The short answer
Fred Schebesta shares how he scaled Finder from zero to a globally recognised brand, including hard lessons on founder dependency, focus, and his first business exit.
Key takeaways
- How Fred got into self-employment through to his first business sale.
- How and when Finder gained exponential traction and the growing pains that came with it.
- My favourite part? How and when Fred knew it was time to step back from Finder’s daily projects and kickstart the businesses he’s actively involved with today.
Listen to the podcast
27 minWatch the full interview
About this episode
If you’re looking for a motivation boost, Fred Schebesta is your man. From his success stories alone, I can see how far dedication, perseverance, and the willingness to disrupt the status quo can take us.
Fred built his first company while still in university--and grew it to a bootstrapped media company that sold for $1.3 million when he was just 22. Knowing he had caught the entrepreneurial bug, Fred went out looking for new and exciting developments that he could shift and change.
Introduced to Google in 2003, Fred pushed through his second set of challenges and opportunities to kick start Finder--one of the world’s largest comparison sites.
Since stepping back from the day-to-day responsibilities of co-Founder Finder management, Fred has gone on to continue refining his entrepreneurial methods. Now scaling Schebesta Ventures and HiveEx, a rapidly growing FinTech specialising in cryptocurrency trades, Fred reflects on his first few ventures to see where he succeeded--and where he went wrong.
Chapters
- 01:33How curiosity and the willingness to learn helped Fred become one of Google’s first internet marketing wranglers
- 07:11His experience selling Freestyle Media and how he navigated the process with no experience and limited negotiation skills
- 12:56When he knew it was time to move on from Finder and leave it in better hands than his own
- 14:00More on his ongoing work in Startup Development and Cryptocurrency, writing opportunities, and how he plans to guide upcoming entrepreneurs
- 22:00One top tip to take-away: focus on one thing--and make that thing your competitive edge. Further, focus your capital allocation on that one thing--allocate 80% of your capital on that thing. Know that this is going to be really hard and high risk but that thinking and that mindset is absolutely essential
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About Fred Schebesta
Fred Schebesta is one of Australia’s coolest and most successful entrepreneurs, founding global fintech Finder, now worth over half a billion dollars – all without funding. An obsession for hyper success, Fred’s passionate about disruptive innovation and inspiring the startup community through sharing his successes and learnings as a mentor, international speaker, media commentator and author.
Fred is a futurist, an expert in cryptocurrency, and is leading the group’s venture capital arm, Finder Ventures, which has built the most innovative money app in Australia – the Finder app. Fred’s latest project, Schebesta Ventures, is a platform to help more startups develop their business ideas.
Fred has a new book launching on September 1 called “Go Live! 10 Principles to Launch a Global Empire” and is proud to announce the Fred Schebesta Go Live! Initiative, where 30% of all profits from Schebesta Ventures will be invested in startups.
Connect with Fred Schebesta
About the show
Buy Grow Sell is hosted by Simon Bedard, founder and managing director of Exit Advisory Group, a boutique mergers and acquisitions advisory firm that helps Australian business owners value, prepare for and navigate a sale. Every conversation draws on real deals and the patterns behind them.
