43. TechConnect IT Solutions

Revenue: $12.2 million
Growth: 47.6%
Founders: Mike Cunningham (50)
Head Office: Hope Island, Queensland
Employees: 53
Industry: Science and technology
Website: https://www.techconnect.com.au
Year Founded: 2011

How it started

With a passion for IT and helping companies succeed, Mike Cunningham started TechConnect in 2011. Without a niche, but with a supportive anchor customer, the business set up a service desk supporting a UK-based business.

Now, TechConnect is a cloud service provider that specialises in solving data challenges primarily across the mining, healthcare and gaming industries.

Growth

“We wanted to be a product company and be able to make great annuity revenue whilst we slept. At the time we did not realise that over 90% of product companies fail,” Cunningham tells SmartCompany.

After going through most of its financial reserves to get a product on market, the company pivoted to becoming a professional service provider instead, and successfully clawed its way back. Working with partners to attract new business during the pandemic, TechConnect says it achieved great engagement after moving its events from in-person to online.

Where to next?

In the past three years, the company has grown from $8.25 million in revenue to over $12 million. The next goal is to double that revenue figure in the coming year, which TechConnect plans to achieve by adding to its sales and marketing team.