What it really takes to build a company from the ground up

Building a company is not a straight line. It’s a roller coaster without a seatbelt, full of moments that lift you to incredible heights and others that punch you in the gut. SEAOAK is the fourth company I’ve built in the past 15 years. Not all of them survived. Not all of them were pretty. But each company taught me something I carry into the work I do today. 

These aren’t theories. These are lessons learned through lived experience, late nights, failed bids, hard conversations, and getting back up again when no one would’ve blamed me for staying down. Here are seven truths I’ve learned as a multi-time company founder - the truths that guide how I show up as CEO and shape SEAOAK Consulting's culture, strategy, and vision.

Know your story and what truly drives you as a Company Founder

Earlier this year, I completed the Rural Women’s Leadership Program through Leadership Victoria and Agriculture Victoria. I’ve done many leadership programs in my career, but this one was different. Transformational. It pushed me to look deeply at who I am, where I come from, and what genuinely drives me to build businesses from scratch.

I’ve always been hardworking - from my first job washing dishes at 15, to leading a fast-growing agricultural climate and sustainability consultancy today. But I’d never really stopped long enough to ask why I push myself so fiercely. For me personally, the answer lives in my childhood. I left home at 16, leaving behind a childhood shaped by family violence, instability, and an absence of safety. There was no backup plan, no financial cushion, no person who caught me when I fell. I put myself through university, built my first home, and fought fiercely for every inch of the life I wanted, and that fight still lives strongly in me today. I work as hard as I do because failure was never an option - I had no safety net to fall back on. I work hard to break the cycle and build a different life for my daughter - one filled with love and stability, and the hope that one day she will find inspiration in her mother’s hard work and resilience. I advocate for the vulnerable - because I know what it feels like to need a voice and not have one. I like to work with farmers because I believe their resilience mirrors my own - they carry the courage to keep going despite constant challenges and uncertainty. 

Knowing your story, the real one, the one underneath the resume and small talk, makes you a more intentional, grounded, and authentic leader. It becomes the compass for how you build a company, treat people, and show up when things are tough.

Success requires failing fast - and learning faster

20% of start-ups fail within the first year. 39% fail within the first 3 years, and 50% fail within the first 5 years. That is a harsh reality based on statistical data. It’s not a matter of if you’ll fail as a founder, it’s a matter of how you respond when you do. You need to fail fast, learn deeply, and iterate relentlessly. You will lose proposals. You will make the wrong hire. You will misjudge a client. You will run a service offering that doesn’t work. The founders who survive are the ones who ask: what did I learn, what could I have done differently, what blind spot did this reveal, what will I change next time. Personally, when making difficult decisions, I start with the worst-case scenario and work backwards. If I can live with the worst possible outcome, I know I can move forward with confidence.

What you do when no-one is watching defines your legacy as a Founder

There’s a saying: “Dance like no one is watching”. I believe in: “Lead like no one is watching”. Your behaviour in the quiet moments when no one is checking your deadlines, no one is reviewing your emails, no one is monitoring your deliverables, is the truest indicator of your leadership, and sets the ceiling for how your company will behave when it grows. Could I take shortcuts? Absolutely. But shortcuts erode integrity, culture, and trust which are the foundations of any sustainable company. Your clients feel it. Your team feels it. And you feel it. Hard work done quietly, consistently, and with integrity will outlast talent, luck, and shortcuts every time.

Willingness to say no

I used to be a people pleaser, saying yes far too often. But saying yes to everything is the fastest way to burnout, misaligned clients, poor-quality work, and drifting off strategy. Now, before committing to anything, I ask myself: does this align with my values, does it support SEAOAK’s long-term strategy, does it energise us, is this a client or project we genuinely want to walk alongside. And if the answer is no, we decline respectfully and help redirect them to someone better suited. Saying no is not a rejection - it’s a strategic decision.

Walk in your clients' shoes 

Empathy isn’t a soft skill; it’s a critical commercial skill. When you deeply understand your clients’ realities - their pressures, time constraints, industry cycles, challenges - you operate differently. You anticipate instead of reacting, you support instead of demand, you build trust instead of transactions.

If you work with dairy farmers, you don’t book an 8am meeting during milking. If you work with a parent, you don’t call them at 5pm when they're juggling dinner and baths. If you can see a client is overwhelmed, you adjust your ask, or offer support, rather than adding to their load.

People don’t always remember what you delivered but they will remember how you made their life easier and that’s what builds strong, long-term relationships.

Surround yourself with people that challenge you and share your values

Even the strongest founder cannot build a company alone. In my earlier companies, I didn’t always have the right people around me and that led to many failures. With SEAOAK, I’ve been very intentional. Every person in my sphere - business partner, advisors, collaborators - challenges me, supports me, and aligns with my values.

This is also why we invested in a Board of Advisors at SEAOAK early on. A strong Advisory board has given us high-level strategy and market insight, risk mitigation, personal accountability, a sounding board for important decisions, access to networks, challenges that strengthen our leadership, and new perspectives. We’ve recently restructured SEAOAK’s Advisory Board and introduced financial incentives that align with long-term impact and value. It is one of the most instrumental decisions we’ve made as a growing company.

I was recently interviewed for RSM’s ThinkBig White Paper on Advisory Boards - not because SEAOAK is a large company, but because we have been very intentional about learning, growing, and surrounding ourselves with the best.

Just get on with it

A lot of founders disappear down the rabbit hole of accelerator programs and business grants, hoping they’ll be the key to launching or growing their company. And while these pathways can be valuable for some, they can also become a distraction from the real work of building a business from the ground up. 

Personally, I’ve always taken a different approach. If I have a strong idea, I don’t wait for permission or a program to validate it - I start building. I bring the right people together, I test the concept, and I move quickly. If I want to grow my network in a particular industry, I don’t wait for an accelerator to provide access - I show up at events, I reach out to people directly, and I ask my existing network for introductions.

As a Company Founder, you must become comfortable backing yourself. Progress comes from momentum, not external approval. Nothing should get in the way of simply getting on with it. My advice? Don’t pour too much energy into chasing programs or grants unless you’re absolutely certain they will accelerate something you couldn’t achieve through focused effort, resourcefulness, and hard work. Use them as tools, not as prerequisites, for building the company you envision.

SEAOAK isn’t just my fourth company - it’s the company where every lesson, every hardship, and every previous chapter have finally converged into clarity and purpose. If these truths help even one emerging Company Founder, then the difficult parts of my journey have meaning beyond my own story.

If something in this blog resonates with you or you would like to chat, please feel free to reach out to ebony@seaoakconsulting.com.au