Smart50 rank: 41
Revenue: $4,253,840
Growth: 42.65%
Founders: Greg McDonald, 54
Based: New South Wales
Employees: 15
Industry: Manufacturing
Website: www.mediamovers.com.au
WINNER: Top Website
The start up of digital media production company Media Movers was set to the mantra: "If you build it, they will come" (as per the 1989 Kevin Costner film Field of Dreams).
But as founder Greg McDonald discovered, building "it" was the easy part.
"As well as building the business plan,the most challenging part, but also probably the most exciting, was the wearing of so many hats and ensuring we were wearing the correct one at the correct time."
Greg recognised that his industry was split into two categories - the manufacturers and the small technical-focused business owner.
"I saw great opportunities to connect with our target market through SEO and particularly pay per click advertising, which was only in its infancy eight years ago. However I saw it had huge market potential. Media Movers became one of the first in our industry for pay per click and the largest advertiser by far. Mixed with a seemingly well accepted website our activity soared."
Media Movers wasn't without its problems though.
"Probably a common issue with many start-ups was the financial difficulty from a major customer who refused payment on large value. This put a lot of pressure on us, both financially and personally."
"The final result was that we did get paid after court action, however prior to that being resolved I focused aggressively on recouping that money through increased sales activity and cashflow from the business. I said to myself: ‘Well, you've lost it, let's get it back from the market.'"
"This was a great elixir as it took my focus back to growth and return and we came out of that time with much higher sales results and a better financial position - and on top of that we received full payment from the non-paying customer, albeit some eight to nine months later."
Such a steep learning curve though has paved the way for ambitious plans for the future.
"We want to establish ourselves overseas. I have established a small start-up in London and I'm looking at other opportunities. The opportunity for businesses to go beyond geographic boundaries is huge and exciting - we are in that space as our services are transportable and hopefully saleable," says McDonald.
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