New competition from BNZ offers NZ companies vital support in launching in US.
To budding entrepreneurs, it sounds like the promised land: cracking the giant US market. The reality can be quite another matter.
Ask Shaun Quincey, founder and CEO of Genoapay, the affordable payments platform currently looking to expand to Australia and the US with the help of BNZ and the KiwiLanding Pad (KLP) in the USA.
Genoapay are heading to San Francisco in February after winning runner-up in BNZ's unique Start Up Alley competition at Webstock earlier this year. Start Up Alley celebrates New Zealand start-ups and next year has two more $20,000 prizes to help such companies.
The money is valuable – but it is the mentoring, contacts, networks and know-how stemming from the BNZ and Kiwi Landing Pad collaboration that provides start-ups with real nuggets of knowledge, plus a thriving global community in Silicon Valley.
Quincey is uniquely positioned to attest to that value. He spent a year in San Francisco with another company (vice-president of sales for Transaction Services Group) which successfully sought to enter the US market.
Now he is going back with his own company to work again with the Kiwi Landing Pad next year: "They were fantastic. I think a lot of people look at them and think of them as a landing point – and they are. But they are much more than that - what they have really evolved is a whole ecosystem that you can just fall into when you arrive.
"They are a network of connections and conversations that you would otherwise never have with people and companies relevant to your business; they add a huge amount of value – KLP provide the right people, and the right guidance, and you have a place to call home while you are there."
Genoapay (named after the Italian city where money was first invented, though Quincey jokes it means 'Genoa better way to pay?') allows consumers to pay for automotive, dental vet care and other services over 10 weeks using interest-free instalments with no added fees. Quincey says the platform will be available in over 1000 stores here by quarter two next year, enabling transactions for over 80,000 users.
Kiwi Landing Pad's Community Director, Sian Simpson, says the connection with BNZ is powerful, allowing the private sector and entrepreneurs to collaborate to provide resources and attention to help Kiwi start-ups and scale-ups grow. The BNZ Shouldertap programme was established as another way of helping New Zealand businesses achieve more of a foothold in markets.
Sian Simpson, pictured here with former Prime Minister Helen Clark at a Kiwi Landing Pad event
"We noticed they were not spending enough time in the market – coming for two, three or four days only. You need a bit more time to capitalise on what San Francisco and the Silicon Valley community offers. San Francisco lends itself to cascading introductions and, even though it is such a progressive place, people still like to do business face-to-face.
"Often, you will meet with someone and they'll introduce you to three or four other people. Being around for this is vital and can help you make rapid progress with your network, customers and product integrations.
"Being here allows you to learn by osmosis, how to do business here, and notice the intricacies that the US market has," says Simpson.
The BNZ, through its partnership with Webstock, Start Up Alley and the Shouldertap programme, has been helping tech companies get to the US and with cash to help companies stay longer, spending anywhere between 2-4 weeks. Kiwi Landing Pad provides the connections, the network, the contacts and friendly advice on how to do business – they have 4000 members in 36 countries and material focused on business growth accessible online for free from anywhere in the world.
Quincey says Genoapay will probably tackle the US in quarter four next year: "KLP's connections will be crucial for us as we slowly build our US relationships over the next 12 months, as we find our way and learn about that market.
"It can be pretty hard and pretty lonely if you don't have that kind of support – you get battered a lot; you get a lot of people saying, 'no' and, at the end of the day, it's really also valuable to have someone else there to have a coffee or a beer with."
The 2018 Start Up Alley competition in February next year offers two prizes – one aimed at tech businesses looking to expand offshore (includes flights to the market of choice) and the other aimed at social enterprises. Entries close in January 2018.
BNZ's Head of Small Business, Harry Ferreira, says the technology industry is a key sector of the economy: "Not only is it the third largest export sector [$6.3 billion of goods and services exported last year, or nine per cent of the total] it contributes $16.2bn or eight per cent of our gross domestic product (GDP).
"There are more than 28,000 technology sector firms employing almost 100,000 people – and we are seeing so many great ideas with good people in behind. That's why BNZ provides practical support to entrepreneurial customers as their key banking partner, giving customers an edge and introducing them to export opportunities."
