Motor Culture Australia - Entrepreneur of the Year

Company: Motor Culture Australia, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
Company Description: Motor Culture Australia is Australia’s fastest growing premium motoring community offering exclusive events, discounts and giveaways to our 100,000 + members.
Nomination Category: Entrepreneur Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Entrepreneur of the Year - Consumer Services

Nomination Title: Thomas Lachlan Mcpherson

Motor Culture Australia is Australia’s fastest growing premium motoring community offering exclusive events, discounts and giveaways to our 100,000 + members.

Launched in August 2020, Motor Culture Australia was envisaged as an inclusive and safe community for car enthusiasts. Having observed negativity, exclusivity and toxic behaviour in the car scene I saw an opportunity to create a positive and friendly environment for all car lovers.

As a young (I’m now 21 years old), budding car enthusiast in Brisbane, I had attended every local car event and meet up and had witnessed the toxic culture firsthand. Often drivers would drive dangerously or erratically, the events would create traffic bottlenecks and the police would show up. I wanted a different experience and knew that other car enthusiasts most likely felt the same way.

I’ve always been highly driven and entrepreneurial. I was running a successful eCommerce business prior to the onset of COVID-19 all while continuing to foster my interest in cars. When I decided to exit the business due to the challenges of COVID-19, I saw an opportunity to pivot and follow my passion for cars. I had already gained a following on Instagram via my Car Culture account and knew there was enormous potential to expand. I sat down with my now business partner and brainstormed how to monetise the concept, and Motor Culture Australia was born.

Motor Culture Australia started by holding inclusive, safe and regulated car events and meetups which were immediately popular. We quickly expanded to develop a membership platform, partner discount program for associated services such as car detailing and giveaways.

Motor Culture Australia has grown exponentially in just eight months. We have over 100,000 members, acquiring around 1,300 new members each week, and are forecasting $20 million in revenue in 12 months. Our growth has been completely organic with no outside investment. We went from losing $10,000 in our first month, to making $100,000 in our second month and surpassing $1 million in our third month. We now get around 1,500 people and 400-500 cars attending every event.

Due to our fast success, we are expanding the team and are now looking at transplanting the business model to other international markets such as New Zealand. We are also diversifying into other services including developing an app and eMagazine. Our members are hungry for content and there is a gap in long-form digital content on cars.

In line with our mission, we’ve witnessed a culture change towards a safer and more inclusive environment for car enthusiasts in only a short time. Despite meeting some opposition and ridicule from competitors at the start, now we’re seeing competitors follow in our footsteps and make their events safer and more inclusive. We’re happy to have pioneered the change as it was long overdue and we want to see the automotive industry survive and thrive.

We’re also thrilled that 35% of our members are women. This is unheard of in most car communities where usually its 90% men. This reveals that women car enthusiasts perhaps felt they didn’t belong in other communities, so we’re proud to have created a more safe and inclusive space for all car lovers.

Motor Culture Australia has given back just shy of $200,000 in charitable contributions to date. We are a corporate partner to the Smith Family and contribute 1% of our profits to the organisation each quarter as well as hold promotional giveaways for charitable organisations.

In three years, the plan is to expand internationally to New Zealand, the US and the UK. In 10 years, the plan is for Motor Culture to be a household name and strong and trusted brand.

-Australia’s fastest growing premium motoring community
-100,000 + members acquired in just eight months, with 1,300 new members acquired each week
-Forecasting $20 million in revenue in 12 months, all based on organic growth with no outside investment
-Surpassed $1 million in revenue in our third month
-1,500 people and 400-500 cars attend every event
-Expanding into international markets - NZ, US and UK
-Diversifying into other services including an app and eMagazine
-Have pioneered a broader cultural change towards a safer and more inclusive environment for car enthusiasts
-35% of our members are women which is unheard of in other car communities
-Have contributed just shy of $200,000 in charitable contributions to date and contribute 1% of our profits to the Smith Family each quarter