This year, Anthill’s 30under30 proved to be our biggest ever, attracting hundreds of nominations and applications from young gun entrepreneurs right across Australia.
This made the judging process extremely difficult.
As such, in addition to our Top 30under30, we have extended the program, this year, to recognise three new sets of young business builders:
- Top 3 Real-Estate Renegades;
- Top 3 Artistic Innovators; and,
- Top 10 Emerging Digital Doyens
Along with the addition of 14 Honourable Mentions, we are proud to present a whopping 60 young Australian entrepreneurs this year, each worthy of encouragement, recognition and your attention!
30under30 Roll-Out 2010
But, before you get too excited, we’re about to throw you a curve-ball.
This year, rather than release the 2010 30under30 ‘massive’ in one hit, we’ve decided to release the names of this prestigious set, three a day, for the next 10 days, starting from youngest to oldest.
Why do this? Well, aside from the unplanned loss of a laptop, containing our deliberations and winner profiles (which you can read about here), this suspense filled, masterfully manipulating, traffic-fueling tactic just seemed too attractive to pass up.
Can you feel the ant-icipation?
The Top 30 Revealed! (kinda)
The Top 30 are listed by age.
| NAME | BIRTH YEAR | STATE | GENDER | LATEST VENTURE |
| Aonghus Stevens | 1993 | NSW | Male | UAVs Australia |
| Nikki Durkin | 1991 | NSW | Female | 99dresses |
| Ravi Moerman | 1990 | SA | Male | Freeform Sound |
| Sacha Krjatian | 1990 | NSW | Male | Sachas |
| Dane Mitchell | 1990 | NSW | Male | Peak Health Yamba |
| Marita Cheng | 1989 | VIC | Female | Robogals |
| Sheng Yeo | 1988 | NSW | Male | Orion Virtualisation Solutions |
| Tarik Houchar | 1988 | NSW | Male | Hijab House |
| Brad Smith | 1987 | TAS | Male | Braaap! |
| Jack Fitzgerald | 1987 | VIC | Male | Ship 2 Anywhere |
| Jack Delosa | 1987 | NSW | Male | The Entourage |
| Simon Jay | 1986 | VIC | Male | 199-JERRY |
| Dwayne Martens | 1985 | NSW | Male | Amazonia |
| Dorothy Polka | 1985 | VIC | Female | Polka Dot Bride |
| Steve McLeod | 1984 | VIC | Male | Fire and Safety Australia |
| Stephen Dash | 1984 | NSW | Male | Quickcharge Media |
| Luke Halliday | 1984 | QLD | Male | Mercury IT |
| Hugh Whalan | 1983 | Male | ACT | Energy in Common |
| Andrew Craig | 1983 | ACT | Male | Computer Empire |
| Don McKenzie | 1983 | QLD | Male | Stream Group |
| Ruslan Kogan | 1982 | VIC | Male | Kogan Technologies |
| Dean J. Ramler | 1982 | VIC | Male | Milan Direct |
| Kate McKibbin | 1982 | VIC | Female | DropDeadGorgeousDaily.com |
| Lucy Thomas | 1982 | VIC | Female | Project Rockit |
| Seb Eckersley-Maslin | 1982 | NSW | Male | AutoCarlog |
| Andrew McKnight | 1982 | NSW | Male | MIA International |
| Mark Ross-Smith | 1982 | QLD | Male | SMSFun |
| Betty Boustani | 1981 | NSW | Female | Emprise Legal & Corporate Advisory. |
| Vanessa Cullen | 1981 | NSW | Female | Forward Thinking Design |
| Ben Neumann | 1981 | VIC | Male | Liquid Infusion |
Top 10 Emerging Digital Doyens
This year, we received an unprecedented number applications from ‘digital natives’ responsible for the creation of digital advertising firms, social media agencies, CMS and software services, IT support centres and a host of other outfits that have embraced this thing called ‘the interwebs’. We received so many, in fact, that we decided to create a a separate category, a Top 10, to specifically recognise these online innovators.
Top 3 Real-Estate Renegades
Real-estate entrepreneurs have never featured strongly in the 30under30. This is because we don’t necessarily think that owning 127 properties by the age of 22 is particularly entrepreneurial. In our opinions, entrepreneurship is not about personal wealth creation. It’s about the process of creation itself! This year, three ‘real-estate’ entrepreneurs grabbed our attention, not because of the number of torrens titles stashed under their beds, but because each has built a business around the real-estate industry, at a tender age
Top 3 Artistic Innovators
Entrepreneurship and artistic endeavours have much in common. They involve imagination, following your dreams and creating something from scratch designed to make the world a richer place. These three ‘artistic’ entrepreneurs may not have made it into the Top 30 but we decided they deserve a place in this year’s broader gallery of entrepreneurial finesse anyway.
Honourable Mentions
They narrowly missed out on a place in the Top 30 but are still hot in our books. Introducing Anthill’s 2010 30under30 Honourable Mentions.
How were these young guns picked?
The 30under30 awards begins with nominations, followed by a process of self-application. Why? Because we believe that one of the most important traits any entrepreneur should have is the ability to win friends and influence people. The self-application process gave our judges a direct line to the personality of each applicant entrepreneur.
Commercial success is not everything…
The 30under30 program rewards traits beyond pure successful venture creation. While some applicants wowed us with their, sometimes instant, commercial successes, others demonstrated their ability to learn from the school of ‘hard-knocks’, embrace unexpected opportunities, harness the skills of others and build buzz beyond their sometimes meagre budgets. All these factors, were considered ‘in the mix’.
Benchmarking success by age…
We’re often asked, ‘How do you measure the achievements and entrepreneurial traits of a 19 year-old against those of a 29 year-old?’ The simple answer? We don’t. Rather, during the judging process, the successes, the skills, the attributes of each applicant are measured against other entrepreneurs their age. So, if you’re a 28 year-old entrepreneur wondering why someone else made the cut while you didn’t, perhaps stop comparing yourself to the 18 year-old and look to your age bracket. As the older you get, the higher the bar.
Want to be informed when new winners are announced? Subscribe to our email newsletter.
