What was the motivation behind your business idea?
We had stock theft and everything was so antiquated on our own livestock operations that required automation for the future.
What stresses do you feel in being the founder of a start up in the animal health space?
No stress really. If you realise people are comfortable with status quo, don’t want to change and few have foresight or are driven to change to improve, things become easier.
At the moment, how do you measure success? What are your metrics?
Now we are in market and digital, our metrics involve all the usual business measurements, but customer value is key.
What specific experience in prior roles gave you the confidence/ experience to roll the dice?
Previously was the COO of an ASX200 company, engineer, MBA, Fellow of the Australian Institute of company directors. Had run companies and sat on private and public company boards in 3 continents.
Do you like to be in a leadership role?
Yes, it is an opportunity to give back to the next generation. As the oldest person in the business, it is the youth that are digitally native that will step up to the leadership positions in the near future.
How has the value of what your company offers evolved over time?
Enormously and we are still learning of the massive full value of the platform from feedback from customers. As the Apple for animals, Ceres Tag keeps evolving
Have there been any pivot points in the company’s lifetime? What triggered these?
We started in livestock, then received pictures back of Ceres Tags in giraffe ears and we realised we had transcended an extension into wildlife, hence Ceres Wild. Likewise the pandemic brought new opportunities in pets and drove our Salus Pet platform. We also have different derivatives of the same technology in different formats depending on the customer.
Any moments where you thought it was all over? What happened next?
Start ups are not for everyone, most people cannot handle the pressure, nor do they want to. Start-ups are very hard work, long hours, always things you did not expect (good and bad) and challenging to create a position in the market. Funding is crucial and distracts from your everyday operation when you could be creating real value.
Talk us through the
...funding process
We have boot strapped and are only now going out for growth capital
...Go to market strategy
We use direct to customer ecommerce and third party logistics
...Partnerships that have been fundamental
So many! The Ceres Tag platform survives on open collaboration which makes it so unique and scalable at low cost.
Best advice you got along the way
If people show you who they are, believe them.
Advice to others wondering whether to take the leap and when not to
Stay Funded, Stay Focused
What would you have done differently?
Not much, you manage things on the way
Looking to raise Money? How much?
Yes, undisclosed
How would you use 10X funding money?
Funding primarily used to acquire inventory to scale and enter new markets. We are growing at a rapid rate, a good thing but you need product to supply. Ours is not dependent on demand but rather supply.
Where you’d like to be in 5 years? How are you planning to get there?
It is likely we will be acquired or IPO within 5 years given our growth.
