Profile

Tony Surtees is a hands-on entrepreneur and a market driven investor who gets directly involved in building and helping companies scale to take full advantage of changing markets. He is a member of the Entrepreneurs’ Programme Investment Committee - for the Australian Federal Government, helping to both evaluate and provide funds across amongst Australia’s largest portfolio of technology based businesses.

Previous experience

Yahoo: Tony is former Vice President and General Manager of Yahoo!’s US Commerce group, responsible for 14 business units generating over US$2.5B in gross sales.

TV: Named as one of Australia's Top Ten Digital Entrepreneurs by Smart Company Magazine, Tony has appeared on CNBC Asia, SkyTV and a host of Australian media.

Education: Tony is a Master of Science from the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University and cofounder of the Stanford Australia Association "Entrepreneurship Series". He has VP and CEO level international experience in investment, media and marketing with businesses both traditional and digital; operational and management experience in companies in the US, Asia and Australia; private board experience specialising in businesses that are undergoing disruption, rapid change, growth and changes in business model.

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Media

Expertise

Talking Points

Thrive in Disruption: Strategies to help you and your team meet disruption head on and win

The processes and business model that make businesses good at the existing business actually make them bad at competing in times of disruption. CEO’s, Boards and executives can really do damage to their business is if they just try to protect the legacy model.

By the time it’s obvious that your company needs to change often it’s too late. What that means is, the time to act is way faster than before. We have to act earlier. We have to be more deliberate. Technology has obliterated the 5 year plan of your business for any more than a year or two out. Companies are realizing that they don’t have the luxury of time to innovate; they need to look at partnerships or acquisitions much sooner than they would have done earlier.

In this presentation, Tony explains your options, how to preserve your existing business and develop new
options to meet a disrupting market. He shows how the 'innovator’s task' is ensure the disruptive business model (which often doesn’t make sense) can be taken seriously enough within the company without putting at risk the needs of present customers.

Tony explains how CEO’s can balance the agenda between protecting the existing business while creating different ways to experiment and change without too much risk.

His experience working on the ground in the United States, Asia, Europe and Australia provides a highly relevant perspective to audiences facing questions of competition and market disruption. He explains how large companies can partner effectively with small ones without over-investing. His presentations are packed with illuminating anecdotes, telling statistics, surprising paradoxes.

HIGHLIGHTS - Tony explains:
• Google’s 8 innovation principles
• How to turn things around in 6-12 month cycles
• The 9 ways to change from legacy to digital
• Strategic investment and partnership options
• Identifying great investment propositions

Topics

Business

Sales
CEO & Company Directors
Entrepreneurship & Entrepreneurs
Marketing
Disruption

Innovation

Creativity
Futurists
Science & Technology
Digital

Lifestyle & Wellbeing

Media Personalities & Celebrity

Motivational

Entrepreneurship

Feedback

"I have been on a few panels in my time and it was a absolute relief to be sitting there with someone as seasoned as you running the show. Was a great experience seeing the Zeetings sof ... keep readingtware being used for the program. Love the feedback loop from audience - I am sure this really keeps audiences on their toes even if the presenter has some dry content." Head of Cybercrime, Veda