Home 30under30 2013 Ash Davies, 2013 Anthill 30under30 Winner

Ash Davies, 2013 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.

Ash Davies, VIC (b. 1993)

Name: Ash Davies
Age: 20 (Born: March 1993)
Gender: Male
State: VIC
Known for: Tablo

Necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention.

Such is the case of Tablo, Ash Davies’ eBook publishing startup. Davies started the company after his own first (bad) experience in trying to get an eBook published.

At 16, he started a blog called PhotoGuides that today has more than 40,000 members and has shared content with more than 3 million photographers.

At 17, Davies published his first book. It’s used by schools, photographers and camera stores across 30 countries. It’s also been the #1 arts book on iTunes in more than 5 countries, including Australia and the USA.

By age 19, he had started working on Tablo, a global publishing company that’s seeing authors in more than 30 countries write more than a million words per week. It currently holds a strong six-figure valuation.

“I struggled to publish my eBook. Writing it was meant to be the hard part, but the process of creating the file and working with publishers was so challenging that I almost gave up. It took me six months to get my finished book onto e-bookstores,’ recalls Davies.

Using Tablo, authors can create their eBooks in the cloud and publish them globally with just one click. It has never been easier to create an eBook and publish it on major bookstores.

Davies started the company with only his laptop, from his bedroom. Since its humble beginnings, though, Tablo has grown to be used by authors in more than 30 countries around the globe. Some have even called it “the future of publishing.”

Davies says that networking with journalists (he took Journalism at university) has been beneficial to his success thus far. Journalists, writers themselves of course, are keen on the Tablo story, which Davies says has furthered his brand greatly.

There have been setbacks though. In order to work with Apple, Davies had to get an important application approved by the IRS. His application was rejected twice. With an eight-week application turnaround time, Davies plans were temporary halted through the rejections. In the end, it took a phone call to fix the problem.

“I stayed up through the night past 3am on hold, trying to talk to the right person. Eventually I resolved the issue over the phone,” says Davies.

Thankfully, after working past that hurdle, Davies’ startup has gone on to work hand-in-hand with Apple (something usually reserved only for the big publishers), leading to many satisfied customers.

“It’s super cool. Getting random emails or tweets from customers who love what you’ve built and want to show you what they’ve done is one of the most rewarding things in entrepreneurship,” Davies adds.

His main concern? To build cool stuff.

“I love ideas, and I love the journey of watching an idea transform form a fragile little concept, into a product that’s used by people around the world.”

Anthill asks: Ash Davies, what’s your super power?

I’ve always believed that business is about people and relationships. My super-power is telling stories and connecting with people on a personal level. It’s seen me find incredible mentors and making some amazing partnerships, and I’m always astounded by the level of support offered by great people.

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To check out the full list of Anthill’s 30under30 winners, click here.