Five founders keeping the faith with investors

Corporate Australia has recently experienced a founder “killing season”, but these founder-led companies are still keeping shareholders happy.

From left: Chemist Warehouse co-founder Mario Verrocchi, Reece Group’s Peter Wilson, Atlassian’s Mike Cannon-Brookes, Canva’s Melanie Perkins, and Pro Medicus co-founder Sam Hupert. Michaela Pollock

Nov 9, 2024 – 5.00am

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Investors love company founders for their passion, energy and skin in the game. But most of all, investors love the returns that founders generate.

The top 12 founder-led companies in Australia delivered a return of 400 per cent over the past five years, says Solaris Investment Management, compared with just 65 per cent across the ASX200. Blackwattle Partners says founder-led companies delivered excess returns of 18 per cent a year compared with the ASX 300. And this month a survey by The Australian Financial Review of 33 ASX-listed founder-led businesses found that 72.7 per cent had outperformed the broader market since listing.