Many of our guests on the show tell incredible stories of trying lots of different things they don’t really love before stumbling on a particular yay that changes their life. What has fascinated me about George Hartley since the day we first met is that he’s loved then left lots of different yays to end up in his current chapter in an industry he originally knew absolutely nothing about. I was first introduced to George as the co-founder and Chief Marketing/Product Officer of Bluethumb, Australia's largest online art marketplace, which he describes as “Soundcloud but for art”. Launched in 2012, Bluethumb connects over 20,000 Australian artists with collectors, facilitating the sale of more than 100,000 original artworks to date with around half a million dollars worth of art currently for sale.
How he has completely revolutionised a whole industry and grown the business to extraordinary heights just recently launching in the USA is a fascinating story in itself. I did not, however, expect to ask about his background in the art world and hear him say, “oh no, I know nothing about it”. While I’ve always been a proponent of finding a business idea out of a gap in the market that you experience yourself as a consumer, George is an amazing example that you can absolutely reverse engineer a business without any prior connections, qualifications or a foot in the door (and that this can often be an advantage). Instead, he began by studying marketing and accountant at uni, had a whole marketing career which he then left to do music full time, which he in turn left to do a Master’s in computer science and work in UX design all before Bluethumb began… I LOVED our first chat at a founders dinner and have been wanting to continue it, so you guys just happen to benefit too! I hope you enjoy as much as I did.
LINKS
Visit Bluethumb here.
Follow George here.
Listen to Art in My Home podcast here.
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