Dynamic Duos: Man of Many co-founders Scott Purcell and Frank Arthur
In this week's Dynamic Duos, co-founders of men's lifestyle publication Man of Many, Scott Purcell and Frank Arthur, share how their relationship has evolved since share-houses, horrible cooking and countless late nights working.
Scott Purcell:
Frank and I met way back in 2010 when I was a graduate at Westpac Institutional Bank, through a mutual friend, Andrew. Soon after, at the ripe old age of 22, I moved out of my parent’s place to my very first share house with Frank and a few other mates.
After many nights out together, Frank putting up with my horrible cooking, and moving into a new apartment down the road, the idea for Man of Many was born in December 2012. As a bit of a nerd, I had dabbled with building small blogs and websites. Frank and I used to email each other cool things we’d find on sites like Uncrate.com.
Instead of keeping these discoveries to ourselves, we decided to set up our own website, as there weren’t any publications covering the sorts of things we were interested in at the time. I definitely can’t take any credit for the name which was all Frank, but we thought it was a nice play on the phrase ‘man of many tastes’. This reflected our varied interests and the nature of the site’s coverage being quite broad. Also, the domain name was available, which is a rarity these days.
We ran the site part-time, during many late nights and weekends together. The term ‘side hustle’ hadn’t even entered the mainstream yet. We set ourselves the goal of covering one product each day. As we grew an audience, this quickly turned into two or three products, as we always loved the idea of readers coming to our site each day to discover something new. Before we knew it, we both seemed to have separate full-time jobs simply managing the site and uploading content, in addition to our current day jobs. The demands of the site became so intense that in June 2016, we decided to pursue it full-time. I’ve always been amazed by Frank’s commitment. When I told him I was planning on quitting my job to focus on the site, he didn’t hesitate. The very next day, he quit his own job as an industrial designer.
We’ve always been great friends over this time, but I don’t think our friendship was ever really tested until we both lived in the tiny sharehouse and worked together full-time. It’s a strange thing coming home to someone to not ask how their day has been, as you know exactly what they’ve been up to sitting at a desk next to you all day. But I knew if we could survive a year of that, we definitely could survive successfully running a business together full-time.
As a co-founder, Frank’s always been an incredibly supportive business partner, a great sounding board, and a level-headed manager who’s great to work with. I can honestly say we’ve never made a decision that either of us is uncomfortable with, and while there are often disagreements or constructive disputes, they’re quickly resolved as we know it’s important for the business. The fact that we still choose to hang out on the weekends is a testament to our friendship.
From a part-time side hustle and a bootstrapped business built by two best mates, Man of Many has grown to be a team of 15 staff. It’s one of the fastest-growing independent media publications in the country, the first 100% carbon-neutral publisher in the country, and was recently nominated for Media Brand of the Year in the Mumbrella Awards for the second year running.
Frank Arthur:
I first met Scott over a decade through a mutual friend. Soon after this, we all found ourselves living together in a sharehouse. The apartment which was a former medical practice became home to 7 people, a stray cat and a dog and a guy sleeping in the walk-in storage cupboard…but that’s a story for another time.
At the time, I was working as an industrial designer and I’ve always had a passion for design, style and innovation. Scott was (and still is) a tech enthusiast with a keen interest in gadgets, tech gear and quirky products. Scott had some experience building a few websites, we were inspired by US-based online publications like Uncrate, Vice and Hypbeast, and we decided to start our own digital publication covering the latest in products, culture and style. That’s when Man of Many was born.
Originally our vision was to curate stories about interesting products spanning tech, fashion, outdoor gear, grooming, automotive, and more. We aimed to create a daily create of cool for our readers. We didn’t have any lofty plans for where we wanted to take things, but very soon, we began to build an audience and recognised the potential to transform our small side project into something much bigger.
Neither Scott nor I had a background in media or journalism. I was working as an industrial designer and Scott worked in finance. Somewhat naïve, we were undeterred by the lack of experience in the field and were quick to embrace the challenge. We had to learn about media, advertising, PR, SEO, web development, sales and managing a business all while maintaining our full-time day jobs. Countless long nights and weekends were spent on growing the business and Scott’s commitment to making things happen was always a motivating force.
After four years of balancing our side hustle with our day jobs, we took the leap and quit our respective positions in 2016 to focus on Man of Many full-time. Today, we proudly stand as Australia’s largest men’s lifestyle publication. As business partners, we naturally spend a significant amount of time together in the office. However, our connection extends beyond work, as we are also close friends outside of the professional realm. Fortunately, we no longer share a house, and neither of us resides in a storage cupboard.
Scott on Frank:
Most memorable moment with Frank: Winning Brand of the Year in the Mumbrella Publish Awards in 2021 during Covid lockdowns. It was just a surreal moment to share together as it was so exciting for us both yet bizarre to be having to celebrate over Zoom. It was just a great chance we took to reflect on how far we’d come.
Best word to describe Frank: Benevolent.
Most annoying or endearing behaviour Frank has: Bad driving. Frank’s a very cautious driver but I don’t think he’s ever got a ticket.
Frank on Scott:
Most memorable moment with Scott: One of our most memorable moments together was our very first Man of Many Christmas party. With a team of six employees, we celebrated by hitting a trampoline park, followed by a nice lunch and drinks. It may not have been extravagant, but it marked a significant milestone for us. After years as a two-person outfit, it was truly rewarding to have a team around us and exciting just having enough money in the company account to be able to throw a Christmas party.
Best word to describe Scott: Determined.
I’ve always admired his relentless drive to figure things out. Throughout our journey, we have encountered countless skills to master and problems to solve. In each instance, Scott has consistently demonstrated an unwavering determination to learn and overcome any obstacle we’ve faced.
Most annoying or endearing behaviour Scott has: Scott had some rather unconventional cooking techniques. I clearly remember one instance where he prepared spaghetti with minced beef, barbecue sauce and rosemary.
And yes, it tasted as just as bad as it sounds.
If you and a colleague would like to submit your story to Dynamic Duos, please email lmcnamara@mumbrella.com.au.
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Lauren McNamara is a reporter at Mumbrella. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, having completed a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at the University of Technology, Sydney.
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