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START FAST
AND
STAY FAST
How BRW’s Fast 100 stalwarts
sustain their growth
Sponsored by
It takes more than
just one great
year to make it on 10 key lessons from
BRW’s Fast 100 list. the fast and lasting:
1. Dream big if you want to go
Members of the list are ranked according to their
the distance
average annual growth over three years, so the bar is
2. Own a niche and focus on it
set very high and companies that can make the list on
multiple occasions truly have something special. 3. Choose the “exact” person, no
In this eBook, which is sponsored by Crowe matter how long it takes
Horwath, Australia’s top accounting and financial 4. Don’t try to do it all
planning firm for SMEs, we examine some of the 5. Start lean, then bet the house
secrets of fast and lasting growth.
6. Learn from failure
A few key trends leap out, but perhaps the biggest
one is balance. 7. Share the glory and the profits
For example, many of the businesses we’ve spoken 8. Don’t grow for growth’s sake
to for this eBook manage a delicate balance between 9. Give back beyond your
focusing very tightly on their niche and being able business
to step back to see the bigger picture around their 10. Overcome the Us v Them
business and industry. mentality with staff
They manage the delicate balance between
remaining lean and agile and having enough capital
to grow and thrive.
And they manage the balance between driving
their business forward and growing in sustainable,
measured way that ensures the business will be
around for a long time.
Managing these competing priorities is no
mean feat and even the best entrepreneurs will
tell you they need help – from mentors, from their
management teams and, of course, from their staff.
The message is clear: Get the right people around
you and the balancing acts get easier.
The BRW team love putting our Fast lists together
and meeting the entrepreneurs behind these
amazing businesses. We hope you’ll enjoy their
insights in this eBook.
James Thomson
Editor, BRW
21. It takes a big dream
to go the distance
T yro Payments is the only non-bank credit and
debit card processor in Australia. Jost
Stollman and the two co-founders of Tyro started
with dreams so big, they were seen by some as
unachievable.
Stollman says: “What makes us take the fast
growth path is the mental aspirations of the
founders to achieve three goals:
• To create a new kind of banking that is valuable,
transparent and fair.
• To create a new kind of company that is highly
innovative, totally fair, and very flexible and caring.
• To instigate a lot more “Tyros” so that the best and
brightest Australian can stay here at home and not
migrate to Silicon Valley.
It has taken nine years and $33 million (from
Stollman and high-net worth investors) for the
business to reach break even, which it did in March
2012. Now, every penny of profit is ploughed back
into growing
the business.
The company’s annual compound growth rate has
averaged 80 per cent per year has put it on the BRW
Fast 100 list every year since 2010. Revenue growth
was 38 per cent last year, a number that would thrill
Jost Stollman most companies. Stollman is unimpressed. “That is
totally unsatisfactory,” he says.
32. Own a niche
and focus on it
F ast growth companies are focused – they do
less, but do it well. Shane Jones, the founder
of property construction and development
lenders who had seen the company grow and
thrive over the long term.
“We had been reasonably successful up until
company, Custom Built Constructions, has been that period of exponential growth,” Jones says.
buying land, building townhouses and selling “We were not a start-up with our hat out to
them in the regional areas around Geelong, everyone; we had quite a bit of money behind us
Victoria, for nearly 20 years. Business took off in and good relationships with lenders over a period
the past five years, and for the past three, CBC of time.”
has been on the Fast 100 list. Consistency has delivered the company’s more
Jones, a carpenter by trade, says the secret recent fast growth dividends says Jones. “It is
has been to stay focused on what he knows and just being consistent with what you do,” he says.
does well. After 15 years, he had a thorough “Having a formula that you know works and not
understanding of what his market likes to buy straying from that, consistently applying that,
(both owner occupiers and investors), six good and working hard to remain consistent.”
staff and a host of reliable contractors, and
www.crowehorwath.com.au
4“I’ve got the right
people doing all the
right things.”
Jo Burston
3. Choose the “exact” person,
no matter how long it takes
W hether it is the next staff member, a
franchisee, or an investor, Fast 100 stayers
are fastidious about finding the person who is
people on board.” Now LSA has 12 franchisees
and plans to growth to 35 in 2013.
Jo Burston, who started Sydney payroll
exactly right for the role. They are prepared to outsourcing business Job Capital in 2006, talks
wait. LSA Recruitment Group, ranked seventh about the importance of having an “ingrained
on this year’s Fast 100, uses a franchise model culture” at her business. “We only hire ‘A’ players
to grow. Founder and CEO Andrew Northcote who want to work with other ‘A’ players. We hire
says he originally planned to sign up 150 on values first then skills,” she says. “I’ve got the
franchisees by 2014, but his company’s brand was right people doing all the right things.”
threatened by some early hires. “We took a more Job Capital with revenue of $35.6 million in
conservative approach to choosing our franchise 2012-13, was on the Fast 100 list for three
partners and the priority has been to get the right consecutive years to 2012.
54. Don’t try
to do it all
S ustained fast growth requires humility as
well as determination. Self-confessed “super
geek” Michael McGoogan started his web-hosting
business in 2002 at the age of 14 from his parent’s
home. When he won his first government contract
at age 16 (his shares from incorporating the
business were held in trust by his parents until he
was 18) he had secured a mentor, investor Mark
McConnell, but age 17. Now 26, McGoogan says
his most important contribution to his company’s
success and growth (four times on the Fast 100
list) is admitting “I didn’t know everything …
When I ask myself, ‘What is my greatest
weakness, what is my company’s greatest
weakness?’ I find someone to bring into the
business and plug that gap.”
6Tammy May
5. Start lean,
then bet the house
T ammy May, founder of MyBudget, debuted
on the BRW Young Rich list in 2013 with a
$20 million fortune. MyBudget manages family
invested just $5000 to start his wholesale coffee
business in 2002. This year, revenue reached $35
million. “Before you achieve that first $1 million
bills and budgets for a fee. turnover, you have to get your first dollar,” he
Now 35, she started her business at age 22 says.
while her friends were out partying. “It comes With just two clients to start, Di Bella rented
back to discipline,” May says. “For first 12 a roasting machine from another company.
months, I didn’t draw a wage He roasted the coffee on the machine owner’s
at all. All that money I would have earned went premises, packed it in the garage of his unit,
into the business.” delivered it himself, and did his bookkeeping on
When May started in 1999, she used to go his girlfriend’s computer at her flat.
to the post office and local bank to manage “The moment I knew I was going to make it I
customer bills. In 2001, she took a $55,000 invested in a machine,” he says. After 12 months,
mortgage on the family home to help fund new he sold his unit and bought the building, which
software for the business. At June 30 this year, is still his headquarters in the inner Brisbane
her company’s revenue reached suburb of Bowen Hills. Di Bella was on the Fast
$21.7 million and she has been on the Fast 100 100 list in 2007 and 2009, and in 2012 was a
list each year since 2009. finalist in the BRW ANZ Private Business Awards
Brisbane coffee entrepreneur Phillip Di Bella for Excellence in Customer Service.
76. Learn from
failure
N aomi Simson chucked in her senior marketing
executive role to create her online company,
RedBalloon, which sells experiences as gifts. Growing
from revenue of $70,000 to almost $26 million to June
2010, RedBalloon stayed on BRW’s fast-growth lists for
six years in a row: two years on Fast Starters and four on
the Fast 100.
Fast growers don’t worry about making mistakes,
Naomi Simson provided they learn from them.
Like many early online retailers. Simson over-
complicated her site initially, but she quickly pruned
it to essentials, with one click to buy, opportunities for
“Test fast, fail customer feedback and comments about their gifts.
Job Capital’s Jo Burston says failure is a great teacher,
fast, adjust fast” an attitude that is aligned to the great management
thinker, Tom Peters. Burston has adopted his motto –
“test fast, fail fast, adjust fast” – because this keeps her
company innovative and customer-centric.
www.crowehorwath.com.au
87. Share the glory
and the profits
S even times on the Fast 100 list, Scott Frew’s
Distribution Central is now too big to qualify.
Instead, he was a finalist in the BRW GE Mid-
storage and network products to resellers and set
itself apart with service: DC helped resellers solve
their customers’ problems.
Market Awards. He bought his business for $1 Now he is helping his competitors make
million in 2004. Last year, DC hit revenue of $252 money. He’s built two new services – an IT asset
million. That is a compound annual growth rate management system and a pay-by-the-month
of 84.85 per cent. cloud platform.
Frew has built his super-fast fortune by making Frew doesn’t care if his rivals buy and resell his
other people successful – IT resellers, in the first services; he clips the ticket on their path to profit.
instance. DC started life distributing security,
98. Don’t grow for
growth’s sake
G rowth can be addictive, as Sandy Dunn,
the founder of consulting company,
Assetivity, found. Assetivity, which advises
large mining, energy and utilities companies
on asset maintenance, made the Fast 100 in
2004 and 2005 before revenue slumped in
2006.
“The slowdown was largely due to taking
my eye off the ball,” he says. “I got a bit
cocky.” He’d tried to expand into new areas,
like oil and gas, and hired extra staff that
were technically good but lacked business
skills.
The resources boom in 2007 forced
Assetivity to refocus. Dunn concentrated on
existing customers rather than chasing new
ones. Assetivity was back on the Fast 100 list
by 2009, and has since successfully expanded
into energy but this time it’s more a calculated
about growth.
“The danger with a consulting business
is you grow too quickly and service quality
falls,” Dunn says. “I want good people
working with high-value clients in a specialist
niche. If we do that, we’ll have plenty of
opportunities to grow.”
Seven Consulting founder Declan Boylan
delivers huge technology projects for banks and
telcos. His consultancy been on the Fast100 list
for six years, with growth of between 40 per
cent and 50 per cent a year. “The biggest factor
“It’s a trap to take on behind our growth being sustainable has been
turning work down,” Boylan says.
every piece of work “Over the years, we’ve turned as much
work down as we’ve taken on. We could have
when you’re a small grown at 100 per cent to 150 per cent but the
danger was losing quality control and not
company.” maintaining the growth trajectory. It’s a trap
to take on every piece of work when you’re a
small company.”
10www.crowehorwath.com.au
Mike Cannon-Brookes
9. Give more
T he globally successful technology company,
Atlassian, which had sales of $US150 million
in 2012–13, puts 1 per cent of its profit and equity
take decades to fix social problems.
Atlassian co-founders and Young Rich
members, Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-
into the Atlassian Foundation. Its staff can give Brookes, believe the project is a culture – building
1 per cent of their time to their chosen non- exercise. “We’re not doing it to create some sort
profit venture. So far, $US3.3 million has gone of competitive advantage, but there’s no doubt
to charities from conversation to education and the charity work engages young staff and begins
staff have donated over 1000 hours to projects to feed on itself by attracting the right type of
ranging from fruit bat conservation to building people to our business.”
accommodation for homeless people in the Naomi Simson’s RedBalloon found that time
United States. off for volunteering is the activity most likely to
The 1 per cent model has great merit. It improve a company’s staff engagement scores.
creates what charities and foundations need RedBalloon supports a number of charities
most – a more certain stream of annuity income. through it’s corporate social responsibility
Many charities struggle to implement long-term program “We Care”, which are selected based on
programs and solutions because they do not have employee choice. Each RedBalloon staff member
guaranteed steady funding. Understandably, they is entitled to one extra day’s paid leave each year
take a short-term approach even though it can to go and work for a charity of their choosing.
“Charity work engages young staff and
begins to feed on itself by attracting the
right type of people to our business.”
1210. Overcome the Us v Them
mentality with staff
J o Burston, founder of Job Capital, ensured
that each of her 12 staff is “a champion of the
brand” by including all employees in discussing
they got up to over the weekend,” he says. “It also
becomes logistically harder to socialise – to agree
to have the same cuisine for lunch or go on trips
the company’s performance and plans for the away together.
future. “This is when the group starts to split into
“When people start in business they’re very subgroups. The management team versus the
guarded about their business and strategy” non-management team.”
she says. I was the opposite. “If [employees] Before a divisive culture took hold and staff
understand the vision they’ve got a much higher began feeling disgruntled and underpaid, Ng
level of engagement. My big lesson in business took steps to redefine the company’s core values,
has been this: don’t be guarded, tell your story, and to reward team effort.
share your vision, be proud and get people on Ng’s tips about how to create a happier workplace
your journey. Transparency creates trust and are:
confidence about the future.” • Define a set of core values.
When small companies get bigger, it’s harder to • Create a vision, something bigger than just
maintain a happy culture, says entrepreneur and profit.
chief executive of E-Web Marketing Gary Ng. His • Recognise and reward desired behaviours
business was ranked No.4 on BRW’s Best Place to often.
Work list this year, and has appeared on the Fast • The chief executive needs to live and breathe
100 four times. the core values.
“As your business grows beyond a 10-person • Perform a random good deed for your
team, it becomes harder to ask everyone what colleagues.
Gary NgWe hope you enjoyed
this eBook.
For more on the
Fast 100, head to
com.auYou can also read
