Secrets of a serial entrepreneur: How Scratch’s Mike Halligan became a dog food mogul First Act

Melbourne entrepreneur Mike Halligan is a bit of an overachiever. He’s mastered the worlds of eCommerce, marketing, blogging, apps and subscription services – all driven by his desire to find solutions to consumer problems and build brands accordingly.

Some of his pet projects have taken off, others haven’t. Right now, he’s the co-founder of a howling multi-million dollar success: Scratch, Australia’s fastest-growing direct-to-consumer dog food company. On this episode of First Act, Mike speaks honestly about the lessons he’s learned that any startup founder or budding entrepreneur will lean in to hear.
Episode notes
In this episode, Mike shares:

2:58 – Growing up in an entrepreneurial family

5:31 – Lessons learned from launching a business as a teen

9:30 – The benefits of studying entrepreneurship

11:10 – Building a successful marketing firm at age 19 – Engage Marketing

15:25 – Jumping on the early blog designing bandwagon – The Blog Designers

18:50 – Evolution into eCommerce and building online stores – Online Store Guys

21:55 – The power of eCommerce to scale a business

24:30 – Launching one of the first health tech apps – BodyWise

30:05 – Advice for people wanting to launch an app today

33:05 – The birth of Scratch subscription pet food service

36:45 – The benefits of a subscription model for business efficiency

44:20 – Reigniting the spark for business after failure