Transcript for Building big futures with Bevan Slattery

TRANSCRIPT FOR Building big futures with Bevan Slattery, released Thursday 4 May 2023:

(MUSIC BED)

BEVAN SLATTERY:

Growing up in the 80s in Rockhampton, the job that I thought, wow would be an amazing job, being an accountant at the mines! Earning 40 something thousand a year, back then that was extraordinary money. So I thought I’d study accounting and get a job at the mines.

The only subject I hadn’t done was tax law! At that stage, completely lost motivation and went into IT, never actually completed it. But probably know more about tax law these days then most lecturers in it.

I rolled out those businesses, had a fair bit of success… I’m dealing with investors, auditors, bankers, capital raises probably close to half a billion past 10, 15 years, easy, the financial knowledge that I have was exactly what I learned at CQU.

MARY BOLLING: 

Ever seen one of those list of “Australia’s richest people” and wondered, how on earth do you even get a spot?

Well, have you thought about dropping out of uni?

That unexpectedly crucial step – losing motivation for one chosen career, and instead pursuing a passion for another – helped make one of Australia’s most successful entrepreneurs. 

I’m Mary Bolling and this is CQUniversity’s How to Change a Life. 

And today, the path of an innovator: from a freewheeling youth in Rockhampton, to the deep end of digital communications… driven by a passion for solving big problems.  

And, why 25 years later… Bevan Slattery did come back to CQU and get his degree.

In the spirit of reconciliation, CQUniversity recognises this episode was recorded and produced on the Traditional Lands of the Turrbal and Jagera Peoples in Brisbane, and the Wurrudjeri people of the Kulin nation in Melbourne.

We pay respects to Elders past and present, and their life-changing connection to country and culture.

BEVAN:

I’m Bevan Slattery, grew up in Rocky for 25 years and went to CQU.

My role these days, we’re really about a lot of the digital infrastructure for internet in Australia over the last probably 20 years. 

Typically I’m an entrepreneur as they say, I come up with ideas and build some interesting kind of assets that help with the internet. Usually what I do is I have the concept, I come up with the ideas, I talk to the likeminded people, see if they agree with me, see if they want to invest in what we’re doing, and then we go ahead and build it. 

MARY:

So, ‘go ahead and build it’ sounds pretty straightforward, right?

Or maybe it’s a little easier said than done!

But ‘go ahead and build it’ isn’t just Bevan’s job description – it’s been his can-do approach to his career, his many businesses… and just to his life!  

But right back to his school days in Rocky, he isn’t sure at first what he is building… and that leads to some big career detours.

BEVAN: 

Growing up in the 80s in Rockhampton, the job that I thought, wow would be an amazing job, being an accountant at the mines! Earning back then 40 something thousand a year, extraordinary money. 

Didn’t know what I wanted to do, I had a reasonable TEE score, could have gone to Brisbane, but stayed in Rockhampton and thought I might get a job in the mines. 

While I was at uni, I also worked as a DJ at a local club, I was quite tempted actually, it was paying about the same… but thankfully I kind of passed up on that, it was a very good gig but I think I took the right call though!

MARY: 

So, spoiler alert… Bevan Slattery does not end up as an accountant in the mines.

Bevan Slattery is currently ranked at #69 on The Courier-Mail’s list of Queensland’s most powerful people.

But in the early 90s, and still at CQU… he pivots his studies into a local government traineeship… then realises the hard way, that’s not where his heart lies either.  

BEVAN: 

So I’d actually finished all the subjects in my degree and local government stuff, only one hadn’t done was tax law. At that stage, completely lost motivation and went into IT, never actually completed it. But probably know more about tax law these days then most lecturers in it, I’ve been very involved with it!

 So for me it was actually motivation, I kind of changed career paths, I know how ridiculous it is to say I was one subject from finishing a degree!

 But in hindsight having that business degree and that foundation, it’s actually been incredibly incredibly important, for the past 17 years, and launching five ASX-listed companies in that time frame.

I went and did an IT course to get my technical chops, and being able to speak to technical is important, but also when you have investors, it's incredibly important to be able to speak their language. That foundation I had in the business degree, I could not have been as successful, raising capital and investment, getting investors on board, dealing with auditors and bankers, debt facilities in the hundreds of millions, capital raises probably half a billion over the past 10, 15 years, easy, you can’t do that. The financial knowledge that I had was exactly what I learned from CQU back in the late 80s, early 90s.

MARY: 

So, with no degree, but plenty of enthusiasm for new tech… Bevan co-founds his first company.

What gives him the confidence to just dive in to business?

Well, here’s one factor: CQU connections are never far away.

BEVAN: 

I co-founded that with a fellow Rocky friend of mine, another CQU guy. I was always on the technical side, but Jason had a couple of mobile phone stores in Rocky. So my kind of first business, what gave me the confidence was a bit of naievity, Jason had great business acumen, and I played the technical role. He saw the massive demand for mobile phones, and we applied that to the internet. 
Together we went ahead 
Started Pipe Networks, the next business, with an old school friend as well, and CQU alumni as well, Steve Baxter. 

I remember when we started in the early days, it was very simple days. On Fridays we’d get a carton of beer, get a bin and throw some ice in it, a clean bin, seven or eight staff. And one of these Fridays, we started talking, realised every person came from regional Queensland! There seemed to be a much more go-getter, won’t say carefree, but believing you can do things and thinking out of the box as well. In Rocky, you had to make your own fun, you rode your bike, you copied games, that was a big contributing factor.

Certainly, growing up in Rocky, I don’t think it helped from a business standpoint, but did help from just saying, let’s give it a go.

The first two businesses, it was Rocky and CQU all the way!

MARY: 

Rocky and CQU all the way… and in the case of Pipe Networks, all the way to the bank! 

Bevan and his co-founders sell that business to TPG Telecom in 2010… for nearly 400 million dollars Australian. 

But it’s not as simple as smart idea equals big pay day. 

Growing Pipe Networks meant surviving the global financial crisis across the late 2000s… and the very real threat of going under.  

BEVAN: 

When the crisis hit, we were building the cable from Sydney to Guam, and  it was about a 6,900 km cable. We had a really great operating business, but about 100m of project finance got pulled, and you couldn’t get a loan. We were really in trouble, we were a public company at the time. The chairman of the company was Richard Clark, and actually on the board there was another CQU alum, Rick Bateman, and Steven (Baxter) and another guy. And we were at the point of winding up the international side of the business.

We’d already sunk about $70 million, and we had great contracts backing it, with Google and TPG, but we just had this eight month gap on financing, and we had no other options. 

And we called a board meeting to wind up the international business. And Roger, he was about 60 at the time, and he’d seen the 87 crash right, he’s been around. And I’ll never forget, he said, I don’t know if that’s our decision, really there’s only one supplier. Why don’t you give them a call and see what they want to do? And he’s one of the best guys, can present most complex situation, and he can distill it down to a sentence or two. That was the turning point, and that business went on to sell for $400 million, and to help start other businesses. 

MARY: 

You’ve gotta admit, it’s a high-stakes way to learn on the job!

But Bevan says his ability to find solutions – and to tap into the experience around him – is all driven by one thing.

Staying curious, about how the world works.

BEVAN: 

I do read a lot, I read news, I read interesting articles. If I was going through school not in the 80s, I’m pretty sure I’d be ADHD, my mind is like a circus in there! But I do love reading and I do love videos, particularly news articles. I do like to be well-informed, and not because I feel like I should, but because I’m curious, and I want to understand things. In spurts of three minutes, or half an hour, 

If you’re curious, you want to learn about it, don’t get too stressed about it. There’s so much information at your fingertips.

MARY: 

Staying curious about emerging technology has seen Bevan create a string of companies.

Those companies build new data centres, lay fibre optic neworks, and sink thousands of kilometres of internet cable beneath ocean floors. 

Staying curious also means he’s ready when – in January 2020 – when another global crisis looms. 

BEVAN: 

I remember coming back from a conference in the US, in January, and that night, gave the order that no one to fly out to Hong Kong or Singapore. We had just raised $50, $60 million, ended up raising another $60 million, and said everyone in the business stop travel, and ordered a year’s worth of equipment in advance. We had to assume transport would stop, manufacturing would stop, and we had two years’ worth of cash reserves minimum. 

That’s just learning the lesson of 2008, listen to your gut, don’t wait for it to get bad. So for me the pandemic was a really good case, we’d already moved to staff working from home from February, we were completely set. And importantly we had all the toilet paper we needed as well! 

MARY: 

These days, most of Bevan’s work sits within SODA Group – or Slattery Office of Digital Assets.

As well as building digital infrastructure around the globe – the group provides venture capital to emerging tech innovators… and funds deep tech research and development. 

SODA is also focused on solving a key problem, that keeps Bevan connected to home.

BEVAN: 

We have the sustainability side, because I grew up in Rockhampton with Great Keppel and things. Focusing very much on sustainability. One is to make business carbon neutral, make sure invest in renewable projects personally to make sure we live what we speak, then the other is over the next decade want to build a million square metres of tolerant Reef.

MARY: 

It’s just one project that sums up Bevan’s approach – big-thinking, and future-focused.

But his past stays close to his heart – and he’s always glad to get back to Rockhampton.

Like he does in 2014, to finally claim his Bachelor of Business from CQUniversity – just 25 years after he started his studies.

And he will again at the end of 2023, as the Rockhampton Graduation ceremony recognising him as CQU’s Outstanding Alumnus of the Year.

Bevan says he’s honoured – but the award isn’t what he’s most excited about.  

BEVAN: 

The thing I like most is the graduation ceremony. A chunk of young kids, and of course people graduating at all ages, but the optimism and the naivety that I had, in their eyes. There’s so much before them, and the absolute romance that they’re at the start of their journey. For me, I look at these kids and I walk away and think, there’s such an amazing life ahead of them.

MARY:

Bevan Slattery there… reminding us to get excited for the journey – for ourselves, and for everyone just starting out.

Bevan has founded a record FIVE ASX-listed companies… and he’s currently the CEO of Soda Group, the interim CEO of Megaport, and the chair of FiberSense.  

And for everything he’s achieved future-proofing how we communicate, Bevan is CQUniversity’s 2023 Outstanding Alumnus of the Year.

CQUniversity’s practical and flexible courses can grow your business and leadership knowledge and experience… no matter where you are in your career.  

Head to cqu.edu.au/study to learn more.

SIGN OFF: You’ve been listening to How to Change a Life by CQUniversity Podcasts. Theme music is WINGS by CQUniversity alumnus Tristan Barton – check out more of his work at tristanbartonmusic.com

If How to Change a Life has got you thinking about where you’re headed, we’d love to hear. 

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Next episode… 

CLARISSA GRAB: 

They talk about the five stages of grief, right, but when you lose someone in the way that I have, I was sixteen when he passed, that stage of grief actually involves a lot of blame. I had to move to accept myself as well.  

MARY:

Til then, stay safe and have a life-changing day.