Adelaide 500: VALO founder Aaron Hickmann’s six rules for success

The man who’s helping return the Adelaide 500 started his first business at 15. Here’s how he went from working at McDonald’s to sponsoring sports teams around the country.

The man who’s helping return the Adelaide 500 Supercar race has always related to underdogs.

Aaron Hickmann, a 33-year-old who has forged an advanced stadium lighting manufacturing business from inner eastern Kent Town, started his first business in high school.

He sold PlayStation memory cards, securing a factory supply and invigorating a restless entrepreneurial drive that was not blunted by hundreds of failures.

Eighteen years later, the company Mr Hickmann founded in 2012, VALO, is the Adelaide 500’s naming rights sponsor.

The car buff is putting his matt army green Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO 2 collector’s edition on display for the December 1-4 event, plus giving away hot laps in the car at The Bend Motorsport Park.

He rose to prominence in Adelaide business circles with a speech to 700 people at a Business SA lunch on July 1, introducing Premier Peter Malinauskas. Mr Hickmann, in a 23-minute address, delivered his six tips for becoming wealthy and successful. They were: Trust yourself; Break the rules/ break the mould; Don’t be afraid to fail; Don’t listen to the naysayers; Work your butt off; Give something back.

Mr Hickmann, VALO’s CEO, sees a parallel with the state government’s revival of the Adelaide 500 and his firm’s revival of manufacturing in the state’s capital.

“I’ve been a car fan ever since I popped out, I think. It was in the blood and now it’s in my (two-year-old) little boy’s blood. One of his first words was car,” he said.

“My passion has been motorsport and cars in general and aligned to the Adelaide 500 – I remember watching the race as a young kid and how exciting that was.

“I was a Ford fan because at the time Holden’s dominated so I wanted to go for the underdog and that resonates to business.”

Valo CEO and founder Aaron Hickmann with their latest outdoor sports field lighting panels at his offices and factory at Kent Town. Picture Mark Brake

Mr Hickmann’s story is one of an underdog and contrarian who refused to be cowed by setbacks and failures.

A Glenunga International High School student with a report card not worth boasting about, Mr Hickmann worked at McDonalds. After school, he floated about, running an eBay store, working at Blockbuster video and Glenelg’s Beachouse amusement arcade.

Within a year, he applied for more than 100 full-time jobs, without success. Then he considered a Bachelor of Science at Flinders University, hoping to complete a Master of Optometry, but declined the offer.

Instead, his first full-time job, at Beacon Lighting, delivered Mr Hickmann’s light bulb moment. It came after a sample box of LED lights arrived and he argued for a new product line.

“My area manager said to me that ‘We sell halogen downlights. LEDs have never been commercially sustainable, suitable or viable. So forget about it. You either work here with us or not’. So I did what any normal person would do and I quit,” Mr Hickmann said.

Starting from scratch, he founded VALO in King William St, Kent Town, designing and building energy-efficient LED lighting to supply to residential home builders.

“As the months rolled on, we’re making less and less margin to the point that we’re actually losing money on the delivery of every home. This was because we wouldn’t compromise quality and the belief that we had in the engineering of the product,” he said.

Valo CEO and founder Aaron Hickmann in the Valo Arcade room at his offices and factory at Kent Town. Picture Mark Brake

The breakthrough came when he took his cousins to an NBL game, watching the Adelaide 36ers play the Cairns Taipans at their Findon stadium.

“The problem when you work in lighting – you look up all the time,” Mr Hickmann said. His upwards gaze lead to a full replacement of stadium lighting with LEDs.

Clients today include Norwood Football Club’s Coopers Stadium, the Canberra Centre and Colonnades Shopping Centre. Partners include Hawthorn Football Club (lighting and LED signage), Adelaide Crows, Adelaide United and Adelaide Giants. VALO is official LED lighting partner to Sport SA, Vicsport, Sports NSW, Football SA and Baseball Australia.

Mr Hickmann has just returned from a United States trip hunting new markets, accompanying the Adelaide 36ers when they stunned the basketball world on October 3 by beating NBA side the Phoenix Suns. VALO was emblazoned on the front of the 36ers jersey.

Beyond the Adelaide 500, his next venture is moving to a new base on Greenhill Rd, which will be six times larger than the Kent Town facility where VALO’s lights are made now. It will house between 80 and 90 staff.

Originally published as Adelaide 500: VALO founder Aaron Hickmann’s six rules for success