December 13, 2020: At the age of 30, Nick Molnar is Australia’s youngest self-made billionaire. The young entrepreneur shot to fame and fortune as the co-founder and co-CEO of Afterpay, a deferred payments platform that allows users to stagger the cost of their purchases over regular, interest-free instalments. This year, the company has surged under a coronavirus-induced shift to the growing demand for digital payments — supercharging its stock price 1,300% and catapulting its co-founders to billionaire status. But it might not have been so without the advice from Molnar’s old boss. He gives all the credits to his boss.

“He was the one that pushed me to do it,” Molnar told CNBC Make It.

Molnar was a commerce graduate from the University of Sydney, was working as an investment analyst under Mark Carnegie, founding partner of Australian private equity firm M.H. Carnegie & Co.

Already a driven entrepreneur, Molnar had sold jewellery on eBay from his bedroom while at university. But when he wanted to expand the business and launch his jewellery website, Carnegie was the one to give him the push.

Until today, the website remains active. But it was with his next venture, Afterpay, which launched less than two years later, that Molnar found real success. Now, Molnar is the one giving advice. “It’s great to have a side hustle, but think there are expectations of how far you can take a side hustle.” Said Molnar.