Smart50 rank: 35
Revenue: $1,248,000
Growth: 52.41%
Founders: Tristan White, 29
Based: Victoria
Employees: 18
Industry: Health and community services
Website: www.thephysioco.com.au
Some of the best businesses are built on a very simple idea. Young entrepreneur Tristan White started The Physio Co. in 2004 at the age of 24, after spotting an opportunity to improve the delivery of physiotherapy services to the aged care sector. Rather than asking residents to travel to a physio's rooms, White's company takes physios into aged care facilities.
"We've grown very quickly as the under-serviced and expanding aged care market was refreshed by such a specialised service," White says. The company's revenue hit $1.24 million in 2008-09, with average annual growth of 52.4% over the past five years.
But White admits the early days were tough. While he had a great idea, getting the people to fulfill it was tough.
"In 2004, I was a 24-year-old, recently-graduated physiotherapist with little money, no history as an employer and working from a spare bedroom. Getting the runs on the board quickly and creating a good impression as both an employer and service provider were the real challenges."
White battled on, taking on a big chunk of the company's workload himself. But in 2006, he was forced to make changes to the business after one of his largest clients decided not to renew its contract.
"I was terribly disappointed and undertook a review of how this had occurred and what we could do to ensure it never happened again," White says.
"The answer, quite simply, was that I was spread too thin. I was personally attending more than 10 aged care sites every week, along with managing others and growing the business. I wasn't able to care about every client with all this on the go."
He solved the problem by recruiting an operations manager to help manage the company's team and clients.
White is fortunate in that he is in a sector that has been largely unaffected by the downturn. Demand is projected to grow strongly as the Australian population grows older and more consumers move into aged care facilities.
Given its tight focus and simple mode, it's no surprise that The Physio Co. is planning to stick to what it knows. By 31 December 2012, the company hopes to have completed over 250,000 consultations, with an ultimate goal of reaching 2,000,000 consultations by 31 December 2018.
 |
 |
