When I was 23, I’d finished uni and was backpacking around South America. I spent my days reading books, staying in hostels, and contemplating what my ‘big career move’ might look like.
I thought I was ambitious and bold – but that was before I met the Forbes Australia 30 Under 30 crew, who have made me completely rethink what ambition in your twenties can be.
Back then, the idea of building a multimillion-dollar robotics company wasn’t even in the realm of possibility. Fixing systemic failures in healthcare felt like something only other people or big business could deal with. Sending lunar tech into space? Well, a sheer NASA-only fantasy.
But not for these guys.
Every year they blow my mind. They don’t just spot a problem or see an opportunity – they assume instinctively that they can be the ones to solve it. Their sheer self-belief, combined with being digital natives and the naivety of youth, becomes a competitive advantage.
They don’t see the barriers. They press ahead in full throttle – and in doing so, they’re reshaping the future of business.
Take Harrison Crowe Maxwell. When a burst pipe flooded his street, most of us would call a plumber and complain about the mess. Harrison saw a global opportunity. He and his co-founders built a robot that crawls through pipes to detect leaks. Their company, Puralink, just closed a $2.3 million seed round – and the opportunity is global; there’s no shortage of pipes to fix.
Or take Grace Toombs, who, despite being a young medical student with high health literacy, nearly fell through the cracks of the system. It sparked a fire in her and led her to think: if this happened to me, what’s happening to the women who don’t have my access? That fire became June Health, creators of Australia’s first at-home cervical screening test.
Then there’s Mitchell Hughes, who, while at Monash University, looked around at the many student founders on campus and realised something was missing – support.
So he set up Next Gen Ventures with his co-founder, Jerry X’Lingson, to bridge the gap between student founders and investors. The result? Two university students managing millions in venture capital and supporting innovation in their peers.
AI is about to accelerate all of this. The speed at which people can now build and scale companies is staggering. Tasks that once required teams of people will soon be handled by AI agents. Barriers to entry that once felt insurmountable are dissolving.
But 30 Under 30 isn’t just about tech. It’s about excellence – in sport, culture, entertainment and music.
As our List Editor Anastasia Santoreneos said, choosing just 30 from this year’s pool was brutally difficult. Along with Grace on our cover is Gout Gout – who broke the Australian national 200-metre sprint record in December 2024 – at just 16 years old. When he arrived at our shoot, he’d literally ducked away from studying for school exams for a couple of hours.
Basketball star Josh Giddey just signed a US$100 million extension with the Chicago Bulls, rocketing him to the top of Australia’s highest-paid athletes list.
And Milly Alcock, the House of the Dragon star and soon-to-be Supergirl, is just getting started.
Thirty extraordinary individuals. Welcome to the class of 2025.
This is also our final issue of the year – and what a year it’s been. To all our readers and subscribers, our Forbes Women members, Forbes Club members and all our commercial partners; thanks for being part of this three-year Forbes Australia journey. We look forward to bringing you more stories of innovation and leadership in 2026, and to keep connecting and championing the founders, creators and visionaries shaping the future.
Wishing you a wonderful break, and look forward to working with you in the new year.
Give me a shout anytime.
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