Smart50 rank: 44
Revenue: $68,317,511.89
Growth: 37%
Founders: Damian Kay, 40, Morgan Duncan, 37, Damien Gould, 34
Head Office: New South Wales
Employees: 60
Industry: Telecommunications
Website: www.telcoinabox.com.au
With the recent election throwing Australia's political environment into chaos, telco franchise Telcoinabox has a simple request – "ensure the NBN goes ahead".
"As more Australians embrace telecommunications and all it's emerging features that the NBN will open up to them including VoIP, Webstreaming and Free to Air TV, we will see a greater understanding and appreciation of telecommunications."
The company was founded in 2002, just as the telecommunications industry was becoming deregulated. Founders Damian Kay, Damien Gould and Morgan Duncan felt there was a huge opportunity for wholesale providers to enter the market.
But there was a catch – Telcoinabox is completely franchised. Targetting Mum and Dad investors, Kay says the company wanted to allow entrepreneurs to set up their own pricing models, brand and then sell it to customers.
"To our advantage, the reseller market was quite immature and disparate with a limited number of resellers offering a limited mix of telecommunications services and products to consumers."
The company has some giant ambitions, with plans to open offices in the Netherlands, Ireland, Denmark and Sweden during 2012. Going global, Kay says, has been the company's biggest challenge.
"I wouldn't say it has been a near death experience, but it has certainly opened up our eyes to the impact of hiring staff that don't fit the culture."
"To solve the problem we have appointed a new role in the company for HR, based in Sydney, and have established a Telcoinabox culture checklist to ensure we get our international hiring right as we open more international centres."
That attention to staffing applies back home as well. The company follows a "Google" type model where staff are allowed to pitch ideas to help improve the business.
"The company hosts a lunch for a group of staff members once a month. At the lunch they exchange ideas to innovate the business. The group rotates each month so everyone has a turn. This has been hugely successful and all suggestions have been implemented to date."
Kay believes this attention to staff is crucial. He even goes out of his way to hire staff other companies won't, and ignoring telco experience altogether.
"We recently appointed a head of business development. She has no idea about telecommunications but she believes in building a supportive environment in which people can grow, make mistakes and are empowered by other team members."
"This fits our company values, which is worth 1,000 times more than someone who knows what ADSL2+ means."
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