24. VentraIP

Revenue: $9.2 million
Growth: 128%
Founders: Angelo Giuffrida, 25 and Cheyne Jonstone, 34
Head office: Narre Warren, VIC
Year founded: 2010
Employees: 40
Industry: Information and communications technology
Website: ventraip.com.au

Domain name and hosting solutions provider VentraIP features its mascot, the “Ventrasaurus Rex” proudly on its home page.

The dinosaur has been invaluable for the tech business, and is “by far the biggest marketing draw we have,” says co-founder Angelo Giuffrida.

“Every year we release a new one and have a sale to accompany it.”

VentraIP cites word-of-mouth referrals as its most important marketing tool, and the company has positioned itself in the Australian market as a business that is young, simple and easy for customers to use without needing complicated systems support.

This year marks VentraIP’s second appearance in the Smart50, with the company jumping ten places up the list thanks to a three-year growth rate of 128%.

But Giuffrida says revenue shouldn’t be the only thing driving a business owner.

“Don’t set out to make money otherwise you’ll more than likely make none,” he says.

Cloud product deployment is on the cards for the next stage of the company’s growth, as is expanding through government and corporate contracts. When it comes to generating new project ideas, the management team take the task of getting everyone in the one place seriously.

“Every year our management team head away for a week (this year was Fiji) and we lock ourselves in a room discussing new ideas,” says Giuffrida.

“Those ideas can often come from other staff and customers.”

This approach ties in with the co-founder’s number one tip for motivating staff: “Provide them a place to work where they come in and don’t think they are coming to work,” he says.

With “plenty of fish still to fry,” the VentraIP management team say are in the business for the long haul.