[7] In 1982, Jim Penman started the company with $24 of capital[8] in order to fund his research into biohistory[9] after his PhD thesis was initially rejected.

In 2010, master franchisors held a "referendum" asking for Penman to stand down because of concerns with his leadership style, breaches of contract, and steep fee hikes.

Although the referendum followed the procedures in the operation manual, Jim advised he could not be stood down and that only he could run the company; eventually, negotiations occurred which reached agreement on the fee and master franchise issues.

A number of concerns about Penman were also raised by disgruntled franchisees including that "he runs the whole business as though he owns every part of it", changes had reduced the value of their investment, and litigation.

[8] In 2012, there was an unsuccessful bid for $10 million in funding to expedite expansion including a float on the ASX, which has not since been realised.