21. Broadband Solutions

Revenue: Over $9.6 million
Growth: 110.70%
Founders: Sam Bashiry, 36, and Brad Hughes, 35
Head Office: Victoria
Year Founded: 2005
Employees: 15
Industry: Internet
Website: www.broadbandsolutions.com.au

In nine years, Broadband Solutions has grown by 110% and now turns over more than $9.6 million annually. It’s this growth that has landed the company at number 21 on this year’s Smart50.Sam Bashiry and Brad Hughes founded their internet service provider with just $1000 in 2005.

Broadband Solutions, which has offices in Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, provides broadband internet services in the B2B market, including more than 80% of hotels in Australia.

Bashiry told SmartCompany the company’s “exceptional” growth over the past 12 months –Broadband Solutions more than doubled its revenue between 2012-13 and 2013-14 – is in part due to a refresh of the company’s brand, backed by a public relations campaign.

“We brought on a marketing team and PR team to help us,” says Bashiry. “It’s been quite critical in letting people know what we do and what we’re good at.”

“We work with the Hyatts and the Marriotts and it’s about showcasing that, which we haven’t done in the past. It’s really exciting and I’m really enjoying it.”

Broadband Solutions started out with an aim to serve the SME sector, which Bashiry and Hughes felt was neglected at the time by the incumbent internet service providers. The focus led them to develop a strong presence in the hospitality sector but Bashiry says the company is now broadening its horizons.

“We’ve done quite well in hospitality so we’re looking at other verticals, especially education,” he says.

“It has undergone a lot of changes in the past 12 months and we’re really starting to kick goals with schools signing up.”

Bashiry says the increase in the number of students and teachers bringing their own devices to school has created a need for schools to increase their internet bandwidth.

“They are looking for additional links into the schools to cater for all the devices,” he says.

“It’s about understanding the sector quite well and what their plans are.”

While Bashiry admits Broadband Solutions has so far avoided “any disasters”, it doesn’t mean the company has come up against difficult challenges, including the rollout of the National Broadband Network.

“We realised that if we were to pivot too heavily toward the NBN we could face instability if the project was to falter,” says Bashiry, who says there are still “a lot of unknowns” around the NBN for Broadband Solutions and its customers.

“We resolved this by opening up our network to the NBN and providing it as an option to clients without sacrificing our existing networks … We are now ready to take advantage of it when it’s appropriate but are not reliant on any rollout timeline.”

“It’s a big challenge but it’s a new technology and it’s important to be involved with.”