Spectur of success looms large [ATTACH] Aiden Boyham Tuesday, 12...

Spectur of success looms large



Aiden Boyham
Tuesday, 12 September 2017 4:36AM

Navigating the tricky waters of business and driving new start-ups forward can be a tough task for even the best operators, but for Karnup’s Peter Holton, taking an idea and building it up from nothing is something he thrives on.

Now managing director of tech-security outfit Spectur, Peter has had a varied and colourful career.

One of his first big successes came in the Marin mountain bike business, which eventually saw him and his sales team selling 25,000 high-end bikes at $800-plus.

After about a decade in the bike business, he took up an opportunity to invest in the 49er, a high-performance sailing dinghy.

The investment proved to be a huge success after the 49er was chosen as an Olympic-class product, getting its first outing at the Sydney 2000 Olympics — and it’s still going strong, having featured at the Rio 2016 Olympics in Brazil.

A move to WA from the UK in 2000 was followed by a successful venture into the coffee industry.

But its Peter’s project with Spectur that has him excited for what could “the best idea yet.”

Now offering solar-powered security camera systems connected to 3G and 4G networks, Spectur’s origins saw Peter go into business with his neighbour, Richard Wilkins.

“He showed me some of what he was planning and it was quite apparent that he was a good engineer but he didn’t know too much about the sales and marketing side of things; so I started to help him along with that,” Peter said.

“I got more and more interested in the project so I invested in it myself.”

Initially starting by selling systems in WA, Spectur’s stature in the market has grown steadily, with more than 50 per cent of sales heading interstate last year.

“There are a couple of other smaller players but nobody has really got in and tried to own the market,” Peter said.

“Our vision is to become so good at what we do in this space that we could become the market leader.”

Looking to continue its growth and expansion with offices to come in Melbourne and later Sydney, Spectur recently landed on the ASX and raised $4.5 million through its initial public offering.

When asked for advice on how budding entrepreneurs could tap new markets, Peter urged them to keep it simple and to never, ever stop asking their customers questions.

https://thewest.com.au/news/sound-southern-telegraph/spectur-of-success-looms-large-ng-b88591695z