The rising tide that lifts all boats

Pete had drifted through careers, from product design working with plastics to boat building, but always feeling a lack of purpose. Then, he had an aha! moment that led to the launch of his business, Seabin.

Seabin is a floating, autonomous rubbish bin that operates 24/7, collecting waste from the ocean through a submersible pump. A single Seabin can draw in up to 1.3 million litres of water per day, filtering out plastic waste, microplastics, fibers, oils, and fuel residues.

The idea was born from a meeting of minds with his friend Andrew Turton, who created the Seabin prototype. Pete's strength lay in his ability to scale and commercialise designs and later, in business development.

“At the beginning, naivety was my superpower. I didn't know quite what I had bitten off, which I’m so glad about because if I had, I might not have taken the leap.”

Pete jumped in headfirst. While he personally reflects on a time when he once measured success by how much diesel he could afford to put into his van, it was the success of his first crowdfunding campaign, raising $150,000 US dollars, that he cherishes as a pivotal made-it moment.

“Reaching our crowd-funding goal was validating: it showed that people believed in what we were doing. It was a huge milestone. But then, I had this immense pressure of ensuring that I didn’t just go surfing, I had to deliver on our promise to the community, and that was incredibly daunting” says Pete.

It was his friends who turned up with a bottle of champagne at 9am the next morning after reaching the crowd-funding goal at midnight and helped him take pause and recognise the significance of what he’d just achieved.

Another made-it moment came when Pete held the first commercial Seabin, fresh off the factory line, and then saw it deployed in France.

“It was absolutely amazing seeing our idea come to life. Being able to hold it in my hands was a huge reality hit, like, ‘Wow, we’re actually doing this!’”

Recent Xero research found over half of Australian small business owners recognise that pausing to celebrate when reaching a milestone is important. Pete acknowledges that as a startup, there’s always a lot going on. While they do celebrate their successes, he believes there’s more they could do to prioritise this.

“For us, our wider community of partners and supporters are a big part of what we do, so we use our social media channels to call out big milestones. This way, we’re celebrating with our team, stakeholders and our community at the same time.”

Pete describes how economic pressures have forced a focus on innovation and a change in strategic direction, meaning they’re now working smarter, for which he is grateful.

Seabin has expanded from a focus on ocean clean-up to a holistic model targeting much-needed systematic change that encompasses prevention, education, data and clean-up, all running in parallel. Rather than choosing between direct action or long-term advocacy, Seabin does both, using real results to support broader environmental change.

“We’re using a data-led approach to adapt to demands and be really critical about where real impact can come from. We are also excited to be positioning Seabin as a source of truth in the new and emerging nature market where mandatory reporting will include plastic waste leaking into the environment”

To support the complexity of this evolving model, Seabin uses Xero to track profit and loss and to ensure the company remains attractive to potential investors seeking financially sustainable ventures.

So what’s Pete’s advice for anyone thinking of starting a purpose-led business like his?

“Know your North Star – your guiding purpose. Make a plan and dive in head first to make it happen!”

Download Xero's report: Small business made-it moments and why celebrating them is important.