Five of Australia’s most promising leaders took the stage at the Forbes Australia Business Summit. The ‘30 Under 30‘ alumni revealed the sacrifices they made to get where they are.
They are some of Australia’s highest achievers and have already crossed milestones others only dream of. So what did it take for these ambitious 20-somethings to get to the top of their games? Our 30 Under 30 panellists reveal the sacrifice, grit, therapy, and injuries they have overcome to play in the big leagues.
Ariarne Titmus, Olympian, 24
Nicknamed the Terminator, Ariarne Titmus is an Australian Olympic swimmer. Tasmanian-born Titmus moved to Queensland in 2015 to pursue better training opportunities – and it paid off. She made her Olympics Debut in 2020, where she won two golds, one silver, and one bronze medal. In the 2024 Paris Olympics, she won gold for the women’s 400m freestyle and the 4x200m freestyle relay. She took out silver just behind Molly O’Callaghan in the 200m freestyle. She currently holds world records in the 200m and 400m freestyle events.
Seeing the benefit not the downside
“I actually hate the word sacrifice. It’s a choice,” Titmus told the packed Hyatt Regency ballroom. “I never ‘sacrificed’ my teenage years by not going to one party in high school, rocking out to my formal for the photos and then going home. It was, a choice so that I could wake up the next morning and train.”
Owning her choices and autonomy
“I started representing Australia at 15 on the national team. I just had this tunnel vision from a young age. It never bothered me that I was, different to other people going through school. I never felt like I was missing out. Ever since I was little, I’m very happy with the choices that I’ve made.”
Experiencing social growth later in life
“I was in a squad with older athletes. I felt like I was forced to grow up a lot quicker. In turn, in my adult years, I think life slapped me in the face a little bit. I never went through, friendship, betrayal, or heartbreak, or any of those real-life experiences as a kid because I was so focused on swimming. That’s what happens when you make those choices.”
The parallels between sport and business
“Anyone successful – not just in sport, but in business, in any endeavour in your life that you want to be great – has to make tough decisions. If you’re thinking its a sacrifice, maybe you’re not doing what you’re doing for the right reason.”
The tenacity required for the global stage
“In the lead-up to both Olympics I had big challenges. At Tokyo I had a massive tear in my right sub scalp six months out from the games. For anyone who knows sport, that’s pretty much a death sentence in training. And I just went nuts. I tried to find every way I possibly could train around it. Everyone would finish their session, and I’d be staying back and trying to land things.”
On injury
“People understand that it’s a physical injury, and of course it is, but I think it’s actually more mentally challenging going through an injury. As a professional athlete, I have to try and find a way to perform every day, and heal my body, and keep my mind calm, and know that I’m going to be okay.”
Dylan Coyne, Updoc co-founder, 28
Dylan Coyne co-founded Updoc in 2021. The business has served more than 200,000 customers via its digital platform that connects patients with registered health practitioners. It received a $20 million cash injection from Bailador Technology Investments in May 2024, joining the capital fund’s portfolio of other fast-growing tech companies. It’s the first external investment for Updoc, which won the Rising Star award in the 2023 Deloitte Fast 50 with a growth rate of 15,924%. The startup plans to accelerate its product development and international expansion. Coyne is the co-CEO.
The financial strain
“Quitting a full-time job, going through university, getting a degree, earning an income – and then flicking that switch to zero dollars can be difficult. Luckily I was still living at home, so quite fortunate to be able to do that. But it’s still quite a jump and a risk.”
Disregarding the naysayers
“I remember telling everyone that I was going to do this. And they said – why are you doing this? This is crazy. But I think you you almost have to be a little bit crazy, to be an entrepreneur. You have to almost enjoy a sacrifice and not even see it as a sacrifice.”
Managing the greatest resource – time
“It’s really important to try to optimise your time and your effort. Each day I’m reviewing my time, seeing what I’m spending time on, saying, is this important? Am I the best person to do to do this? Should I be delegating this to someone else? Should I not be doing it at all?”
Finding some semblance of balance
“I ask myself how does this task balance or compare against my other priorities in life – whether that’s friends or family. I think it’s really important to be honest, understanding, and cognisant of what the sacrifice is. And make an effort to try to reduce that impact.”
Hamish McKay, co-founder Order Editing, 22
Hamish McKay co-founded an e-commerce software that lets customers amend their orders after purchase for YouTuber Mr Beast in 2021. Twelve months later, he launched the software on the app store under the name Order Editing. McKay says the software gives customers the option to self-edit purchases and gives sellers the chance to upsell via a new channel – saving on customer service costs. While still an early-stage start-up, Order Editing claims it has more than 500 active customers, and has seen its monthly recurring revenue surge 10-fold since the start of 2024. Oodie, Sheet Society, and Oh Polly are three of the 600 brands Order Editing works with.
Emulating the success and sacrifice of his older brother
“I’ve been wanting to be in this situation ever since I was an 18 year old kid. I remember my brother having a really successful career in his early 20s and watching the dedication and the hardship and everything that went into building this personality that he had, and this business that he built around himself.”
Self-belief and a long-term vision
“I felt like I had the potential to do that. My parents told me I have the potential to do it and I wanted to do it – that’s what I want to look like in 5 or 6 years. It’s a really interesting journey to think about when you’re young. I was at university and working really hard, but you can only work so hard while you’re studying at university and trying to get your degree.”
Overcoming self-doubt
“It really kickstarted for me when we birthed the idea for this product while I was working at another business. I knew that in 12 months I would be taking something to market and that I would be full-time trying to build something on my own – as a 23-year-old with two years of professional experience under my belt. I thought really honestly about like, what’s that going to look like? How well-equipped are you going to be for the 18-hour days?”
Seeking guidance to be mentally fit
“My relationship with sacrifice has been a really strained one and an intentional one. As soon as I could finally start affording it I actually took myself to therapy fortnightly. I started having these really honest conversations with my therapist about how I deal with stress and anxiety, and handling all of the clutter that lives in my brain, and in any high performance athlete or entrepreneur’s brain.”
Getting ahead of the curve
“I started working through it pre-emptively, because I knew I was about to go through the hardest period of my life and need to make sure I was I was ready. It is brutal. Ask any founder what the hardest part is about the job. It took serious training to understand the pressure that would be put on your head and to be mentally fit to handle that.”
The relentless treadmill
“It is waking up at 7 a.m., and the first thing you want to do is open up your phone and see what happened on Slack overnight with your US clients. It is eating breakfast while staring at your laptop and sending out emails. Being at a meeting and worrying if the people that you’ve hired are performing and if they are happy in your workplace culture. Finishing your day at 11:30 p.m. trying to be energised for your final call with that US client, or that sales call, or that investor meeting.”
The power of therapy
“You become a lot better equipped to deal with and handle the imbalance that is going to exist in your life as you build a business. I’m really grateful that I did that work early on and still do that work now.”
Zara McDonald and Michelle Andrews, co-founders Shameless Media, both 29
Zara McDonald and Michelle Andrews met as journalists at news publication Mamamia. The pair went on to start Shameless Media in 2018 (on a bedroom floor) to fill a gap in celebrity news and reality TV podcasts. Initially a side-hustle, the duo have since turned their podcast into a fully-fledged media company with 15 staff, and launched two more podcasts: Style-ish and Everybody Has a Secret. The new podcasts are part of the pair’s two-year diversification strategy, and they’re already off-platform with a popular newsletter. Their podcasts boast 100 million downloads in total, they have 1.3 million social followers across their channels and 110,000 newsletter subscribers.
The visibility of potential failure
“The building thing is hard, but building it publicly is the hardest because watching that commentary unfold as you’re trying to learn how to do this can be really difficult,” says Zara McDonald, one of the panel moderators.
Finding a fit in a work partner
“Zara and I feel incredibly lucky. We refer to each other as ‘work soulmates.’ When you’re building something, the people alongside you are similar almost to a marriage. Given how much money and risk is involved,” says Shameless co-founder Andrews, who also moderated the 30 Under 30 panel.
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