7. Shadowboxer

Revenue: $10.2 million
Growth: 87.17%
Founders: Konrad Spilva, Mike Fraser, Ste Graham, Tom Ashmor, Steve McGrath
Head office: Melbourne, VIC
Year founded: 2020
Employees: 30
Industry: Professional services
Website: shadowboxer.co

How Shadowboxer started

Konrad Spilva, Mike Fraser, Ste Graham, Tom Ashmor, and Steve McGrath had all left their jobs serendipitously before bringing together their skills across business, product, branding, design and technology to found Shadowboxer.

Their logic was that early-stage founders were under-serviced by agencies and often needed a highly-skilled, cross-functional and senior team to help them accelerate their missions. 

Charging clients on outcomes, not hours, Shadowboxer escaped the treadmill of large enterprise work and built their own playbook.

Growth

Adding seven new employees in the past 12 months, Shadowboxer has now brought its full-time headcount up to 30.

But as interest rates rise and capital dries up, new models had to be found. FY23 has seen the company expand into the US and UK simultaneously, trial an Entrepreneur in Residence program, sign a long-term lease, and fit out its own office space.

Where to next

The founders say the ambitious push was them being “victims of our hubris”. Since then they’ve re-focused on fundamentals to work through the challenges in the market and brought their attention back to Australia.

Next up they’re looking at healthtech, fintech, climate tech, and AI for growth.

Back to The Smart50 Awards 2023.