Leaders, Innovators & Disruptors - In Conversation With Lex Pedersen
Event description
Join us as we sit down with MQ alumnus Lex Pedersen (BA 1999), Director and Portfolio Manager at CHROME TEMPLE.
In 2006, Lex created SurfStitch, Australia’s first pure-play online surf retailer, from his home garage. SurfStitch became one of Australia’s earliest, largest and most rapid eCommerce growth stories. As Managing Director of SurfStitch, Lex guided the business to consistent triple figure growth, reaching $100mm in sales within four (4) years. As the business continued to achieve triple figure growth in Australia, Lex expanded ambitions internationally, with the opening of SurfStitch Europe in 2012. In 2014, SurfStitch became the first successful Australian pure-play retailer to achieve a pre-IPO capital raise, listing three months later. During his tenure at SurfStitch, Lex was responsible for establishing and overseeing the operations in Australia, the United States and Europe. Following several strategic retail and media investments, SurfStitch became the world’s largest and first global surf eCommerce powerhouse reaching a market capitalisation of over $500m.
Lex identified an opportunity to buck the traditional agency model by providing businesses with innovate digital solutions that are supported through expertise, knowledge, investment, and revenue/profit share. And in 2017, Lex departed SurfStitch to co-found PeriscoPe Digital Group, a full suite eCommerce service and strategy powerhouse.
Lex is also the owner and founder of 1 Day Wraps Australia, an on-vehicle ‘guerilla marketing’ agency that focuses on vinyl wrapping vehicles to promote businesses in an age where traditional forms of promotion are becoming far less effective and increasingly expensive.
Following his passion for collecting cars, and his subsequent needs to store them, Lex recently co-founded CHROME TEMPLE, a high end “Car Concierge” business that stores, maintains, restores, sources, wholesales, transports bespoke motor vehicles. In 2021 Lex successfully launched Australia’s first investment fund targeted exclusively at automobiles of distinction via CHROME TEMPLE investments Mach 1 Fund. Several other automotive culture inspired initiatives await.