Home 30under30 2017 Andrew Waite, 2017 Anthill 30under30 Winner

Andrew Waite, 2017 Anthill 30under30 Winner

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What is the 30under30?

30under30 is an Anthill initiative launched in early 2008 to encourage and promote entrepreneurship among young Australians.

Each year, we invite our readers to nominate young Australian entrepreneurs deserving of recognition for their outstanding entrepreneurial endeavours. More.

Andrew Waite, NSW (b. 1988)

Name: Andrew Waite
Age: 29
Known for: Convert Digital

Andrew’s passion for small business started at 8 years old. His dad founded a business incubator out of Melbourne where he developed a passion for entrepreneurship.

After working for Balance Internet, one of Australia’s leading digital agencies serving large Australian Retailers, Andrew decided to turn his passion into a new opportunity and founded Convert Digital, an ecommerce development agency.

“Convert Digital brings powerful, enterprise‑level technology, people, and know‑how to SMBs. We’re filling a gap in the market so that we can help other SMBs get the enterprise‑level expertise they need to simplify their projects and create beautiful, high‑converting ecommerce websites,” he explained to Anthill.

“My Account Director Adam and I always refer to ourselves as the blue collar web development agency. We don’t have the fancy props, extensive meetings or fluff and bubbles. We just like to get the job done.”

“On what motivates him as an entrepreneur, Andrew says it’s his desire to see the underdog win. We’re not huge fans of corporate structures or blindly following orders from others. We’re all rooting for the underdogs, the little Aussie shop that knows exactly what we want and how to serve us.

“Unfortunately, there are so many incredible Aussie businesses that just don’t have the tools and resources to meet every customer’s needs. Because of this, they’ll never be able to get to be where they deserve to be. This is why we started Convert ‑ to help these Aussie businesses gain a competitive edge and achieve global domination.”

Andrew further revealed that he has never spent a dollar on advertising, lead generation, or any type of marketing saying, “The heart and soul of our business is the ability to create great long lasting partnerships. Convert Digital boasts over 30 partners, from payment gateway suppliers to digital marketing agencies and email marketing providers”

“65% of our business is now driven through referrals. Every event we attend is co‑delivered or sponsored by one of our partners. These long‑term relationships are the backbone of our business”

However, in 2016 Andrew walked into the boardroom to three disappointed directors for his performance review. “We’d gone from an incredibly successful year one to missing profit targets by 40% in year two. I felt like a failure,” he shared with us.

“After being absolutely served by the board and having to explain why we’d tanked so hard in the last three months of the year I went to work. I made the decision to chase where the money was coming in and moved myself to Sydney, leaving the remainder of the office in Melbourne.”

Last year Convert Digital more than doubled its revenue from FY15/16 After three years they have 19 staff in Melbourne, two in Sydney and nine full time in Hanoi, contracting to another 20.

Andrew Waite

Anthill asks: What is your super‑power and why?

I have the power to relate to anyone. Not many people can walk into a meeting and have the confidence to speak up and address a problem, much less offer a solution on the spot. Because of my upbringing and business experience, there’s no meeting I don’t feel comfortable in, and I’ve come to realize this is a valuable, yet hard‑to‑find superpower. I always know it’s within my grasp to work alongside other people and devise real‑world solutions to complex problems ‑ even in high‑pressure situations.

Convert Digital – Team Video from Convert Digital on Vimeo.

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