#Entrepreneurship: Nitro Founder Awarded Top Gong at EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA–(Marketwired – Jul 17, 2014) – Nitro Founder and CEO Sam Chandler has taken top honours at last night’s 2014 EY Australian Entrepreneur of the Year Southern Region awards, judged best entrepreneur in the Emerging category.

A serial entrepreneur, Chandler started his first company at 16 when still at high school and his second at 21 while studying at RMIT. Having launched Nitro in Melbourne in 2005, the company has grown under Chandler’s vision and leadership to become a global leader in digital document productivity and collaboration solutions. With over 150 employees and 450,000 customers worldwide, Nitro’s award-winning desktop and cloud based digital document products are now used daily by more than 8 million people in almost 200 countries.

Accepting the award, Chandler said: “I’m truly honoured to be recognized with this award, and while I’m the one to accept it, I do so on behalf of the amazing people we have at Nitro. It takes an incredible amount of energy, perseverance, time, and hard work to build a business and we simply couldn’t have gotten this far without the combined effort and contributions of the entire team.” Chandler added: “It’s also wonderful to see the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in Australia and it’s a real privilege to be recognised in a field of such talented and creative individuals.”

The EY 2014 judges acknowledged Chandler’s contributions and leadership in the tech start-up sector and the success he’s achieved as founder and CEO of Nitro:

“Nitro is an exciting business with enormous potential. Sam Chandler has already achieved significant wins, taking market share from more dominant and established global competitors,” the judges said. “Sam leads the business with a clear vision and strong execution. He has also been able to attract top talent to Nitro, despite competition from some of the world’s leading technology companies.”

Having experienced the challenges of scaling Nitro into the successful global business it is today, Tasmanian-born Chandler has long been a vocal advocate for Australian start-ups, particularly in the technology sector:

“As the little guys faced with the challenges of setting a new path, disrupting markets and fuelling rapid growth, to succeed in the start-up game you need to be an innovative thinker and a calculated risk taker. The challenges continue for later stage ‘grown-up’ start-ups like Nitro, as we look to continue our rapid growth while remaining agile within the market and true to our entrepreneurial roots.”

Chandler concluded: “Ultimately, entrepreneurs drive productivity, create new jobs and even entire industries, so I hope our government sees the positive flow-on effects that come from the tech start-up sector in particular and looks to create a more vibrant ecosystem for all Aussie entrepreneurs.”

Chandler is now in the running for the title of 2014 Australian EY Entrepreneur of the Year at the national awards which will be held in Melbourne in November.

About Nitro
Nitro is changing the way the world works with documents — from the desktop to the cloud, making it easy to create, edit, share, sign and collaborate; online or offline. More than 450,000 businesses run Nitro, including more than 50 per cent of the Fortune 500. The PDF software partner of choice for Lenovo, Nitro’s award-winning products, including Nitro Pro and Nitro Cloud, are used by millions of people around the world every day. Australian-founded, Nitro is headquartered in downtown San Francisco with offices in Melbourne, Australia; Dublin, Ireland; Nitra, Slovakia; and St. Petersburg Russia. One of the fastest-growing private companies in the world, Nitro is also a multiple Inc. 500/5000, BRW Fast 100, Deloitte Technology Fast 50 and Software 500 award winner. More info: www.nitropdf.com. 

About EY Entrepreneur of the Year
EY Entrepreneur of the Year^™ is considered the world’s most prestigious business award and the only truly global program of its kind in encouraging entrepreneurial activity among those with potential and acknowledging the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership, and achievement. Entrepreneur of the Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 145 cities in over 60 countries.