Smart50 rank: 22
Revenue: $1.67 million
Growth: 59.77%
Founders: David Hodges, 37; Owen Batt, 30
Based: New South Wales
Employees: 22
Industry: Information technology
Website: www.smartpath.com.au

 

Business ideas can come from anywhere. Smartpath founders David Hodges, 37 (right), and Owen Batt, 30 (below), found their niche by specifically looking for something people hated doing. They settled on documentation management and data collection and eventually moved into asset management systems.

The company's flagship product is Loc8, which allows users to track, manage and maintain their assets. There are versions of the Loc8 system for small companies, large businesses and service providers, and clients include Qantas, Fuji Xerox, AMP Capital Investors and a host of schools, hospitals and government departments.

Revenue has grown by an average of 59.77% over the past three years. It was $1.48 million last year, and hit $1.7 million in 2007-08.

Perhaps the best example of the power of the Loc8 system is Smartpath's relationship with clothing company Cue. Hodges and Batt describe themselves as Cue's "technology partner" and say Loc8 has replaced more than 40 of Cue's old spreadsheets and home-grown databases to improve operational workflow and communications. "We manage workflow of raw fabrics through to design, who will cut, design and manufacturer, how it will get to the warehouse and then into the store."

Hodges and Batt say the biggest problem when building the business was sales and they realised they needed to shift their focus from being a service-based company to a product-driven one. "We started out as a services business and realised that people buy into a product business more, because it seems more legitimate and credible."