20. GMG Digital

Revenue: $8.77 million
Growth: 145.71%
Founder: John Vlasakakis (31), Nick Grinberg (32)
HEad Office: Melbourne
Employees: 16
Industry: Advertising, Arts and Media
Website: gmgdigital.com.au

Launched in 2010 when founders John Vlasakakis and Nick Grinberg were just 23 and 24 respectively, GMG Digital set out to provide performance driven SEO services.

Two years on, clients were requesting more services, and the business grew into a full digital marketing agency that is now turning over $8.77 million in revenue each year.

With revenue growth of 146% over the past 12 months, GMG Digital takes 21st place on the Smart50 list.

The main challenge these founders came up against in the early days was “some obstacles in trust” because of their youth.

The founders overcame these struggles by providing a low barrier of entry for clients, and delivering a good performance to impress them, and hang on to them.

“We now have clients who have been with us since day one, for over eight years,” Vlasakakis says.

More recently, the founders have had trouble retaining staff. However, they are managing this by trying to provide a clear roadmap of career development for individual staff members, and through “company-wide recognition of each staff member across weekly staff meetings”.

If Vlasakakis has any advice for other founders, it’s to “execute quick and don’t overthink”.

However, he has a warning for competitors that aren’t providing good services for their clients.

“Clients are more savvy with digital and understand more,” he says. “The days of the cowboys are up.”