Trent McGraw is the Chief Executive Officer of Equity Story Group (ASX:EQS), a trading platform engaged in the business of stock market trading advice, research, investor education, and fund management.

Outline your journey to becoming a Chief Executive Officer?

I learnt everything I know about business by running my own – allowing myself to make mistakes and learning from them. When it’s your own business that means you fail fast and adapt quickly!

I started my first business in the commercial construction sector at 27. When I sold it, four years later, I found myself effectively semi-retired. At just 31, I simply wasn’t ready for that stage and I had a real desire to help other businesses grow.

I started a seed/venture capital firm in 2014 which is how I came across Equity Story. I was really inspired by the company’s goal to provide meaningful assistance to all investors regardless of how much money they have. I started as a silent investor, but the business was in need of direction and I knew I could help so I put up my hand and took over the business in 2016. For the first three years, it was in an unpaid capacity.

I had a vision that we could grow Equity Story to the point where we could take it public and allow those subscribers who’d been with us on our journey, as well as others, to invest in it.

Five short years later, our client numbers and revenue are up ten-fold, we have additional business units and a separate funds management business. All whilst keeping capital restrained. We have now recently listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and, even after all of this, we still feel as though we are only just getting started.

Tell us a bit about your business and how you are commercializing?
Equity Story is an education and investment advice company that’s established a strong base in the Australian market. We’ve built up a loyal community of paying subscribers who are happy to pay to continue learning. Equity Story’s core service is delivered through a daily video which combines the respective strengths of our founder and Head Technical Analyst, David Tildesley and Head Fundamental Analyst Peter Kopetz. The value that we add to our subscribers is a company valuation model that offers a proprietary combination of technical and fundamental stock analysis. Our subscribers know this, and we’re proud of the reputation we’ve built and maintained over the past decade.

What’s the most exciting thing about running your business?
The thing I love most about running Equity Story is being part of something that is positively impacting people’s lives and putting the pieces in place to reach more people every day, not only with the services we offer but working towards our goal of being able to provide a full suite of complementary investment products and services to benefit investors of all levels.

How do you measure success?
Personally, it’s how I feel at the end of any given workday. I feel successful when I can sit back and be proud of the work I am doing and the businesses I am a part of.

What do you think is the most important quality of being a Chief Executive Officer of a listed company?
This is a hard question to answer because there are so many important qualities! The one that stands out most to me, personally, is vision. 

I believe it’s ultimately the vision that dictates the future of the company. Without a vision, what is there?

What is your favourite book?
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters.

What message do you want to send to our readership in Asia?
We feel that we’re the best quality investment advice business that no one’s heard of and we can’t wait to change that last part. Stay tuned for exciting announcements and updates coming soon as we execute a global expansion strategy and our goal of offering a full suite of services in the investment space. This is a very exciting period of growth for Equity Story.

How can people connect with you?
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/equity-story/
Website: https://equitystory.com.au/

Equity Group Story (L-R) Director and Founders Ben Loiterton and David Tildesley, non-executive Chairman Trent McGraw.

Stephen Crispe is the Chief Executive Officer of RAS Technology “Racing and Sports” (ASX:RTH), a technology, data, digital and media company that services the global racing and wagering industry.

What’s your journey in becoming a Chief Executive Officer?
After a career in technology, intelligence and consulting, I started my own company which was focussed on the intelligence, law enforcement and security communities. I grew this business from one staff member (me) to 40 and an annual turnover of almost 10 million dollars. It was profitable from day one. This taught me a lot – all aspects of starting, operating and, importantly, growing a company. I sold that business to focus on a full-time role with Racing and Sports which eventually led to me taking on the job of CEO. I’d worked on and off in the business for the large part of 20 years so it was wonderful to be able to re-join the founders, my father Gary Crispe and Robert Vilkatis, especially as the company enters this exciting next phase of global expansion.

Tell us a bit about your business and how you are commercializing?
Racing and Sports began life as, essentially, a public resource. It’s now one of the leading providers of premium data, enhanced content, and SaaS solutions to the global racing and wagering industries. We’re widely considered to have one of the largest, most accurate and trusted racing databases globally and are the foremost thoroughbred form resource servicing all significant racing centers. Our databases enable us to scale and pivot very quickly into new products, geographics and formats. Over the past two years, Racing and Sports has moved into the trading technology space and developed one of the most advanced trading manager platforms in use by wagering operators anywhere in the world.

Racing and Sports Founder Gary Crispe and CEO Stephen Crispe on listing day

What’s the most exciting thing about running your business?
Being part of an ever-changing industry that’s rapidly evolving due to the increasing demand for analytics-based products and services. As well as working with the incredibly high caliber team we have to innovate and create those exciting products and services.

How do you measure success?
While financial growth, winning deals, and developing new products and services is a large part of measuring performance, the most important part, to me, is keeping our customers and employees happy. This is what, ultimately, drives the business and is the only true measure of success.

What do you think is the most important quality of being a CEO of a company?
Execution of our strategy and communication with our board, executive, employees, and shareholders, setting clear objectives and delivering on them and ensuring the team operates as a well-oiled machine.

What is your favourite book?
The Magician by Raymond E. Fiest. Sometimes it’s good to immerse yourself in another world.

What message do you want to send to our readership in Asia & Australia?
Stay tuned for the exciting announcements and updates that we will be sharing over the coming weeks and months as we ramp up our expansion plans and execution against our global strategy.

How can people connect with you?
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephencrispe
Carbonix’s Website: https://www.racingandsports.com/

(L-R) Racing and Sports Founder and Executive Director Gary Crispe, CEO Stephen Crispe and Founder and CTO Robert Vilkaitis