Ben Dunscombe - Principal

Ben is a seasoned operator within the Australian telecommunications sector with a career spanning more than fifteen years of experience working in organisations that covered all areas of the market including Retail, B2B, Corporate and Government and Wholesale carriage.

He cut his Corporate Advisory teeth as part of the team that sold Ericsson’s enterprise business division across nineteen countries to London based VC Ajax Partners in 2001 creating the global telecommunications company The Damovo Group. Following the completion of the transaction, Ben was responsible for de-integrating the service and support organisation from Ericsson’s infrastructure and creating a single unified service and support business unit with common infrastructure, systems and processes.

More recently, Ben was the Chief Operating Officer of the My Net Fone Group (ASX:MNF) and amongst other responsibilities, led the company’s M&A program acquiring four strategic assets in an eighteen month period and the development of it’s long term asset acquisition strategy.

Having held senior roles at Netspace Online Systems and Connexus Internet, Ben is intimately familiar with working with private companies with owners that are preparing to exit and is a specialist in assisting in laying the foundations that create the optimal value proposition sought by potential acquirers.

Matt Olaes - Partner

Matt has over 20 years business experience, with the past 15 years in the Information & Communications Technology (ICT) sector, consulting with clients across the full spectrum of business challenges and opportunities e.g. Mergers, Acquisitions & Divestments; Capital Raises; Corporate Turnarounds; Business Transformation & Integration Programs; Business Process Improvement; Outsourcing, People & Change Management; Sales & Business Enablement; Training & Education.

Matt’s experience includes 15 years of management consulting working with blue-chip Enterprise clients, Small to Medium sized Enterprises (SME’s) and Government departments. He has served clients across the following sectors: Banking, Finance and Insurance, Telecommunications, Utilities, Airlines, Retail, Transport & Logistics, Mining, Manufacturing, Education, Health, Engineering & Construction, and Media & Entertainment.

Matt holds a Commerce degree, majoring in Marketing & Management; and is a Member of the Melbourne Junior Chamber of Commerce (MJCC), The Turnaround Management Association (TMA Australia), and the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).

Richard Preen - Advisory panel

Richard Preen co-founded Netspace Online Systems in 1992 and was one of the pioneers of the Internet Industry in Australia.

Richard grew Netspace from a dialup internet service provider, to be a full service telecommunications company over 17 years and was acquired by iiNet Ltd in 2010.

At the time of the acquisition Netspace was on track to turn over just under $70m for the financial year and had 200 staff across three states. Netspace was also on the Victorian Government Internet Services Panel and was selected as the sole supplier of Internet Access and related services (filtering, email, internet authentication, web hosting and related internet systems) to the State Primary and Secondary Schools and provided access to a number of government departments.

Since Netspace, Richard is now invested in a number of entrepreneurial opportunities in the Internet and online space and has an interest in residential & commercial property development.

Richard also provides advisory and consulting services to organisations C-Level management and senior staff to help them learn from his experiences and skills to help grow fast moving technological businesses.

Peter Moon - Advisory Panel

Peter Moon is a senior commercial lawyer with extensive experience in telecommunications, regulatory, consumer protection, privacy and trade practices law.

He was admitted to practice in 1984 and since 1992 has advised Netspace Online Systems, Pacific Internet, Primus Telecommunications, M2 Group, Nextgen Networks, Connexus Internet Services, Brennan IT, TransACT and many other communications service providers, both in relation to commercial dealings and legal and regulatory compliance and asset acquisition and divestment.