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6 October 2025
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Founder-led companies often attract investors due to leaders' personal stakes and long-term vision. But founder presence alone does not guarantee success, and the challenge is to identify which ones will succeed in the long term.
Jack Gance is one of Australia's most successful entrepreneurs having built two market leaders from scratch. Here is the story of how he founded Chemist Warehouse and expanded it into today's retailing behemoth.
Jack Gance is a rare entrepreneur who’s created two market-leading businesses from scratch. He reveals how he started with limited capital, how he scaled up with innovative marketing and the lessons learned.
The startup banks were supposed to challenge the lazy, oligopolistic major banks, but 86 400, Xinja and now Volt have gone. Why did Volt disappear so quickly when it had gained deposit support and name recognition?
The pandemic has boosted food-delivery businesses but is this a permanent change in habits rather than due to short-term lockdowns? Established businesses such as McDonalds and car companies are in on it.
Fortescue, Crown, TPG Telecom, 7 Group, Flight Centre and Wisetech are the Australian companies among the family/founder businesses showing resilience in the COVID-19 pandemic versus non-family peers.
Netflix once claimed its creation of 'binge watching' made sleep its major competitor. Now, the coming blow will be the loss of one platform that offers just about everything subscribers want.
Contrary to traditional economic models, excess choice can be bewildering to consumers. Some customisation-from-scratch businesses are failing, and half-way solutions might be better.
Facebook, Google and Amazon seem already entrenched in our lives, but with the information they know about their users, their ability to target advertising and products has only touched the surface of change.
Robo-advisers will make their impact in wealth management, but that doesn’t guarantee their success. Like any business, there will be major challenges to overcome as they attempt to disrupt financial advice.
Behind the glossy facade of the website of the roboadviser, how effectively will the business model deliver quality financial advice and appropriate investment outcomes at a competitive price?
There are many places in the SMSF value chain where a company can operate. The best businesses choose a place where they can excel and try to become the best.
This AI cycle feels less like a revolution and more like a rerun. Just like fibre in 2000, shale in 2014, and cannabis in 2019, the technology or product is real but the capital cycle will be brutal. Investors beware.
An explosion in low-skilled migration to Australia has depressed wages, killed productivity, and cut rental vacancy rates to near decades-lows. It’s time both sides of politics addressed the issue.
LICs are continuing to struggle with large discounts and frustrated investors are wondering whether it’s worth holding onto them. This explains why the next 6-12 months will be make or break for many LICs.
Australian housing’s 50-year boom was driven by falling rates and rising borrowing power — not rent or yield. With those drivers exhausted, future returns must reconcile with economic fundamentals. Are we ready?
Younger Australians think they’ll need $100k a year in retirement - nearly double what current retirees spend. Expectations are rising fast, but are they realistic or just another case of lifestyle inflation?
This week, I got the news that my mother has dementia. It came shortly after my father received the same diagnosis. This is a meditation on getting old and my regrets in not getting my parents’ affairs in order sooner.