In this conversation with Oliver and Leo, we explore how does an idea started at an international school in Rome transforms into an international company with a global presence, the creative tensions and challenges of running and leading a startup in the education sector, and how Leo and Oliver manage and lead their teams. Learnings and reflections from their journey.
About Oliver Page
Oliver founded his first startup NutKase Accessories when he was 17 and studying in high school in Rome Italy. NutKase Accessories is a device protection company focused on designing and manufacturing protective iPad, Chromebook, and Laptop cases for the K12 Education, Health Care, and Enterprise markets.
Oliver led the sales and growth of the company into the 7 figures and now supplies customers in 50 countries around the world.
After his one year of studies in the UK, he attended Draper University of Heroes, a Silicon Valley school for entrepreneurs founded by Tim Draper (An investor in Tesla, Twitch, Skype, Baidu, Hotmail). Whilst there, Oliver co-founded a business called Flowity that won first place at the Draper Demo Day and received an investment from Tim Draper.
After living and working in the Bay Area for two years, he returned to Italy to co-founded Scooterino, a scooter ride-sharing business that won a grant from the European Space Agency and subsequently raised $800k of follow-on venture capital. Oliver is also a keynote speaker and has spoken at corporate, education, and private events around the world, including two TEDx’s.
Oliver is also an angel investor in Zaptic and StudyTracks and a fellow of the Sigma Squared Society (formerly Kairos Society).
Oliver Page on Social Media
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olpage/
About Leo Shortland
Leo Shortland is an Australian entrepreneur who has worked in three continents, started a Georgian Wine Import business (King St Imports), a menswear direct to consumer brand (Divaska), and after joining K12 focused accessories company (NutKase) quickly became a partner in 2017 before his appointment as Chief Operating Officer in 2021.
While working to scale NutKase towards a $100M business, Leo has been an ardent supporter of digital nomadism and remote work, travelling to over fifty countries in the past decade and making investments in high growth EdTech startups.
Good entrepreneurs can change often; the best change all the time. Leo’s driving passion is to change himself and to transform the companies and the employees he leads.
Leo Shortland on Social Media
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leoshortland/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/leo_shortland
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lshort10/
Resources:
- Big fan of Josh Braun’s content on Linkedin
- Morning Brew Newsletter
John Mikton on Social Media
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmikton/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jmikton
Web: beyonddigital.org
Dan Taylor on social media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dantcz/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanTaylorAE
Web: www.appsevents.com
Listen on: iTunes / Podbean / Stitcher / Spotify / YouTube
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