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ShopGrok

REVENUE: $1.65 million
GROWTH: 39%
FOUNDER: Aaron Cowper, 38
HEAD OFFICE: Chippendale, NSW
YEAR FOUNDED: 2018
EMPLOYEES: 11
INDUSTRY: Software and internet

How it started

Former head of price strategy at Woolworths Aaron Cowper realised that the data and tools available to retailers were error-prone and required significant manual effort.

So in 2018, he decided to start ShopGrok, a platform empowering retail decision-makers to optimise their product range, pricing and promotional strategy while removing the time and cost inefficiencies of data collection.

Growth

Within one year, ShopGrok had taken on two employees and bagged a number of clients.

However, shortly afterwards Cowper suffered a road accident which saw him hospitalised with more than 10 fractures. Cowper says that navigating this period was the most challenging — but ultimately the most rewarding — experience and positioned ShopGrok for rapid growth.

Where to next?

Having bootstrapped from a startup to a profitable business, ShopGrok now has more than 10 employees and a great group of customers.

The team are excited for the coming months which will involve transitioning from the zero-to-one phase to a growth phase.