You’d be forgiven for thinking the only way to build a successful company is to become an AI genius or launch the next billion-dollar tech start-up.
This story features on the cover of Forbes Australia: Issue 24 . Tap here to secure your copy.
It’s a fair assumption if you go by recent funding figures. Last quarter, AI sucked up roughly three-quarters of all venture capital invested in Australia and about 81% of seed funding.
Which is why I find this issue quite refreshing. It’s packed with stories of entrepreneurs who have built great businesses across industries such as food, music, retail, equipment hire and media. On the surface, they have little in common, but the same thread runs through: spotting an opportunity others overlook and then having the courage to pursue it.
Take Tezzi Daniel, who was living on just $17.90 a week in discretionary income when she baked a gluten-free Christmas cake for a friend. It was so well received she posted on Facebook: “Any of my coeliac friends out there want a Chrissy cake? Hit me up. $30.” Unbeknownst to her at the time, she uncovered a huge gap in the market. And just a few years later, her company, Cooee Native Superfoods, supplies Qantas, Sodexo, major supermarkets, and has plans to hit $14 million in revenue by next year.
Or take former marketing executive Kylie Jones. After a 30-year career, she was retrenched and told she was too old to understand AI and social media. Rather than accept the accusation, she launched Fifty and Fearless. Within just eight months, she’d built a social audience of one million people simply by identifying and serving a demographic that had been largely overlooked: women over 50.
Jones was joined by five other creators at our recent Female Founders breakfast, and despite working in an industry dominated by algorithms, they all arrived at the same conclusion: while AI can drive efficiencies, it isn’t what built their business, nor will it be what grows it. They’re winning because they’ve built trust, authenticity and a genuine connection with their communities – highlighting once again the valuable commodity of human connection.
Then there’s our cover story: the Kennard family. It all began in 1948 when Walter Kennard was tired of people asking for a lend of his cement mixer… so he said: “I won’t lend it to you, but I’ll hire it to you.” It’s a phrase now etched into the Kennard family lore and the spark that kicked off what’s today a $4.5 billion company and one of Australia’s great family businesses.
Of course, AI will help many of these businesses become more efficient, but it’s not why they exist. They were built because someone saw an opportunity that others had overlooked.
That’s worth remembering. Amid all the AI noise, the next great business idea may be far less complicated. It’ll come from paying closer attention to the world around you; a problem no one has solved, a frustration you have learned to live with, or a group of people no one else is paying attention to.
So for anyone looking for inspiration beyond tech, I’d encourage you to put the devices away and spend some time with these pages. Read about Kennards, Cooee Native Superfoods, Fat Zebra, Dr Dre, Dhar Mann, The Creators and the many others braving the world of entrepreneurialism.
I hope this issue leaves you feeling as inspired as it left me.
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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