How dyslexic teen Brandon Evertz built a $620 million company without going to uni

BRANDON Evertz was on a campervan trip around Australia with his dad when he had a “light-bulb” moment for his business.

Brandon Evertz, left, with his father Richard Evertz.

BRANDON Evertz is proof you don’t need a uni degree to make it big.

At just 23, the founder of social video review platform Big Review TV is thought to be the youngest chief executive of an Australian public company.

Since listing on the Australian Securities Exchange in 2014, the firm which Mr Evertz bootstrapped off a $500 loan from his dad has soared in value to a market capitalisation of nearly $620 million.

“When I was in school I always had a massive passion for the internet and video,” Mr Evertz said. “I knew I wanted to do something in business involving those elements. I’m dyslexic so in the process a lot of my learning was through video tutorials, and I noticed the same thing with a lot of my friends as well.”

According to Mr Evertz, the business idea came while on a campervan trip around Australia with his estranged dad Richard, himself an entrepreneur. “I didn’t have a business idea, but had a feeling the future was going to be predominately video-driven,” he said.

“It took about six months before the concept came along. I was reading a review on a review site — it was like a light bulb moment. I said, ‘What about a social video review site, almost like a video version of TripAdvisor?’ It wasn’t in the market at all.”

With the loan of $500 from his dad, Mr Evertz created a proof-of-concept of the site, and Big Review TV was born. “That really sent us on a journey,” he said.

According to its most recent annual report, 2017 was the first year where Big Review TV parent company Big Unlimited reported net positive cashflow.

The company reported a net loss after tax in FY17 of $4.24 million off cash receipts of $21.52 million — an improvement on the previous year’s loss of $7.8 million. Its share price, however, has been on a tear, increasing by 930 per cent last year.

Today, the site hosts more than 30,000 user-created videos, operates in seven countries including the US, UK, Hong Kong, Singapore and Canada, and creates videos for thousands of small, medium and large businesses through its subscription service.

“Traditionally if you were a business and wanted to get a video created, you would go to a media agency who would charge you tens of thousands of dollars,” Mr Evertz said. “We charge you $50 a week for 10 months.

“In the early days it was just small and medium businesses, but now we’re creating videos for larger ASX-listed companies all the way down to fish-and-chip shops.

“What we found is every single business needs video content. It’s the number one factor in search priorisation, so they need multiple videos throughout the year. The barrier to entry traditionally has been cost.”

With the acquisition of technology platform Tipsly, Big Review TV is officially launching in the US where the Aussie start-up will go up against the likes of Facebook and Snapchat in social media video.

Mr Evertz said he hoped his story would inspire others and show that a university degree wasn’t the only path to success. “It just depends on what people want to do,” he said. “I hope this can help people see you don’t have to do uni. Just because you haven’t gone to uni doesn’t mean you’re not smart.”

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