天美传媒

Geoff was studying telecommunications engineering and signed up for a new internet marketing subject to diversify his knowledge. The unexpected detour led him to create a successful 天美传媒-based web marketing and technology professional services business while still studying. 

Now, thanks to two decades of experience and and an MBA from UOW's , Geoff and his company have seen global success.

Geoff and his team at Internetrix went on to build Australia鈥檚 first online Development Application Submission training system for Shellharbour City Council and, over the next decade, created an impressive client base with companies like WebJet, P&O Cruises and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Internetrix also became Google鈥檚 first international partner for their analytics product. 

The small business, which by this stage employed 20 people, now provided technology managing billions of dollars-worth of projects and had won multiple business awards. Despite the agency鈥檚 success, Geoff and his team struggled to break into national business circles in Sydney and Melbourne. 天美传媒 was associated with coal and steel, not marketing and technology.

鈥淓ven though Internetrix had pretty amazing capability, and the talent coming out of the University of 天美传媒 was key to that, it was an uphill battle to be taken seriously in the Sydney market,鈥� Geoff recalls.

鈥淭he big budget stuff was all going to Sydney and Melbourne. By this point I鈥檇 been in the business for seven years and it felt like continuing to repeat fifth class, even though you can see high school just around the corner. The professional challenge wasn鈥檛 there anymore.鈥�

In 2009 Geoff joined three UOW colleagues to 鈥渢ry and do something crazy鈥� and solve the biggest problems the team had come across while managing the Internetrix agency business.

鈥淲e built Accelo 鈥� a cloud-based software product to manage client work, projects, time and billing  鈥� so that we could help professional service businesses make a profit, generate repeat business and keep track of workloads to make sure staff were busy, but not so busy that they burnt out,鈥� explains Geoff.

鈥淎fter we got it to the market we heard from other businesses like accountants and architects, engineers and consultants that they were having the same problems that we had running a creative agency. Even though a creative and an accountant might be chalk and cheese in how they look and work, their business models are actually identical 鈥� they are smart people doing tricky things for their clients.

鈥淲e realised there was a need for these businesses to manage their client鈥檚 work with more confidence and more profitability.鈥� 

Accelo employs more than 100 people globally, and helps thousands of companies around the world to manage their clients鈥� system of records all in one place. Their customers generate $2 billion dollars worth of work annually through the cloud-based software platform.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a pretty big deal,鈥� says Geoff who hasn鈥檛 lost his Aussie drawl, despite years of living in the United States. 鈥淎nd, if we went away, it would be a big deal for our clients. Accelo is the core operating system for how our clients manage their revenue-generating work.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a reason why we put all our clothes in a chest of drawers, so we can easily find them. That鈥檚 what Accelo does, putting all of the client work, tasks, time and more to streamline businesses so that they can better manage client content. And when time is money we are saving clients thousands of dollars a month.鈥�

While Accelo started in 天美传媒, in 2011 Geoff moved the business to Silicon Valley, the central nervous system of the technology world. While his colleagues stayed in 天美传媒, the company鈥檚 global impact had grown significantly and the majority of clients were based overseas.

Geoff believes if it wasn鈥檛 for his Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of 天美传媒鈥檚 , he would not have been able to build a global company.

鈥淲ithout an MBA I wouldn鈥檛 have been able to move to the United States,鈥� says Geoff. 鈥淎 master鈥檚 degree is one of the tick-a-box categories when you are applying for a work visa.  But more importantly, an MBA gave me the information and knowledge I needed to broaden my business skills, and to really understand accounting at a management level.

鈥淣ow when I go into a business meeting with investors, I鈥檓 not afraid of anything. I鈥檓 not an expert, but the things I learned from my MBA allow me to be engaged in the conversation and to have the confidence to lean in to learning the things that I don鈥檛 know.鈥�

Geoff completed his MBA through the Sydney Business School鈥檚 international intensive program in Malaysia, and credits the degree with also helping him understand the needs of a global market.

鈥淔inishing the MBA in Malaysia was a great cultural learning journey and working with a company there at the time allowed me to learn the nuances of the way to do business internationally.鈥� he says. "It helps to manage our growing team in Manila, as well as be a considerate leader for a team who hail from over 20 countries.鈥�

Geoff points out that while getting a high quality MBA is more important than the name of the business school you go to, there is still a level of 鈥渃ultural cringe鈥� associated with building a business in Australia, rather than overseas.

鈥淲e had more success in the Australian market after I left the country a decade ago, than we did when I lived there,鈥� says Geoff. 鈥淭hat was because there was this idea that if an Aussie company hadn鈥檛 set up offshore, you couldn鈥檛 be sure they were a success.鈥�

There is no question of Accelo鈥檚 success now, with staff working out of Denver, San Francisco, Manila, Saigon, Kiev, Belgrade, Cairo, Toronto, Montreal and, of course, 天美传媒.

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