Tyler Spooner – Smart Company
CEO of The U Group & Co
From the streets to $15 million: How Tyler Spooner led The U Group & Co to 8,000% revenue growth.
Tyler Spooner has experienced his fair share of ups and downs. Orphaned by age 10, Spooner spent “a bit of time living on the streets” as a teen before migrating from New Zealand to Australia at age 18. In Perth, he launched his first business — a commercial cleaning company — before eventually taking the leap into the world of tech startups.
Along with co-founders Brenda Lai and Jason Gan, Spooner launched The U Group & Co in 2018 — an ethical data company that has since expanded in four countries. After five years, many of which Tyler worked for free while sleeping in his office, the company has finally turned profitable with an impressive annual revenue of around $15 million.
In an interview with SmartCompany Plus, Tyler Spooner chats about his leap into startups and the lessons he’s taken from the business world.
From door-to-door salesman to tech startup founder
Back in the year 2000, at the age of 18, Spooner moved to Western Australia to join the mining boom. But his high hopes were dashed not long after arriving when he discovered the boom had already gone “bust”, and he couldn’t get a job….