Ash Davies

Business: Tablo Publishing

Age: 20

State: Victoria

Ash Davies, who won StartupSmart’s Best Young Entrepreneur award this year for his e-book publishing start-up Tablo Publishing, has taken the next step towards his aim to change the industry.

He’s in San Francisco, one of the world’s major start-up hot spots, raising a seed round of funding with a view to “ultimately moving over here”.

“This is an incredible place,” he says.

“People over here want you to succeed and if they can’t help you, they will find someone who can.”

Davies has been in the US since the end of August after going through the AngelCube incubator program in Melbourne.

“I really see a future for Tablo in the US. This is the place you need to be if you want to change the publishing industry.”

Tablo is a social publishing platform that allows authors to create, share and discover new books.

Davies describes the lifestyle in San Francisco as “really interesting”.

“You work late, you wake up just as late. You’re usually building things throughout the day and catching up with other start-up guys. There’s a lot of work but it doesn’t feel like work.”

He says one of the biggest challenges to establishing and running a start-up is the intense emotions it generates.

“It’s such an intense journey when you’re building things … it’s an up and down journey.

“The pressure that’s felt a lot of the time in a start-up makes the process quite challenging. It’s a marathon.”

Davies says the way to get over the emotional challenges is “about having great people around you”.

“There’s always great mentors around that can get you through the hardest stages,” he says.

The best advice he has for other young entrepreneurs is to “build things and listen to other people”.

He says talking to talented people, asking questions and remaining humble are also important.

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