30 Under 30 A Decade On: Aaron Beashel

Have you heard the good news? B&T’s 30 Under 30 Awards are back for its 11th year, and we’re officially open for entry.

For those who don’t know, B&T‘s 30 Under 30 Awards are widely regarded as the leading showcase for the best and brightest young talent working across marketing communications.

In honour of our upcoming awards, we’re taking a look back (10 years to be exact), to see where our 2011 winners are now. First up: Aaron Beashel.

Back then, Aaron was co-founder of Launchpad6, which is a company that made Video CMS software that allowed agencies to very quickly create video sites. In his words, essentially what WordPress is for blogs, Launchpad6 was for video sites. He ended up selling the company, but it still exists today.

Today, he’s the co-founder of Simul Docs – a version control and collaboration tool for Microsoft Word docs used by over 5,000 people in 55 countries. 

Read more from Aaron below on what his life’s been like since winning a B&T 30 Under 30 gong.

Aaron Beashel

Then: Co-founder of Launchpad6 (Video CMS software company)

Now: Co-founder of Simul Docs (collaborative tool for Microsoft Word)

How did you feel winning a B&T 30 Under 30?

Awesome! I was so early on in my career and so hungry and ambitious, and winning an award like this was super exciting for me.

Do you think you winning has affected your career at all?

It’s hard to say what impact it had. I think things like this, particularly in your early years when you may not have a huge amount of experience to lean on, really show potential employers how hungry & ambitious you are, and I think that helps get in the door in the early stages of the interview process.

So yeah, I’d say it probably helped my resume standout when it otherwise may have been overlooked.

What’s your favourite part about the industry?

I’ve always worked a little bit adjacent to the advertising industry, mainly working for companies that provide software used by the advertising industry, from Launchpad6 to InVision (a design collaboration tool used by lots of agencies) to Campaign Monitor (an email marketing tool used by lots of agencies) then Simul. 

The thing I like most about the ad industry (and it’s similar in tech too) is that they recognise the value of their people and invest heavily in creating great places to work. 

I think as someone who has always enjoyed fun offices, lots of perks, autonomous culture, etc I can sometimes take it for granted, but I can’t imagine ever working in finance or law where it’s very strict 9-5 hours, wearing suits and basically grinding through each week just hanging for the weekend. That sounds horrible.

What do you think needs changing?

Particularly in the tech side of the industry, maybe less in agency side, we need more diversity. And when I say that I don’t just mean gender or ethnicity, but diversity of employment background and just overall thought processes.

As an example, I can remember I’d been consulting on marketing for a particular tech company for about a year when they a hired a new VP of Marketing, who was a female. One of the first things she said to me was ‘75% of the target market are females, but our brand is incredibly masculine and male-focused, I think we need to change that’

It stopped me in my tracks because I’d been thinking about how to grow this company for a year, and not once did that occur to me. It really highlighted to me the value of diversity of thought and approach.

What’s been your biggest achievement?

I worked for Campaign Monitor when they took the $250m funding (largest ever funding round in Australian tech history) and opened offices in San Francisco, and was fortunate to be able to move over there and lead part of the marketing team.

Moving across the other side of the world, making new friends, getting comfortable in a new country, etc was WAY more challenging than I thought it would be (If you think going to the RTA is bad, wait until you have to go to the DMV).

So I’d say having the courage to move over there and the strength to push through the loneliness and hard times and ultimately make it work is one of my biggest accomplishments, and also one of the best experiences I’ve ever had in my life.

If you weren’t in the industry, what would you be doing?

Ideally, if I wasn’t in marketing/tech I’d be a professional surfer, but unfortunately, my skill level fails me a bit on that one.

I think realistically I’d be a designer of some sort. I’m always carrying on out about how User Experience shouldn’t just be a web-related thing, but something that should be thought about by every designer of every product.

My latest grievance: why do the straps on my kids car seat always sit right where I’m trying to put the child? Surely there’s a way to design it so that the straps sit to the side so you can put the kid in the car without having to dig around under said kid for the straps!

Ultimate travel destination?

Maldives. I’ve never actually been, but my god it looks good on Instagram.

What’s a hidden talent you have?

I’m actually a qualified personal trainer. A qualification I have never once put to use…