisarski admits it all happened by accident, but it’s the best accident to ever happen.

At the Startup Daily Best in Tech Awards 2025, Pisarski was named Future Leader of the Year, sponsored by Techvisa. The award recognises an individual our judges believe has the potential to be an important voice and advocate for the startup sector.

The other finalists were Shilpa Mohan, head of operations at construction procurement software ProcurePro; Poonam Advani, program manager at Press Play Ventures, the pre-accelerator for women; and Gwen Masonsong, program manager at the Techstars Sydney Accelerator.

The all-female finalists led Natasha Prévot, cofounder of Techvisa to declare “The future of leadership is female” before declaring the winner.

Pisarski has turned an idea during Melbourne’s lockdowns into a movement that’s reshaping Australia’s startup ecosystem and the world. 

What started as a 17-person meetup has evolved into The Community Collective, now a global audience of 16,000, among 700-plus communities spanning 18 countries.

Alongside her cofounders, Melia Rayner and Jaala Alex, she created Australia’s first live cohort training program for community builders as The Community Collective, turning what was once seen as “fluffy” work into recognised strategic expertise.

Pisarski has also awarded 100+ scholarships to underrepresented founders, particularly women and those experiencing financial hardship, funding them herself in an effort to ensure the startup ecosystem reflects Australia’s diversity.

Building a six-figure impact business

From her base in regional Victoria, Pisarski has built a six-figure impact-led business, inspiring a new generation of founders to think beyond traditional growth strategies, training more than 280 people.

Those alumni now hold leadership roles at Airtree, Startmate, Blackbird Ventures, The Commons, and Canva and after six sold-out cohorts The Community Collective has a waitlist of around 900 people, hoping to glean insights from speakers such as Seth Godin, Derek Sivers, and Steph Claire Smith.

Speaking to Startup Daily after winning the award to the roar of the 200+ plus crowd, Pisarski said she was grateful to everyone who supported the vision for The Community Collective. 

“This actually is a representation of everyone who’s ever backed us, been in a program, been an advisor, and just been in our team,” she said.

“I would love to just make community building the most impactful business strategy for any company. I want someone to hire a community manager as if they were hiring the next sales lead. And if I walked on the street and someone said, ‘Oh, what do you do?’ And I said, ‘Oh, I’m a lawyer’. Like, they understand that. As if I just said, ‘I’m a community manager and I actually deserve a seat at this table and I know that I can deliver great returns, ROI and impact to business’.”

Pisarski confessed that she “accidentally started a business that went viral”.

“We noticed that there were people who were building the startup community, but there wasn’t a place for them to be a member instead of being a manager,” she recalls.

“So we ran a meetup at The Commons in Cremorne. It went viral and we had hundreds of people signing up. And eventually I quit my job, registered it as a company, and today we have an audience of over 17,500 people and have trained people from Google, Canva and MYOB about how to build a community.”

How to be a good leader

So what does this “future” leader think makes a good one?

“Stop talking and listen. If you’re going to be a good leader, you don’t make the decisions,” Pisarski said.

“You let other people have a voice and just champion them. I think this whole journey I’ve had as a founder and building a community has just been about understanding ‘where do I need to serve, who needs help right now, and how can I help them’.”

While Pisarski won the Future Leader of the Year at the Best in Tech Awards, it’s clear she’s already there, so we asked what’s the best piece of advice she’s received and what she’d pass on to others.

“I think the best piece of advice I’ve ever been given was from one of my advisors, Kim McGinnes. She said to me, ‘Paz, you have to think who, not how’, she recalls.

“So instead of thinking, how am I going to build a business? How am I going to build this community? How am I going to do everything on my own? You have to think, who can help me? Who is going to be here, who can I learn from, and who is going to join the movement? 

“Because it’s not about me at the end of the day, and it’s about doing it together.”

The Community Collective cofounder says there’s a lot of terrible advice offered and the most important thing is to believe in yourself and your vision.

“A lot of people go ‘That’s not going to work. You’re better off staying in the day job. Just don’t bother. You know, it’s not worth it’,” she said.

“I think you realise that at the end of the day, I get to live my life and I want to put my best foot forward, so I’m just going to try, and if it doesn’t work, that’s fine. So far, so good.”