Smart50 rank: 30
Revenue: $3,166,848
Growth: 58.06%
Founders: David Lawrence, 39, Garry Viner, 40, James Lawrence, 30
Head Office: New South Wales
Employees: 38
Industry: Information technology
Website: www.thewebshowroom.com.au
Sometimes simplicity does the trick. Having spent years building a reputation for developing complex websites for businesses with unique requirements, David Lawrence, Garry Viner and James Lawrence realised there was a business opportunity to help SMEs create simple site that could achieve the basic goals of sales and following up leads.
Not that some of The Web Showroom’s customers don’t need a bit of convincing.
“We’ve continued to refine our offering so that potential clients can see that a good website is not an expense – it’s an investment in the future success of their business,” Lawerence says.
“Once you show potential clients case-studies of struggling businesses that have literally been turned around in a matter of months after working with us they sit up and listen.”
While there's been plenty of demand – average annual growth over the past three years for The Web Showroom was 58%, with revenue at $3.2 million for 2010-11 – plenty of lessons have been learned about the recruitment, costs and leadership.
“Managing cashflow at the same time as driving rapid growth has been by far the most challenging thing we’ve had to do. We are still growing at a rapid rate but we now understand a lot more about keeping things under control,” Lawrence says.
One recent development has been the creation of an online marketing division, which helps clients with search engine optimisation and paid search services.
“This is proving to be a real success and we want to make this part of the business as successful as the web design side of things,” Lawrence says.
“From there who knows? We want to be able to offer everything an Australian SME requires to really get the most out of their website.”
