What’s a typical day for you at LOOKB4?
My day usually begins with a very strong cup of coffee before digging into a couple of the more mundane tasks on my to-do list. I find that ticking off a couple of the things I don’t like doing, like admin or accounts, at the beginning of the day gives me a sense of achievement and then allows me to get into the ‘fun stuff’. The ‘fun stuff’ for me are the creative pieces and anything that involves client contact.
I generally set some time at the end of the day to look at where the business is headed. This helps me to guide the rest of the team and to see where I can provide individual assistance.
Describe your career journey to this point?
I started out studying business management while working in hotels and resorts. During my spare time I created a couple of startups that I poured most of my salary into. This taught me some valuable lessons (lesson #1: don’t pour all of your salary into a startup)!
I have created, operated and exited successful businesses in finance, technology and hospitality.
The common thread for each business has been to fill a service gap that other companies either didn’t notice or ignored. Identifying customer pain points and working to eliminate them has been key to all of my past successes. Losing sight of this has been the downfall in other, not so successful, ventures.
Favourite purchase and/or biggest purchase regret?
I purchased a 1973 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible, sight unseen, for a Route 66 road trip. Turns out there are a lot of questions that you should ask before buying an unregistered vintage car in another country… I did not ask any of them.
This could have easily turned into my biggest purchase regret, but friendly locals, a TV pilot episode, a good sense of humour and a mate with a Leatherman saved the day.
We completed Route 66, featured in a US reality program, and shipped the Cadillac back to Australia.
Where did the idea for LOOKB4 come from?
LOOKB4 came about after seeing the growth in online purchases and realising that there was nowhere to get real, unbiased answers to individual product questions. People were spending thousands of dollars based on sales spin, fake reviews and misleading advertising. The purchase regret that resulted was eroding confidence and driving a wedge between shoppers and brands.
Over the past year or so, we have tested our ideas with real shoppers and brands. This has helped us to shape LOOKB4 into its current form and develop an easy-to-use customer app.
What’s the most important thing about LOOKB4 to you?
LOOKB4 provides authentic connections and real opinions. Brands are unable to influence what advocates are saying about their products.
We are not a space for salespeople or influencers.
Are you planning on booking a call with an Advocate?
I am in the market for a new Surfski. I know quite a bit about a couple of brands as I have paddled these in the past but there are new models and brands on the market that I am keen to find out more about. I want to speak to a few people before narrowing down my list.
What products will you be an Advocate for?
I own an Epic V10 Sport and an Epic V9. I have paddled both Surfskis in all sorts of conditions and love to share my experiences to help people get involved in paddling.
What’s your big hope for LOOKB4?
I would love to see LOOKB4 become the go-to community for pre-purchase discussions between real shoppers, exchanging firsthand experiences with products they know and use. A safe place where people help each other to avoid purchase mistakes and find the right product for them.
In the same way that people ‘Google’ something to find information, I hope that the future will see us all ‘LOOKB4’ prior to any big-ticket purchase!
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