You often hear stories of successful businessmen who have built major empires through decades of hard work and dedication. However, you rarely hear of businessmen close to home who, by their early twenties, already accomplished a great deal.
24-year-old business owner, Adam Centorrino is one of very few who can honestly claim this accolade, as he pursued his childhood passion, turning it into his career.
From a very young age, Adam, founder and operator of Melbourne based
Information Technology (IT) company,
Centorrino Technologies realised he was unlike most of school peers. From the age of five, Adam discovered his love for gadgets, but not any kind of gadget like a motorised car or aeroplane, rather he was a fan of the vacuum cleaner.
“When I was four or five I started playing with electronic toys like vacuum cleaners,” said Adam Centorrino. “However, as I got older, I started getting into computers.”
“When I was in grade five, my dad bought me my first computer. I remember reading the side of the case, which said, ‘warranty void if sticker removed’. So I decided to pull apart the whole computer,” said Adam. “Everything was disassembled on the whole floor. My mum nearly had a seizure! Thankfully, within an hour and a half, I managed to put the whole computer back together again.”
It didn’t take much for Adam to realise that he could possibly make a living out of his hobby. By the time he was in grade six, he was already in charge of establishing his primary school’s entire IT network.
“My dad always used to take me to his secondary school, where he worked at the time. I used to love watching the IT guys at work. I didn’t know specifically back then what they were doing, but I felt really inspired to learn more.”
“When I was in grade six, the head of IT came up to me and asked if I could help him set up the primary school’s computer network. What he asked me to do, I had never done before, but in the end, I managed to work it out within three to four hours.”
“Once I hit high school, somehow word got out that I assisted my primary school’s IT department, so the head of IT at my secondary school gave me permission to follow him around like a bad smell,” said Adam. “From year nine onwards, my school started paying me as an IT technician during their school holidays and term breaks.”
“Around this time, I started to fix computers for family and friends. Eventually, it got to the stage when someone said to me that they needed a receipt. And I immediately thought, ‘How do I give him a receipt?’ So, I decided to register my business,” said Adam. “I guess it was meant to be.”
From starting the business with only himself and two employees, Centorrino Technologies has grown to become a huge IT company in a matter of just five years.
“I’m happy to say that within five years, from having only two staff members, I now have 35 employees working for me,” said Adam. “In the IT business alone, I have 13 staff members. It is growing quite rapidly but I still think there is huge potential for us to grow a lot bigger over the next three years.”
“I’ve always wanted to achieve big. I have never thought small. So, every time I look at everything that I have done, or if somebody tells me that everything is fantastic, I always think it’s short of what I expect. I am my own worst judge.”
Unlike many businessmen, Adam did not rely on tertiary studies to assist him in achieving his goals. Instead he has his father to thank for inspiring him to believe that the sky is the limit.
“When I finished Year 12, I was accepted at the
University of Melbourne to do a double degree in Information Technology. However, I only lasted at uni for one day, as I was unhappy with the course outline,” said Adam. “Actually, It wasn’t even a full day, I started at 12 ‘o’clock and finished at four o’clock!”
“By that stage, I already had my company up and running with two staff members. So to be honest, going to uni would have been a bit of a burden.”
“The person who really pushed and encouraged me to do what I wanted to do was my dad. He was the one who always drove me to appointments during high school when I didn’t have my driver’s licence,” said Adam. “He always told me to pursue my dream. Actually, he was the one who came to bat for me while my mum almost hit the roof when I announced that I was leaving university after a day.”
In order to run a successful company, one needs to devote many hours into the business in order to reap the benefits. Adam Centorrino is no exception.
“I usually work 90 to 120 hours a week. I start at six o’clock in the morning and finish at eleven o’clock at night. I’ll have a few breaks in between like dinner and so forth.”
“One day, my wife and I went on a cruise in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It was almost impossible to locate a place where I could access the Internet. I thought I was going to die,” he said. “On the day of my wedding, my wife knew she was marrying both me and my laptop.”
When asked to gaze into his Information Technology crystal ball, Adam is uncertain about what the future holds.
“I simply do not know where technology is going to end up in 20 years or so. I’ve got a feeling that
cloud solutions will be a lot more dominant than what they are now.”
“I know that we won’t be using desktop computers anymore. Instead, I believe we will just be using tablets,” said Adam. “All the processing power will be saved on computers in data centres, where websites run from. Everything will be accessed online, like emails and so forth.”
Creating and establishing a successful business is no doubt a challenging but rewarding adventure. In Adam’s view, both his professional and personal life while running Centorrino Technologies have been fulfilling experiences.
“To be successful, you have to be driven. You have to be determined to succeed.”
“You need to be honest and believe in your product and your services. You have to have a great team behind you and you must learn how to manage stress,” said Adam. “You need to be able to communicate with others and be able to sell your product well.”
“Some people call me driven. I look at myself and say I’m an idiot or a fanatic. I am dedicated because it’s what I really love to do,” said Adam. “It’s not just my job, it’s my hobby, my passion and my life.
