Buyer's agency Dashdot folded weeks after taking $23,100 fees — 700 clients in line

Dashdot, an Australian buyer's agency founded in 2019 by Glenn 'Goose' McGrath and Gabi Billing, marketed a technology-driven service to help investors 'find the property, in the right place at the right time', claiming it had helped more than 1,800 families buy more than 2,800 properties. It charged large up-front fees — one tradesman, Matthew, paid $23,100 before engaging its strategists.

On 28 May 2026, weeks after Matthew paid and while a strategist was still telling him the company was actively searching for a property, Dashdot entered voluntary liquidation. At least 700 clients could be considered unsecured creditors, and many who had paid large fees shortly before the collapse feared recovering nothing. Teneo was appointed liquidator.

In an open letter, McGrath blamed a rapid deterioration in trading conditions: weaker economic conditions, uncertainty around property tax policy announced in the federal budget, and a sharp rise in customer acquisition costs through Meta advertising that he said had 'effectively cut off' the company's main channel for attracting clients. He also wrote that the business had been in 'great health', growing and profitable, as recently as the end of February.

The up-front fee model meant clients financed the company's operations in advance and stood last in line when it folded.

Growth depended on a single paid channel; when Meta acquisition costs jumped, the pipeline was 'effectively cut off' with no diversified fallback.

Client-facing staff were still describing active property searches days before the liquidation announcement.

The founder's own letter paired 'great health' in February with collapse in May, a four-month swing that suggests the fee runway had been masking the cash position.

Fee-first business models transfer timing risk to customers: when the customer-acquisition engine stalls, the last cohort of clients becomes the unsecured creditor list.

Teneo was appointed liquidator and an initial notice to creditors was expected within days of the ABC's report. Economists noted property businesses are highly cyclical when housing turnover falls; the founders were contacted for comment.