The best way to achieve great scale according to Quad Lock co-founder Rob Ward? Step aside

If you haven’t heard of Quad Lock, chances are you soon will. The Melbourne-based company is one of Australia’s biggest startup success stories, having racked up more than $100 million in sales in May, just as it celebrated 10 years in business. 

Coinciding with this milestone, one of the two founders relinquished his role as chief executive and handed it over to a newcomer. 

Rob Ward stepped aside to become Quad Lock’s chief growth officer, while former Nike executive Andrew Poole took over as chief executive. 

It’s a move some would find baffling, particularly after Ward and co-founder Chris Peters successfully bootstrapped the business for eight years.

But Ward said the timing was right. 

“We employ 50 people, do $100 million in sales, so we needed to get to the next level because it becomes quite a sizable organisation at that point,” he said.

“We went to the market and we agreed that if we didn’t find anyone we liked we would be happy to do nothing. But if we found someone with the right skillset and the right talent, we would do something.

“We were super fortunate to find Andrew who has just such a great background with his time at Nike. He looks at the world similar to the way we do, but he’s also got that much greater scale experience.”

Quadrupling growth

Ward and Peters founded Quad Lock back in 2011 when the pair launched on Kickstarter. Their device, which is a phone mount that locks onto bikes, motorbikes, car and boat dashboards and even the arms of runners and golfers, attracted funding from 578 backers who pledged more than $28,000. 

It found instant love with cycling communities in Australia as well as the US, and has since broken into various European markets.

In 2020, Quad Lock sold a majority share to Quadrant Growth Fund to boost its growth rate. 

“When we first did the deal with Quadrant we were quite open to a new CEO coming in, but at the time Justin Ryan, our chair, was quite adamant that no, it was better if we didn’t,” Ward said.

“Looking back, that was correct. You don’t want too much change in a nimble business. 

“But then two years into that we went to the board and said, ‘Now would be a great time, just to test the market to see if there’s someone who can help us with our next part of our journey’.”

The company cast a wide net, searching domestically and internationally for a new chief executive. 

A Poole of talent

After three months they landed on Poole, who had spent four years as a senior sales director at Nike in the US and, after returning home to Australia, 11 months as general manager of sports at online retailer The Iconic.

Poole said the handover period had so far been smooth.

“I’m sure there will be (difficulties) in a point in time because transition in general can be a little bit bumpy,” he said.

“The guys are in a position where they felt very comfortable about making the decision to appoint a CEO role and subsequent to coming in, they said they had looked at it a few different times and it never really felt right. They said when they met me it was a good fit and the right time.

“So I hope I made their choice easy given they felt my skill set would be complementary to the work they do and have done. At the moment it’s really around the transition space. Rob is an incredibly engaging leader, an incredibly strong marketer.”

Now less than a month into the role, Poole said his priority is to listen and learn as much as possible.

Beyond that, it’s all about growth and scale.

Both Ward and Poole hope to identify ambassador and sponsorship opportunities, expand the business’ auto segment, develop its corporate responsibility profile with charity World Bicycle Relief and establish a presence in a large bricks and mortar retailer. 

“We need to be able to serve consumers at scale, but in an authentic and consistent manner so it’s not showing up in a Harvey Norman, it’s not showing up in Bunnings,” Poole explained. 

“It’s making sure it’s in the best possible bike stores, it’s making sure we’re showing up in the appropriate retail locations for our consumers that’s consistent with the brands.”

All in the timing

Adjusting to the new corporate structure will also be a focus for the future. Ward’s advice for other entrepreneurs juggling a similar transition period is centred around timing.

“For a founder, juggling the transition period to a new CEO comes down to having the right timing, choosing the right person without a deadline, taking your team with you, and being clear on future roles and responsibilities,” he said.

“The first step when it comes to hiring your business’s first non-founder CEO, is that you need to make sure you have the business at a stage where you will be able to attract the right kind of talent to take you forward. 

“If possible, it is best to start looking and having conversations with candidates without a deadline as this way you are truly able to prioritise finding the right person for the role. The new CEO must be a good fit culturally as well as having the skills and talent to succeed, plus the experience to grow your business further.”

If the right talent isn’t on the market, Ward said it’s best to postpone the search. But if the right person is out there, he recommends keeping the team well informed.

“We introduced Andrew to the wider Quad Lock team over Friday drinks before he even started,” Ward said.

“For us, this was done in a very casual fashion and worked for both sides of the equation.”

It’s a time of change for both parties, which can make people nervous. But for Poole, it’s an exciting new chapter he’s hoping will benefit the company as a whole. 

“I’m so excited to be here, getting to work around two founders was one of the drawcards for me and I can imagine people would think it could be a little odd,” he said.

“But to be around people like Rob and Chris and the wider team they’ve built is a really exciting opportunity. I’m hoping that while I’ll be able to share some of my skills and knowledge with them, I know I’m going to learn equally as much about brand building and consumers from them as I would in a lot of other more larger, sophisticated organisations.”