Jeremy Levitt has a resume that, from start to finish, is impressive no matter where you start: economics prize winner in high school, first class honours in Law at Sydney University, banking and finance lawyer at prestigious law firm Allens and joint-CEO, co-founder of local services marketplace, ServiceSeeking.com.au which has processed more than $3.2bn in jobs for tradesmen around Australia. He is also a media commentator on issues ranging from demand and supply of tradies to the cost of renovating around the country.
Levitt has an unstoppable drive and keen business sense, although entrepreneurship does not run in his family. His mother was a school teacher and his brother a builder, but running businesses was something that he fell into after working long unfulfilling hours as a lawyer. He has never turned back and sees no reason to slow down now.
His mother was an emigrant from Romania and Jeremy is of Jewish descent. An academic at school, his hard-working nature carried him through the long and arduous journey of start-up founder. Winning the Ivo Whiston Kerr memorial prize for Economics at Sydney Grammar in 1997, and then the prize for First Year Accounting at Sydney University in 1998 set him up on a winning streak that has never ended.
After graduating in 2004 with a combined commerce and law degree from Sydney University, he went on to practice law at Allens, with experience in Intellectual Property, Banking, Finance and Property law.
His first business after Allens was a social purpose business called PodProperty, designed to assist groups of people to surmount the housing affordability crisis in Australia by purchasing property together as tenants in common.
In 2007, he started ServiceSeeking.com.au, raising money from the 5 founders of Carsales Ltd including Greg Roebuck and Wal Pisciotta, Hamish Douglass from Magellan, Anthony Klok (ex-CEO of Betfair) and David Allingham, owner and portfolio manager at Eley Griffiths Group and other star-studded investors.
ServiceSeeking.com.au is now the most profitable local services marketplace in the country, unlike its competitors Airtasker and Hipages who have reported cash losses since inception.
Levitt has yet to slow down as an entrepreneur and he credits the success of his businesses to his strength in digital marketing, conversion rate optimisation and user experience. Having spent more than $20m on Google Ads through ServiceSeeking alone, it’s a rare feat to have achieved conversion rates in excess of 12% for the duration of his career, helping him build liquidity across thousands of building, construction and household trades industries.
“I’m a serial entrepreneur who builds 8-figure brands,” he said. His regular appearances on television, radio and print media have propelled his career to the north star. “You can leverage almost anything when building a marketplace,” Levitt said. “I’ve used my skills and connections to build an incredible group of shareholders, and liquidity across every conceivable industry in building and construction in Australia. It all works together, and that’s a skill I want to teach other young entrepreneurs.”
Paul Soriano
Jeremy Levitt
https://www.serviceseeking.com.au
[email protected]
1300 791 782