If you had to pick a point where Side Stage Ventures began, it would be backstage at the Splendour in the Grass music festival in 2018. Jaddan Comerford, founder of Unified Music, was there feeling chuffed with himself. Despite never having had to raise money for his own bootstrapped agency, he’d just dabbled in a […]
Frenchman Geoffroy Henry moved to Australia in 2013 and, seven years later, he launched a start-up to mobilise the nation’s truckies and optimise logistics at a time when all focus was on supply chains. Today, his business Ofload has raised more than $80 million in capital – but Henry says his biggest challenge is narrowing […]
The 26-year-old YouTuber-turned-boxer has his sights set on becoming a boxing world champion, and building a billion-dollar business while he’s at it. “Boxing will humble you really quickly. There’s no cutting corners.” To many, Jake Paul’s parlay from YouTuber to boxer seems erratic. Going from one of the most highly sought after professions to being […]
Taryn Williams’ bio is as long as her hair is short. She founded three businesses: modelling agency WINK Models, booking marketplace theright.fit and social media marketing agency, The Influencers Agency. After exiting businesses two and three in 2023, she launched #Gifted. A sabbatical is on the horizon, but for now, there’s just too much to […]
Larry Diamond and Peter Gray enjoyed early success with their buy now, pay later company Zip, formerly Zip Co, when it launched in 2013. By 2019, their company had reached a $1 billion valuation. But as investor sentiment around the buy now, pay later industry soured, so did the company’s share price. It’s now near […]
Just 0.7% of all venture capital in Australia goes to 100% female-founded and led businesses. For US-owned VC fund, F5 Collective – which has invested in seven APAC, female-led businesses over the past year – it’s a huge opportunity. In fact, it wants to invest in 1,000 female founders by 2030. It’s no secret that […]
The first episode of Shark Tank proves that a good idea that solves a common problem, combined with a healthy dose of sheer determination is sometimes all it takes to start a fast-growth company. Key Takeaways Skincare entrepreneur Davey Rooney was the first entrepreneur to face a new panel of judges on the latest season […]
If there was ever a case for entrepreneurs being born and not made, Ruslan Kogan is it. He talks exclusively to Forbes Australia about his journey from being a migrant kid in housing commission flats in Melbourne to one of the country’s most successful tech entrepreneurs. At the age of six, for example, he discovered […]
Naomi Simson is the founder of experience gifting giant RedBalloon and one of Australia’s best-known entrepreneurs. In 2017, she co-founded Big Red Group, the biggest experience marketplace in Australia and New Zealand. It serves an experience every 18 seconds – the equivalent of 1.5 million a year. The former Shark Tank judge shares the habits […]
How a bunch of school friends built a $3-billion company in Brisbane’s Logan district. Andrew Barnes and Vu Tran were in high school and needed a job. They could have stacked shelves at Coles for $15 an hour. Instead, they started a software business and “made a dollar an hour”. Watching on in the year […]