#Bootstrap
What King Kong’s founder is doing to outpace other digital agencies in the race for growth
Asked how King Kong came to be crowned Australia’s fastest-growing digital marketing agency, founder Sabri Suby said his team practice what they preach, put skin in the game, don’t hide behind vanity metrics and focus on bringing cash in the door – “We’ve had no choice, being bootstrapped, but there’s no smarter way to grow”. […]
Liven co-founder suggests training subsidy to offset start-up impacts of the 457 visa reform
The 457 visa changes continue to divide the business community as to whether they represent an opportunity or a challenge to overcome. For David Ballerini, co-founder of Melbourne start-up Liven – a restaurant discovery app – a key concern is the potential for increased development costs. “Occupations to be dropped from the replacement programs include ICT support and test […]
Tom Caesar on the growth trajectory of his bootstrapped, digital-first finance start-up
Tom Caesar co-founded Positive Group, a financial services provider, with his father Mark in 2009. The duo, both veterans of the industry, initially operated the start-up out of their home office in Adelaide. Rather than take out a loan or engage investors, they resolved to bootstrap the operation. This decision, together with the company’s transformation […]
The advantages of being a self-funded entrepreneur (and a few mistakes to avoid)
Most, if not all, self-funded entrepreneurs understand the challenges that go hand in hand with starting a business in today’s competitive start-up environment. For those that choose the self-funding route, the stress factor can go through the roof if you’re unprepared. At the same time, the benefits of self-funding can far surpass the challenges – […]
The ‘ridiculous, impossible’ Instagram fix that Hugh Stephens made a viable, global business
Launched in January 2014, ScheduGram is a software as a service (SaaS) that exists because Instagram missed a beat; namely, the platform’s standard Application Programming Interface (API) doesn’t allow people to schedule posts. Well, one company’s oversight is someone else’s gain. Founded by Melbourne-based entrepreneur Hugh Stephens, Schedugram schedules Instagram posts on the behalf of its clients, which include […]
Success in a smile: the young Queenslanders who grew a $10m business in under two years
In the space of 21 months, business partners Nik Mirkovic and Alex Tomic have transformed their DIY teeth whitening product into a multi-million dollar ecommerce business with a global customer base. The success of HiSmile, which launched in December 2014, is attention-grabbing for a number of reasons. For one, success was achieved in the absence […]
Aspire to be like a cockroach, start-ups told
Investors are quickly waking from the unicorn dream to the reality of a start-up world where only the ‘cockroaches’ will survive, StartCon manager Cheryl Mack told Dynamic Business. Held at Sydney’s Royal Randwick Racecourse on 26 to 27 November, the 2016 StartCon conference features an international line-up including Elena Verna (Survey Monkey), Nate Moch (Zillow), Annabell […]