Jetting off with July: CFO Paul Stevenage 

Although he’s only had his feet under the CFO’s desk of luggage start-up July for just a few months, Paul Stevenage says he’s never been more excited about joining a business. 

“July has more potential for growth than any other business I’ve worked in,” proclaims the Melbourne-based executive of the five-year old business, named after the most common travel month globally.    

It’s quite an endorsement given the breadth of Stevenage’s experience, having spent his 25+ year career in CFO and senior finance roles with big name brands such as Woolworths, Coles and Australia Post, and private equity backed businesses including Retail Zoo – owner of Betty’s Burgers and Boost Juice – and KKR-backed Laser Clinics Australia.

But his grounds for the call are clear. “It has great founders, a solid product with a dedicated following, a passionate team, and is operating in a $30 billion worldwide market. Ath and Rich [founders Athan Didaskalou and Richard Li] have attracted great investors including Lachlan Murdoch, and they’ve taken this little Australian business and broken into the US, the UK and Asia in just a few years – and that tells you they’re onto something.”    

With the young business – which offers a range of travel suitcases and bags with innovative features at an accessible price point – poised to get to the “next level”, the founders brought Stevenage in to firm up its finance and governance foundations to support growth, keen to leverage his broad experience, particularly from his seven years with Retail Zoo.

Private equity exploits  

Stevenage joined Retail Zoo – co-founded in 2000 by renowned entrepreneur Janine Allis as the holding company for brands including Boost Juice, Salsa’s Fresh Mex Grill and Cibo Espresso – in 2016, two years after US private equity firm Bain Capital had acquired a majority stake. His remit was to find opportunities to turbocharge growth and profitability for the business, in readiness for an exit.

“We did that by acquiring Betty’s Burgers, which became a significant driver of growth,” says Stevenage, referring to Retail Zoo’s 2017 purchase of the fast-growing casual dining burger chain co-founded in Noosa in 2014 by David Hales, Nik Rollison and Michael Tripp.  

“That for me was a very defining career moment,” Stevenage reflects. “I enjoyed every minute of it – I enjoyed the months leading up to it convincing the owner David Hales to sell; I enjoyed the moment when he rang me and said he would sell’ I enjoyed working with David, who is an amazing entrepreneur, for a couple of years after we bought it, as we grew it from 8 restaurants to nearly 60 and made it a very successful brand. I’m still proud that we achieved that outcome.”

The Betty’s Burgers acquisition underpinned Bain Capital’s successful exit from Retail Zoo in 2023 when it sold its stake to Australian-based investors Adamantem Capital.

For any finance professional faced with an opportunity to work in a business backed by private equity, Stevenage urges them to do it. “I wish I’d done it a bit sooner in my career,” he says. “Yes, it’s hard yards, and investors are looking for pretty significant multiple returns on their investment. But you’re surrounded by very smart people, who are good collaborators, you get a lot out of the scrutiny put on you to get things right, and in the end the value you’ve contributed is clear when the business is bought. My advice is if you get that opportunity earlier in your career, take it.”

Supply chain superpower

The PE environment seems worlds apart from where Stevenage started his career, as a commercial manager with construction materials company Boral in Perth, Western Australia, before shifting to the east coast as the firm’s group commercial manager in its largest division. “That was my first chance to marry up being both operationally and financially involved in a business, which was a great way of getting that holistic view of strategy and performance,” he says.    

His next move, to Woolworths as a divisional CFO, saw him heavily involved in supply chain management. “It’s not the sexiest part of the business, but it was the best thing I did because it got me involved in major projects that were driving significant organisation-wide change – from automating picking and packing, to consolidating transport networks, to introducing self-serve checkouts.  If I was to pick out one thing that has enabled me to succeed in new roles, it was being involved in change that drives value – and that all happened in the supply chain.”   

He deepened his supply chain experience during stints with Australia Post and Coles before he landed as CFO at Retail Zoo, followed by Laser Clinics which was also backed by private equity after KKR bought the hair removal and injectables clinic in 2017.   

Packed for growth

Stevenage’s earliest observation upon joining July was the “obvious enthusiasm” for its product from customers.  “I haven’t ever thought about luggage as being the most exciting thing in the world but when you look at what they’ve done with the product people have become genuinely excited about it,” he says.

Some of the innovative features built into the luggage include a power bank underneath the handle, a 20-height multi-stop telescopic handle, and a light aerospace-grade German polycarbonate shell. Several high-profile partnerships have boosted the brand, including being named the official luggage supplier of the 2024 Australian Olympic Team with athletes receiving a custom-designed suitcase when they arrived in Paris; and fashion collaborations including with Australia’s oldest luxury label Oroton. “And there’s more exciting announcements and partnerships to come,” he says. 

“It really has found a niche, and the people working in the business are enormously passionate about it. They enjoy the finer points of continually making it better, launching new products and making it into a must-have fashion statement.” 

July first opened in August 2019 with a pop-up on the ground floor of Melbourne’s Emporium Shopping Centre. Since then, it has opened several stores across Australia with more in the pipeline, and it has a growing presence in select department stores across the globe, including in the US, UK, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Canada, New Zealand – and online. Its team has grown to around 80.

Stevenage’s immediate focus is on getting the back office in good shape to underpin the growth ahead. “To date, the founders have certainly doubled July’s rate of growth on an annualised basis, and we’re on a pathway to continue that doubling of growth but, most importantly, doing it in a profitable way, and that’s an exciting prospect.”   

Paul Stevenage’s three top career lessons, plus one travel tip

• Don’t feel pressured to talk about your facts before you’re fully across them. With the ever-increasing speed of information flow these days, you often feel like you need to answer questions very quickly. That can be fraught with danger if you don’t spend the time doing the diligence. 

• Often your best ideas can come from the least likely places. Some executives believe ideas to improve their businesses are generated around executive meeting tables, but I’ve heard some of the best ideas from conversations out on the factory floor, the supermarket warehouse, or the kitchen of a restaurant. If you take time to listen to people, you’ll give a lot to the business.

• Don’t underestimate the importance of growing your networks. Often your networks are the best form of professional development and the connections you make can bear fruit in different ways, many years down the track.

• And when travelling…. Since joining July, I’m an absolute convert to using packing cells. They not only enable you to save space and organise your luggage well, they also save the embarrassment of your clothes going everywhere if your luggage gets inspected by security.