Foundr Journal publishes in-depth interviews with the world’s best entrepreneurs. Our articles spotlight key takeaways from every month’s cowl function. We talked with Gabby Leibovich, an Australian tech legend with a portfolio of companies valued at $1 billion. Learn excerpts from that in-depth dialog under. To learn extra, subscribe to the journal.

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Gabby Leibovich doesn’t have a resume and has by no means interviewed for a job.

“It’s in all probability one thing that I’ve by no means shared earlier than with anybody.”

The co-founder of Australia’s No. 1 ecommerce group, The Catchgroup, is 51 years previous and doesn’t plan on having a standard job anytime quickly.

Leibovich labored at his household enterprise promoting electronics and residential items till he was 32. It was there that his foundational enterprise abilities developed.

“On the age of 18, I used to be already promoting at Melbourne markets on Sunday, and I in all probability earned extra in 5 hours than most individuals make in an entire week. I used to be very entrepreneurial.”

Under you’ll find out how this mom-and-pop retailer reworked into certainly one of Australia’s most profitable tech entrepreneurs with exits value greater than $1 billion.

Imitation Sport

In 2002, searching the web for a job wasn’t the norm. Whereas trying to find his subsequent step, Leibovich came upon eBay and began promoting merchandise from his storage.

“Most prospects stated, ‘Is it protected to place your bank card on-line?’” Leibovich says. “All of us smile after we speak about that, nevertheless it wasn’t that way back.”

After two years of shopping for and promoting merchandise on eBay, Leibovich noticed an American web site known as woot.com (ultimately purchased by Amazon) that provided day by day product offers for twenty-four hours or till inventory ran out. He determined to work along with his brother to carry the idea to Australia, and Catch of the Day was born.

“One among us instructed the opposite one, ‘Are you loopy? Are we promoting fish? This may by no means work,’” Leibovich says.

“Generally in life and in enterprise, it’s higher to mimic a profitable idea than be authentic and be very mediocre.”

Leibovich began driving a van across the streets of Melbourne, knocking on suppliers’ doorways, trying to buy extra items from them.

“I’m virtually sure that as quickly as we left the room, they should have checked out one another and stated, ‘This man’s loopy.’”

The Irresistible Deal

Leibovich says the early success of Catch of the Day got here all the way down to their capacity to be savvy patrons. The workforce purchased merchandise at a reduction and bought them on the web site under market value. Clients started monitoring the location like obsessive followers with anticipation of Catch of the Day’s roulette of presents every day.

In 2006, Catch of the Day grew to become Australia’s most considered web site, they usually didn’t have to spend a single dime on advertising. What Leibovich calls the “FOMO impact” meant that prospects by no means knew what product deal was out there or how lengthy the inventory would final. Leibovich remembers once they bought 4,000 laptops in at some point and 1,000,000 {dollars}’ value of televisions in an hour.

“That created plenty of buzz and road discuss inside the shoppers but additionally inside the provide trade,” Leibovich says. “This was good for our suppliers as a result of we checked out ourselves as answer suppliers to these suppliers.”

He misses these early days of pleasure—particularly the frenzy of discovering distinctive merchandise and seeing the overwhelming reactions from prospects.

“The power of the deal created that tremendous want to return and examine us each day at noon, and each day, the viewers saved rising from 1000’s to tens of 1000’s to tons of of 1000’s of individuals,” Leibovich says.

Because the ecommerce trade grew to become extra widespread, so did the competitors. Consequently, Catch of the Day rebranded to Catch, specializing in a market mannequin as an alternative of a flash deal web site.

Over the previous decade, Leibovich has invested in 20 tech companies and startups, together with Luxurious Escapes, Catapult, Zip, Tribe, hipages, Fiverr, RateMyAgent, Vervoe, and Flippa.

“The rationale we succeeded is within the execution,” Leibovich says. “It’s not the concept.”

200 Classes and Counting

Leibovich isn’t retiring. Throughout the pandemic, he wrote a ebook known as Catch of the Decade that’s stuffed with classes from his entrepreneurial journey. He wrote the ebook to prepare the frameworks that made him profitable and encourage the subsequent technology of entrepreneurs.

“There are 200 small classes, and there are about 25 bigger classes, and one of many bigger classes truly is about concepts,” Leibovich says. “I promise you that any concept that you could provide you with, another person is engaged on it proper now around the globe. What makes the distinction between an concept is reaching success or not.”

Within the ebook, Leibovich leans into the retail DNA that shaped him as a teen and unfold throughout his companies. For instance, his cousin Cameron began working for Leibovich in 2008, sweeping warehouse flooring. He grew to become certainly one of Catch’s most profitable patrons and ultimately pitched the enterprise idea to promote grocery objects.

“He had what we prefer to name the ‘Catch DNA,’” Leibovich says. “He understood the method, the mentality.” Leibovich says as an alternative of headhunting for expertise, he identifies ‘intreprenuers’ inside the workforce.

“We give them the autonomy and the liberty to have the ability to execute,” Leibovich says. “We prefer to make choices as a bunch slightly than as a founding workforce filtering down the choice.”

However the ebook and Leibovich’s profession aren’t all concerning the wins.

“We failed many occasions, however we don’t cry about spilled milk,” Leibovich says.

“You simply carry on shifting, and that failure can value tens of millions of {dollars}…generally.”

When Leibovich launched EatNow, they have been stacked in opposition to Menulog, the biggest meals supply service within the nation on the time.

“After two years of operating it, the enterprise was shedding one thing like $300,000 a month in operating prices, however we nonetheless believed in it,” Leibovich says. “We nonetheless backed it.”

The backing paid off. In 2015, the 2 companies merged proper earlier than Uber Eats and Deliveroo entered Australia. In an exit to recollect, a British firm purchased the merger for $855 million. In 2019, Catch was bought to Wesfarmers for $230 million, leading to complete exits of greater than $1 billion.

In his ebook, Leibovich explains the failure-turned-success of EatNow because the 1 + 1 = 3 mannequin.

“We’re true believers that you could obtain extra by teaming up along with your direct competitor or competitors,” Leibovich says.

Leibovich additionally believes entrepreneurs want luck. In keeping with Leibovich, “luck” occurs once you make your self conscious of your environment, know an trade, and spot alternatives.

Primarily, you make your individual luck.

“The intestine feeling and the luck are all combined up, however on the identical time, entrepreneurs have to again themselves, and entrepreneurs have to have a excessive tolerance for threat,” Leibovich says.

“We’re not afraid to take dangers.”

Leibovich says the dangers turn out to be simpler with repetition, and this mindset naturally results in new initiatives. His subsequent enterprise, Little Birdie, is a coupon discovery web site launched in 2022.

“What makes the distinction between an concept reaching success or not? It’s these 1,000 small choices that must be finished within the workplace each single day by your self and by your workforce that can differentiate you from the winner to the nonwinner.”

200 classes later, Leibovich continues to be searching for extra concepts. Together with his toolbox prepared, there’s no telling what subsequent enterprise concept will catch his fancy.