I started my working life in the hospitality industry. One night the computer system crashed while I was managing a hotel. It fell to me, with no experience in IT, to work with the vendor to get the system up and running again. I must have done okay, because a couple of weeks later they…

On the face of it, Assemble is an organisation that provides end-to-end property development and management services. We buy development sites, build ‘multi-family’ (long-term rental) properties, and enable communities to develop within and around them. But more than that, we’re set up to participate and contribute positively to the new economy. The new economy is…

Predictive Hire was founded four years ago by two friends from England who have known each other since they were kids. They were both recruiters who came to realise that the recruitment process was unfair and inefficient. They found themselves making calls that affected people’s careers without having any concrete way of knowing if they…

I am on a mission to drive one of the leading telecommunications companies to new heights in my current position as the CEO of Virgin Mobile KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). In Saudi Arabia, we are witnessing a paradigm shift in the economy. It is aligned with the endearing Saudi Vision 2030 which is framed…

At age 18 I joined the Australian Regular Army, commencing my military career at the Royal Military College Duntroon. By 19 I had graduated, been commissioned as a Lieutenant and was commanding a platoon. Not long after, I was on my first operational deployment to East Timor. It was the start of the highest operational…

I spent 16 years in risk management, living the corporate life, firstly at a big four accounting firm and then at a major bank. As a risk executive I saw two issues: the big accounting firms are very expensive, and their value is starting to erode. It’s fine being expensive. I don’t mind paying for…

I’ve always been involved in the shoe business in some way, shape, or form. I worked in the factory during Yr. 10 work experience. I accompanied Mum on sales trips during our school holidays and on weekends, helping her when she struggled working seven days a week. When I finished high school, business was tough….

At heart, I’ve always been an entrepreneur. I founded my first company at the age of 17, which made me fall in love with entrepreneurship and building businesses from the ground up. I like to create something impactful, so when I finished university I dived straight in and created Checkbox. Our ultimate purpose as a…

I’ve been building technology companies for seven years now, having founded my first tech startup back in 2011. I’ve raised money, lost money, built products that no one wanted, and had some great success. When you’re starting out as a non-technology leader trying to build a technology company, the skills gap can be quite large,…

I went through a really rough time in my late teens. I dropped out of University, got myself into a world of emotional pain, and had a form of psychosis. A psychopharmacologist I was seeing at the time helped to change my life and was soon after diagnosed with cancer. He said to me about…