A great idea and a strong desire for success are just two things the most successful Australian entrepreneurs have in common.
Many top entrepreneurs demonstrate an ambition to succeed despite coming from humble beginnings. Using their entrepreneurial skills, they rise to the obstacles, hurdles and challenges they meet.
So, who are these successful entrepreneurs? How did they get started? What challenges were faced and what entrepreneurial skills set them up for success?
Nick Molnar and Anthony Eisen – AfterPay
Afterpay, which launched in Sydney in 2014, is a financial technology (fintech) company with over 19 million customers worldwide, best known for its buy now, pay later (BNPL) service. The platform allows customers to split their expenditure into 4 interest-free payments, paid over 6 weeks.
The brain behind the unicorn startup was Australia’s youngest self-made billionaire, Nick Molnar. Before Afterpay, he worked as an Investment Analyst and was also Australia's top jewellery seller (ice.com) on eBay, shipping thousands of packages daily. After observing that millennials preferred not to use credit cards, he came up with his idea for AfterPay’s business model with co-founder and co-CEO, Anthony Eisen.
Like most entrepreneurs, the pair faced hiccups in the first year. Their very first retailer took it off the platform after launching because they didn’t think it was working. But within a couple of short years, huge retailers like Jetstar, Ugg and Target now offer the payment option.
Molnar and Eisen (and the people they employed) demonstrated resilience and high-level problem-solving skills in order to address the various hurdles that arose as they build Afterpay. Utilising essential tools, processes, and methodologies designed to solve problems allowed their businesses to adapt to disruption and complex problems.
Melanie Perkins – Canva
Melanie Perkins is one of the world’s youngest female founders and chief executive officers. She runs the billion-dollar venture-backed company, Canva.
At the age of 34, Perkins is one of the youngest female CEOs. As of January 2022, Perkins estimated wealth is A$9.21 Billion (US$6.5B) as per Forbes Report making her Australia's second wealthiest woman behind Gina Rinehart.
Her vision of a free, easy-to-use online design and publishing tool was born when tutoring design students to use complex design software such as Adobe during her brief stint at university.
Along with her now husband Cliff Obrecht, she created the small but successful yearbook design software, Fusion Books, to test her idea.
At age 22, after being rejected by over 100 potential investors, she flew to Silicon Valley and pitched to Bill Tai, a famous technology investor. He wasn’t interested initially but introduced her to investors, engineers and developers. She kept pitching and tweaking her pitch for investment until the search for investors was successful - her perseverance paid off!
In June 2012 along with Obrecht and Cameron Adams (a developer who at first wasn't interested), Canva was launched - they had successfully created a product that solved a problem many people were experiencing (that graphic design software was hard to use).
Presenting to potential investors requires entrepreneurs, like Melanie Perkins to skillfully identify and assess prospective stakeholders in order to bring any idea to life.
Mike Cannon-Brookes - Atlassian
Mike-Cannon Brookes is the co-founder of the Australian software company, Atlassian, along with Scott Farquhar. The company creates products relied on globally by millions of users including Cisco, NASA and eBay. Like Jira and Trello, it’s designed to improve how teams work.
Brookes and Farquhar became accidental billionaires when they funded their initial business idea with a $10,000 credit card. They constantly work to complement each other - Cannon-Brookes specializes in the day-to-day operations of the company whilst Farquhar paves a path for the company's future.
The co-founders had the dream of earning AU$40,000 per annum without working for anyone.
Kayla Itsines - Sweat App
Kayla Itsines, along with co-founder Tobi Pearce, built the popular fitness app, Sweat, which had over 30 million users within just 4 years of being launched.
The fitness app enables women to follow a wide range of workouts at home or in the gym to reach their wellness goals. The app also functions as a social platform where women can connect, motivate and inspire other women around the globe.
Itsines, who worked as a personal trainer in Adelaide, was inspired by her younger cousin to post her client's inspirational success stories and workouts on social media. Itsines then became a fitness influencer and used the platform to sell workout guides contained in e-books. She had the vision to create a platform that enabled her to reach fans in a more personal way.
Using revenue from e-book sales, ads on Instagram and brand deals, she was able to develop the software needed to create the mobile app without needing to pitch her idea or trying to find investors like most entrepreneurs.
In 2021, the Sweat company was sold for 400 million dollars.
If individuals aren’t naturally gifted in the art of social media, the concepts that underpin effective social media strategy can be learned, along with training in digital tools to increase customer engagement and brand reputation in this online course.
Ruslan Kogan - Kogan.com
Ruslan Kogan the founder and CEO of Kogan.com is a serial entrepreneur with a net worth of around A$575 million (in 2020).
At just 10 years old he started his first business collecting lost golf balls, cleaning them and selling them to golfers on weekends. After operating several businesses throughout his teens he attended Monash University before working in the IT departments of Bosch and General Electric (GE Money) and was a consultant at Accenture.
At 23 years old he started Kogan.com, a leading consumer brand renowned for price leadership through digital efficiency, out of his parent's garage in Melbourne, Australia. After starting with no external funding or capital, Kogan.com grew to become one of Australia's fastest-growing businesses in any industry.
These Australian businesses didn’t become a success overnight: their founders and CEOs persevered and continuously improved their ideas to reach their goals and dream vision.
Our free taster course, Introduction to Entrepreneurship, introduces you to the entrepreneurial skills needed so you too can start or develop your own successful business, be innovative within your current company or better define any pathway you decide to pursue.
