The Top10 Dynamic Entrepreneurs celebrate Australia’s leading entrepreneurs in the start-up space, recognising the brightest talents in the industry.
Four esteemed judges worked hard to choose the Top10 from nominations provided; Amanda Price from KPMG, Anthony Sochan from Think & Grow, Nicola Farrell from muru-D and Terry Paule from Findex. All four judges are experts in the startup space and are renowned for their business acumen.
The nominations were of a very high standard and we thank all our nominees for taking the time to apply. The judges had a tough task of choosing the Top10.
We are proud to announce this year’s Top10 Dynamic Entrepreneurs:
1. Julie Mathers, Founder, Flora & Fauna
“I wanted to change the way we shop. Retailers have not focused on running a responsible business for too long and that includes what products are sold, how they are sourced, what team members are paid, how they are recruited, transparency and environmental impact. Customers have not been empowered or educated to make the best decisions for them. I wanted to change this and that was the reason I started Flora & Fauna. We are a business centred on ethics and values and we put purpose before profit. We are a proud BCorp and we look at everything we do with an aim to be better and to make a difference.”
2. Ben Thompson, Co-founder, Employment Hero
“Nearly two decades ago, as an employment lawyer, I witnessed how difficult it was for SMEs to grow their business with confidence because they struggled to stay compliant with Australian employment laws. I spent years helping SMEs become compliant so they could offer more quality employment opportunities within society. After many years working as a lawyer I realised that the problem I was trying to solve was massive (in August 2018 the Fair Work Ombudsman reported that 74% of SMEs audited in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane were non-compliant) and that solving it required a very different approach. The best way to help SMEs and their employees at a meaningful scale was to create a technology platform that completely automated HR and payroll compliance. Employment Hero is such a platform.”
3. Tom Amos, Co-founder, Sidekicker
“I had the idea for Sidekicker while working at Deloitte fresh out of Uni, with the idea that hiring temporary staff should be as simple and easy as ordering an Uber. There was currently no one in Australia who had digitalised the traditional phone and email process of recruiting temps. Sidekicker is now the fastest way to hire temporary staff, taking less than 30 seconds to post a job, 90% of jobs are filled in under an hour.”
4. David Freeman , Founder, H2coco
“While in New York City in 2008, after a hot Bikram yoga session I was given a fresh coconut by the teacher which went down a treat. The teacher explained the health bene ts but said these words, “it’s just so hard to open”. That lightbulb moment was the catalyst to starting H2coco at a time when packaged coconut water didn’t exist in Australia or New Zealand. Established as an authentic, progressive, on-trend lifestyle brand, H2coco is targeted towards high socio-economic 18-35 year olds, who more than any prior generation, are driving demand for ‘better for you’ food and beverage options. Since launch, H2coco has maintained market leadership across various channels and has grown to be the number one coconut water brand in Australia and leader in the ‘better for you’ category.”
5. Anna Wright, Original Founder, BindiMaps
“I want to make the world a better place for everyone, but especially for people with a vision impairment. BindiMaps is an information and navigation smart phone app for internal spaces that is optimized for people with a vision impairment.”
6. *Adrian Johnstone, Co-Founder, Practifi
“Practifi was crafted from an in-depth understanding of the product and compliance constraints within which the industry operates to offer a platform solution that the wealth management industry can rely on. We created Practifi not only to provide a technological solution to help advice rms keep up with the industry’s changing demands, but to also partner with every client to support their growth ambitions. Much more than your average CRM, Practifi provides the ecosystem and support to ensure every advice rm ful lls their growth potential.”
7. *Alex Badran & Mario Hasanakos, Co-Founders, Spriggy (Rivva Pty Ltd)
“We were always inspired by the idea that technology could help people be self-sufficient and better. Our collective experiences within technology, nance and academia triggered a fascination with the intersection of technology, nance and education. A product that helped improve the issues we saw in nance was appealing, particularly when we had both seen the way nancial services actually operated. We had just spent the last seven years coming out of the nancial crisis, caused by reckless banks poorly managing their customers money and we felt this was unlikely to change anytime soon. We fell in love with the idea that we could build an alternative to a bank that replaced all the daily tools you used, but helped you get happier about money along the way.”
8. * Sabri Suby, Founder, King Kong
“I got into sales and marketing as a teenager and quickly found my niche. I spent a number of years honing my craft in London, becoming the top salesperson at the company. After returning back to Australia, and prior to starting King Kong, I ran and sold a number of successful businesses alongside a few failed ventures, all in the digital space. Customer acquisition has always been my responsibility. Many times in my businesses I was quoted for the types of digital marketing services King Kong now offers and all quotes came back in ridiculous tens of thousands of dollar ranges for simple things like banner ads. I realised no digital agency in Australia would talk about what the return on investment would be for a business.”
9. *Tim Moylan, Co-Founder, Shootsta
“The video industry has needed a shake-up for a long time now. We started Shootsta because we saw a niche in the market where corporate content was expensive and time-consuming. We wanted to change the way people produced content and release the agency from being the centre point of all video content. Our goal was to make video production more accessible by giving people the option to create good quality content themselves. Everyone has the ability to shoot content these days, so we designed a camera kit that had all the necessary items that would allow our clients to shoot their own videos, and with some training and our good quality gear we would take the post-production headache away from them by branding their video and returning it to them in 24 hours.”
10. Sean McCreanor, C0-Founder, Assignar
“I own a construction sub-contracting business with over 200 employees in Sydney, AU. When I went out to market to look for a solution for my business and couldn’t find one, being an old IT/ tech guy, I built the original platform and put it into my company.”
*6,7,8, 9 all ranked the same.
