Smart50 rank: 27
Revenue: $3,678,431
Growth: 50%
Founders: Andrew Branson, 25, Richard Branson, 27
Head Office: Victoria
Employees: 15
Industry: Telecommunications
Website: www.iftelecom.com.au
There are plenty of telecommunications companies operating in Australia, but entrepreneur brothers Andrew and Richard Branson founded IF Telecom to cater for what they believed was a distinct lack of services for SMEs.
"The larger telcos were looking after big business but SME was being ignored," Richard says. "Service levels were also poor. We obviously aimed to enter the market and attract SME by offering them cost savings and a greater level of personal service."
It isn't an easy task, with the company taking on the likes of major players including Telstra, Optus and new players like iiNet. As a result, the company nearly collapsed after a major cashflow issue.
"The closest near death experience in the business would probably relate to managing cashflow. This was a couple of years ago now but it involved putting in every spare cent of personal funds plus the use of personal credit cards to get us through the other side. Luckily those days are behind us."
The partners have created a solid business, recording over $3 million in annual turnover despite being stacked against a number of large players.
Both Bransons believe its success is due in part to the company's team of talented staff, many of whom are able to give direct input to the business. As a result, they handle all of the recruitment themselves.
"The most important factor in our success is our focus around people. Recruiting the right staff is key and then getting them to follow the same company ethos and work ethic."
"We do not use recruitment companies. We feel that although this may be a little more time consuming it gives us a better chance of really getting to know the candidate. We want people that will fit in perfectly with our agressive growth strategies and working culture."
While IF uses a comprehensive website and is constantly marketing itself, Branson says the most beneficial of these is doorstop marketing and word-of-mouth.
"By far our most successful marketing effort is direct marketing," he says. "Face-to-face. It gives us an opportunity to present directly to the end customer."
With plans to move into Perth and then New Zealand, the company is also hoping to reach $5 million in revenue for the 2010-11 year.
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