From $1,000,000+ in DEBT to 6th Fastest Growing New Business in Australia

On Episode 26 of the “Future of Australia” podcast, I speak with Neil Saligrama, the Founder & CEO of Compare & Connect, a utility comparison and connection company that grew 20% last financial year, doing over $25 MILLION in annual revenue.

This made Compare & Connect, on the Financial Review list of 100 fastest growing new companies in Australia, the number 6 FASTEST GROWING new business in Australia.

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We Discuss...

• Coming to Australia as an engineering university student to do his Masters Degree at RMIT, doing telemarketing jobs and cleaning to pay the bills
• Growing quickly vertically in a small telesales role, because it was such a small organisation, and learning the entire life cycle of the business, learning how a contact centre works
• Why he used to send his bosses emails on the weekend with ideas on how to improve their business
• Leveraging his background being born and raised in India, to help them outsource and build a 24X7 operation in India, with 400+ staff

• “Your assets are your people, because people build businesses”
• Starting a contact centre customer acquisition business, seeing an opportunity to sell fuel cards and retail energy to the SME sector, as well as reselling mobile phone plans
• A sharp 3 month turnaround from a changing competitive landscape, which lead him to be in $1,000,000 of debt
• How the support of his father, wife, brother and in-laws enabled him to negotiate with his creditors, to dig his way out of $1,000,000 of debt, which included putting his personal home at risk
• Focusing on the process, instead of the end result, embracing failure with open eyes and how it changed his mindset
• “The biggest dividend for a entrepreneur is more work” and why you should focus on doing a good job
• Strategically deciding to keep staff onshore, instead of going offshore like all of their competitors, to keep investing in the best people, and building a team of 200+ people in Australia
• Doing what was right for the customer, even when it was harder to train staff and deliver that better service
• The “re-regulation” of industry in Australia, and why constant changes of boundaries and rules makes it hard for Australian entrepreneurs to obtain scale
• Automating the service of moving lifecycle for the 1,000,000 annual moves in Australia, with an aim to move all services within 2 minutes, and without requiring you to speak to anyone on the phone
• “Never be afraid of failures” because the lessons from experience are where the most valuable lessons come from
• “Focus on process, product and experience ahead of profit”
• Who you work for in the early days of your career matters much more than where you work, and why entrepreneurs should start by working in smaller growth companies, with less defined processes

[Click Here to Listen to the Podcast in SPOTIFY, or Listen in iTunes, or Listen in SoundCloud, or search 'Future of Australia' or 'Derek Stewart' in your iPhone or Android podcast app]

Podcast Episode History:

Episode 1: "Family Business & Real Estate: How Husband and Wife QLD Entrepreneurs Found A Gap in The Market"

Episode 2: "Law & Accounting Firm A.I and Automation + Doubling Revenue TWICE in 12 Months"

Episode 3: "Expat Entrepreneurship & Maximising Your Marketing Dollars"

Episode 4: "Turning a Hobby Selling Quirky Gifts Online Into a Multi-Million Dollar Business"

Episode 5: "Owning 20+ Properties In His 20s to Buying 40 Per MONTH for Clients"

Episode 6: "Engineering Entrepreneurship and Managing BILLION Dollar Assets"

Episode 7: "One Day Away From Shutting Down to 1000% Annual Growth"

Episode 8: "From Losing Your Co-Founder to 59% Growth the Next Year"

Episode 9: "Female Entrepreneurship And Starting a Business 11 Days After Giving Birth"

Episode 10: "From Door-To-Door Salesman To $11 Million Annual Revenue Within FIVE Years"

Episode 11: "From Podiatry Intern to 60+ Employee Health SuperCentre"

Episode 12: "From Selling Burned CDs to $350mm in Annual Revenue"

Episode 13: "Developing a Growth Mindset and Perth Entrepreneurship Going Global"

Episode 14: "From Army Officer to $23mm Annual Revenue Canberra Consultancy in 3 Years"

Episdoe 15: "How High School Best Friends Created One of The Fastest Growing Media Agencies in Australia"

Episode 16: "Creating Entrepreneurs, Corporate Innovation and Helping 10 Year Olds Make $1000+ Per Month"

Episode 17: "From $200,000+ in Credit Card Debt to Seven Figure Annual Income"

Episode 18: "How Construction Consulting Became a Multi-Million Dollar Niche Success"

Episode 19: "Why A Fast Growth Law Firm Embraces Tech and Teaches Its Entrepreneur Clients How to Negotiate"

Episode 20: "From Neuroscience PhD to 70 Employee Fast Growth Consultancy"

Episode 21: "From Inspirational Facebook Posts to the Fastest Growing New Apparel Business in Australia"

Episode 22: "From Sleeping on the Factory Floor to 3rd Fastest Growing New Business in Australia with $40mm+ Annual Revenue"

Episode 23: "From Graduate Finance Job at 18 to Growing Revenue $55 MILLION in 12 Months"

Episode 24: "Paying Drivers MORE The Secret to the Fastest Growing New Logistics Company in Australia"

Episode 25: "From Kicked Out Of High School to Published Author Running A Multi-Million Dollar Digital Growth Agency"?

Hi, my name is Derek. "FUTURE OF AUSTRALIA" is a project I am running to interview the Founders, CEOs and Entrepreneurs behind the FASTEST GROWING new businesses in Australia. 

"FUTURE OF AUSTRALIA" is about interviewing, celebrating and sharing the knowledge, aspirations, struggles, goals and achievements of these people with a broader audience.

If you are interested in contributing, learning more of keeping in the loop with our updates and email newsletter, email me at [email protected], or give me a call or text on 0404 689 897.

www.FutureOfAustralia.com