Built by an operator who has sat in the chair.

Leadership

AJ Smith

AJ Smith spent the better part of a decade as Chief Executive Officer and director of ASX- and NZX-listed companies, leading capital raises, acquisitions and exits and reporting to boards and shareholders every quarter. He started his career in law, a foundation that still shapes how X77 handles contracts, data and compliance. Today he also leads X77 Ventures, the group's private investment company on the Gold Coast, which backs and operates businesses across technology, robotics, wellness and services — the operating experience X77 Group's pods draw on.

His record is a sales record. At TradeWindow Limited he built the go-to-market from zero, took the company from start-up to an NZX listing and then an ASX dual listing, and led high-performance sales teams that consistently outperformed the market and larger, better-funded technology competitors in a big, contested category. He has done the same for other companies as CEO, director and adviser: set the revenue cadence, hire and coach the people, and hold the number to a board standard.

He has built and run offshore operations before — a call-centre and operations business in Manila — and is a South African passport holder who spends part of every quarter in Cape Town. Today X77 Group runs a team of more than 30 sales and support staff across Cape Town and Manila, growing every month, alongside a bench of consultants and advisers for governance, go-to-market and market entry.

Today he personally scopes every pod, recruits and trains the people who staff it, and chairs every client's monthly review. His standard is the one he held himself to as a listed-company CEO: if the number is not moving, say so, fix it or replace it.

"Every pod runs on a 60-day pilot and a replacement guarantee, because that is the deal I would have accepted when I was the buyer."