Launching a start-up is hard enough. So how would you fare if adversity struck, lengthening the odds? Would you stay in bed, or slink back to corporate safety? Or would you seize fate’s steering wheel and stage a rousing comeback like these inspiring go getters? We asked three kings of the comeback to share their war-stories.
Jean Cannon
Managing Director, Enviro Action Pty Ltd
Jean Cannon was involved in her former husband’s business – a venture that went belly up in the late nineties. When he decided to retire, she decided to move on and start her own Environmental OH&S business. Things were purring along nicely until disaster struck in 2004 when she broke her back and was forced to run the business from her bed.
Cannon is up and about again and Enviro Action is now a profitable nation- wide business on the rise.
“In 2004, I was moving a huge plant with a crowbar. I should have asked a couple of men to help me instead of being so bleeding independent. I suddenly heard a scrunching noise and I gently subsided to the floor and thought, “Oh dear, what have I done?” I had broken my back.
My life as a business person really began when my former husband wanted to retire. But that didn’t work for me. I had not passed my used-by date. I’m not a retiring sort of person. I’m a doer. So I assessed my skills and started my own business. My first target market was the Tuna industry, because they were under threat from public opinion and constant court cases.
They were in desperate need of environmental management, which is what I’m really good at. OH&S was actually more attractive to them so I combined the two and added quality and food safety. I was told that women were only useful in the kitchen and the bedroom. This was 1999. They were astonished that I understood fishing and could help them. I almost starved during that process. It was just awful.
After the injury, I spent two months lying down with a notebook computer on my tum and a phone at my hand. It was a huge financial drain.
My clients were really understanding – apart from laughing like heck and telling me that I needed someone who knew something about OH&S. They really ribbed me on that one. (Laughs)
I’m absolutely passionate about what I do, but I know that growing the business has to be a team approach. Hurting my back like that really drove that home. I’ve been out to sea on fishing boats again. I fly somewhere nearly every week. I’m working with large sections of the seafood and marine sectors in almost all states. And I’m really keen to move into a broader range of industries. I have all the systems in place. My training programs are franchisable. So now I’m really looking for experienced business people who can take this business to the next stage.”
Alan Noble
CEO & CTO, NetPriva
Alan Nobel is a serial entrepreneur who became hooked on technology start-ups during his 16 years in Silicon Valley. He liked the look of Australian software company Foursticks so much that he convinced some of his US angel investor colleagues to invest and moved back to Australia to become Foursticks’s CTO. Cash flow problems forced Foursticks into administration in April 2005. But instead of rolling over and moving on, Noble created a new company, NetPriva, which retained Foursticks’s key technology, staff and customers.
There are a lot of people with a lot of theories about what went wrong at Foursticks. From my stand point, Foursticks had customers and partners who loved the product. Virtually the entire technology and sales teams at Foursticks absolutely loved the work they were doing. You’d be hard pressed to fi nd a more dedicated bunch of employees who genuinely wanted the company to succeed and were disappointed when Foursticks went into administration. I was determined to salvage the best of everything and really enable the technology and the product to live on. That’s my underlying motivation for wanting to get involved in NetPriva. I love technology, always have. But I really love technology in the hands of customers, solving real problems. That’s what motivates me.
I and NetPriva’s other co-founder, Peter Vroom, realised that we needed to create the company quickly and get the assets of Foursticks into NetPriva as fast as possible to make sure there was enough continuity – partners, resellers and employees – to create a smooth transition. The real challenge was reassuring those partners and resellers that we were viable. A lot of them took a wait-and-see attitude.
It was imperative that we raise funds quickly. Ultimately, one of the main problems with Foursticks was cash fl ow. We went back to our same angel investors who had invested in Foursticks and said, “Look, Foursticks is toast, but you have another opportunity. A double or nothing opportunity, if you like.” Fortunately, our US investors decided to back NetPriva, which reassured our partners that we were in it for the long haul. Our plan was to be cash fl ow positive within six to nine months. We’re broadly on plan to do just that. We’ve achieved our major objectives of retaining the team, retaining our key partners and retaining our key customers. And we’ve just come out with a new product. It’s an exciting time.”
Sonja Falvo
‘Head Honcho’, What Women Want Personal Training
Sonja Falvo was a healthy, active teenager who loved playing sport and represented Australia in marshal arts. Then, at the age of 21, she was diagnosed with lumbar scoliosis and told that she would be in pain for the rest of her life. She commenced a rigorous strength training regime and defied the odds (and the experts) by returning to full health. In the process, she found her calling and began studying to become a personal trainer, only to be diagnosed with borderline osteoporosis. Today, Falvo is near full health again and owns and runs a profitable women’s fitness studio in Brisbane.
“I guess it basically comes down to being a bit stubborn. My dream was to run marathons and continue with my marshal arts. It was devastating to be told that I wouldn’t and that I was going to be in pain for the rest of my life. I started to read lots of books on muscle conditioning and strength training. It took five years, but I eventually became pain free and started running and training again.
I moved on, got caught up in life and eventually decided that I hated what I was doing. I found myself changing careers every two years, looking for the thing that was going to be my passion. I decided that I wanted to do something related to sport and fi tness and helping other women who might have health issues.
So I began studying to be a personal trainer. Then I was diagnosed with borderline osteoporosis. I was like, “Oh bugger.”
I was told that had I not strength trained, I could very well be in a wheel chair. I kept pursuing my dream and started What Women Want.
I’ve just had my two year scan done and through the strength training and changing my diet my bone density is almost back to normal.
I began to network and share my story with women’s groups. Normally, it is more mature women who have osteoporosis. So they’re reassured when I confi de in them that I’ve been through that – going through that – and share my research and how I can help them.
I’ve done everything I can to ensure that What Women Want customers are not just another number. If you have a health issue, we want to educate you about it so you can make informed decisions.
Our business revenues are strong and growing. We’re looking at opening on the Gold Coast this year, and franchising is a long-term goal.
I try to motivate people to see that it doesn’t matter what hurdles come your way, you have to look beyond them to see what else is possible. It’s too easy to take your body for granted. I learnt that the hard way.”