EDGE 2024: Building a great company

Creating Australia’s first technology unicorn, David Shein has amassed three decades in founding, mentoring and investing in start-up businesses. 

Since founding Com Tech Communications in 1987 as a one-man band, building the business up and selling it for an enterprise value of more than $1 billion to Dimension Data, Shein has learnt a few key lessons along the way. 

“No matter what industry, no matter what the technology, every company has staff, customers and business partners,” Shein said. “How you treat these three constituents will be the difference between building a good company, a great company, an irrelevant company or one that simply disappears.”

Shein is also the author of The Dumbest Guy at the Table: How I Founded Australia’s First Tech Unicorn. In the book, he shares his experience in building, growing, and exiting the business he founded to start his own venture capital firm, OIF Ventures.

Shein reveals the pivotal moment he recognised he was no longer mentally tough enough to lead the company. 

“As the sole founder of Com Tech, the company was my fourth child, and I thought I couldn’t be half pregnant — I was either all in or all out. I felt it would be hard for the new CEO to run the company with me somehow involved, even as a non-exec chairman,” he said. 

“So, considering the financial opportunity and the mental toughness required to lead a company with 700 people, I was not the person to do that.”

Shein will share his experience as a keynote speaker at EDGE 2024: The New Frontier, which will be held from Sunday 28 to 30 July, at the RACV Royal Pines resort on the Gold Coast.

During the A/NZ-specific conference, delegates will also hear from Stela Solar, director of the National AI Centre, and international AI expert Nancy Rademaker.

Tech Research Asia industry analyst Mark Iles will deliver EDGE exclusive research focusing on the channel’s short and medium-term opportunities, uncovering what makes end-users tick on both sides of the Tasman. This is alongside insights into the purchasing patterns of organisations, key solutions and investment areas.

Immediate partner priorities will also be outlined from a business and technology standpoint, documenting commercial best practices, customer acquisition tactics and financial models of success. In addition, findings will be further segmented to provide a New Zealand-specific research breakout housing Kiwi data points and insights.

Unique to the A/NZ technology industry, EDGE Research offers the clearest indication of how the ecosystem is aligned with the end-user market.

Partners attending EDGE 2024 will be shown how to pave the way in the technology ecosystem – converting questions into answers, ideas into game plans and deals to be done. All while focusing on the technologies and business trends that are front of mind for customers looking into spending plans, pain points and outcomes.

For the first time at EDGE 2024: The New Frontier, ARN and Reseller News will host a diversity and inclusion (D&I) session, bringing together key female figures from across the channel.

Spearheaded by EDGE Ambassador and founder Susan Searle, the D&I discussion will help industry leaders shape the power of maintaining and creating a diverse and inclusive leadership culture. 

Registrations are now open for EDGE 2024