How two founders built a multi-million dollar business from their backyard bungalow
With no business experience, two friends built a successful enterprise by understanding sales and service. For them, Deltone Solutions is a case study in how long-term thinking matters more than having all the answers.
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When Dimitri Jayaratne and Taras Selemba launched office supplies company Deltone Solutions in 2014, their headquarters was a bungalow in the backyard of Jayaratne’s parents’ home. They had two computers, a couple of desks and phones, but no experience running a business.
Fast-forward to today and their multi-million-dollar company serves more than 10,000 customers across Australia with a team of more than 35 people. It has also expanded beyond its original remit of printer cartridges and toner into office furniture, tech products and CCTV solutions.
The expansion was customer-led. As Deltone earned trust supplying cartridges and toner, clients started asking it to handle other parts of their office too. Rather than send them elsewhere, the founders saw a chance to become a single, reliable supplier, deepening relationships instead of chasing one-off sales.
Their journey offers a useful lesson for aspiring entrepreneurs: you don’t necessarily need to know how to build a business before starting one, but you do need to know what value you can offer. For Jayaratne and Selemba, it came down to being confident in their skills and work ethic.
Building the foundations
The Melbourne-based entrepreneurs met in sales in the early 2000s. Neither was impressed with how former employers treated customers and staff, and eventually they saw an opportunity to do things differently.
“We didn’t know anything about running a business at the time, but we knew how to sell and add value,” Jayaratne says.
That became the foundation of Deltone Solutions. From day one, the pair picked up the phones and cold-called businesses around Australia. During business hours, almost everything else took a back seat.
“From nine to five, Taras and I were just selling all day, pretty much non-stop,” Jayaratne says.
“Evenings were reserved for learning accounting software, processing orders, dealing with suppliers and figuring out the mechanics of running a company.”
More than a decade later, both founders remain advocates for the method that won Deltone its first customers: cold calling. They had extensive experience in hitting the phones and knew how powerful it could be with the right techniques.
“We didn’t just start the business and just wait for the phone to ring,” Jayaratne says. “We went out there, and we were proactive in finding customers.”
The power of connection
The founders say Deltone puts people at the centre of what it does, referring to both its business-to-business customers and staff. Jayaratne and Selemba set out to build the kind of workplace they’d have wanted themselves, one that invests in training, promotes from within and trusts people to own their role. Just as important, they want staff to enjoy coming to work and have some fun along the way.
Around seven or eight months after launching, Deltone hired its first employee. It allowed Jayaratne to transition to recruitment and training, while Selemba remained focused on generating sales.
Over time, they built the team and company culture to the point where the business could operate without them.
“Dimitri and I can step away from the company for a while and we have people in place that run it for us, and they do a fantastic job,” Selemba says.
Meanwhile, in an era dominated by digital marketing and AI, Jayaratne argues the phone is still a powerful tool because it creates something increasingly scarce: human connection. A salesperson has an opportunity to listen, solve a problem and start building a relationship.
To extend the connection, Deltone gives each customer a dedicated account manager with direct contact details.
“I feel like it’s really hard to find old-school, good service. AI can do a lot, but I don’t think it can ever replace that human touch.” – Dimitri Jayaratne
But service is only half the equation.
The founders are quick to point out that Deltone pairs that personal service with “genuinely competitive pricing”, so customers never have to choose between a good deal and being looked after. They get both. One of their biggest lessons has been understanding the value of trust and how long it takes to earn.
For Selemba, that means sometimes making decisions that may look less attractive for an individual transaction
but pay dividends over time. For instance, Deltone introduced free delivery as an early selling point, including for customers in regional and remote areas where delivery could be expensive. Selemba says there are still occasions when the company loses money on an order because it is focused on the longer relationship.
The same philosophy applies when there is an opportunity to make a sale.
If a customer calls because a printer has stopped working, Selemba says the team may troubleshoot the problem rather than immediately sell them a replacement.
“We could get the quick sale and sell them a new printer, but the bigger picture is to help the customer out,” he says.
Lessons for success
Selemba says Deltone Solutions’ growth was organic. Their key areas of focus were winning customers, building a reliable base, hiring when necessary, and moving into larger premises when the business outgrew the old ones.
Indeed, he believes the pair’s initial naivety may have helped. Knowing everything involved in building a company could have been overwhelming enough to stop them from starting at all.
“We started a business not knowing anything about it, but I don’t think there’s any way we could have fast-tracked our journey,” Selemba says.
For Jayaratne and Selemba, the takeaway from more than a decade in business is simple: you don’t need all the answers on day one. You need to know what you do well, stay close to your customers and be willing to learn as you go.
More than a decade after they began cold-calling businesses from a backyard bungalow, the phone remains central to their philosophy: have a real conversation, understand what the customer needs and find a way to add value.
“In a world of digital noise, that’s what makes you stand out – and it still works,” Selemba says.
Learn more at deltonesolutions.com.au
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