Jeffrey was born and raised in Malaysia and spent an extended time in NZ before spending 12 years in Taiwan. Back in Aotearoa New Zealand, Jeffrey is Programme Director for Ministry of Awesome's Founder Catalyst incubator programme where he is responsible for delivering our startup incubation programme to ambitious founders. In this role, he looks after 150+ startups, 90+ mentors and 100+ investors. Before joining Ministry of Awesome, Jeffrey was already an active part of the NZ and global startup ecosystem as a global startup advisor.
What is your favourite part of your job? What is the most challenging?
My favourite part has got to be the privilege of working with countless brilliant entrepreneurial minds in New Zealand - helping them, learning from them, and being always intellectually stimulated by their business and personal challenges. I act as their listener, their sounding board, their voice of reason, their coach and trainer, their de facto cofounder, and most importantly, their journey companion. My role pushes me outside of my comfort zone and keeps me on my toes, as well as affords me a strong desire to excel and to stay ahead of their game. I found myself constantly needing to learn new knowledge and make new connections. The biggest challenge of my role? I don't have enough time to help most of them! The need is too great and there aren't enough startup trainers in this country!
The Founder Catalyst Programme has assisted many UC grads with their startups, including Partly, Workride and Kiwifibre – what success stories come to mind when reflecting on your portfolio?
It is hard to define 'success'. These startups, even the arguably most well-funded Partly, are still on their quest for success. It is a long game and typically takes more than 10 years for any startup in New Zealand to reach an exit point (where that's being publicly listed, got acquired, or simply lasted longer than average businesses out there). Sometimes, the term 'unicorn' is mentioned among startups - typifying the rare occurrence of a business being valued at at least a billion dollars - as a symbol of success.
I rather use a more all-encompassing phrase - build something bigger than life, which allows for the inclusion of non-financial success in addition to financial success. If the founders believe they have achieved this, I would readily call them successful. In fact, in light of our small market size in New Zealand, success is hardly a billion-dollar company story, but rather a case of multiple multi-million-dollar companies being created and sold. When applying this realistic benchmark, we start to comprehend success in a different light. Personally, the success stories I love entail great team execution, fast failing, and perseverance, which are the same traits I repeatedly witness among all these startups mentioned. These startups are not just able to create success, but also replicate it - this is what I call a real success.
What are your thoughts on the calibre and talent that is coming out of Christchurch?
Partly broke New Zealand's fundraising record back in 2022 when they raised NZ$37 million. Before that, they had their 'humble' beginning in Christchurch within our incubation space. Fast-forward to several months ago, they just expanded their existing Christchurch headquarters office size to accommodate more talent to be hired. The Partly story is profound because it affirms two things: Christchurch is capable of producing impactful and entrepreneurial talents, and such talents can build a world-class company right here with Partly not the only company achieving this. Today, what we are seeing is not just the nurturing of a lot of entrepreneurial talents in Christchurch (through the likes of UCE), but also the attracting of such talents from other parts of New Zealand and beyond to congregate in Christchurch. When we have great talents, capital and resources follow. I can't wait for Christchurch to finally blossom into a city full of innovative and enterprising talents eager to build something bigger than life here. The way I see it, we are just getting started!
What advice would you offer to alumni who have nurtured a business idea for a while and are ready to make it happen?
Read a book called The Lean Startup. Remember that an idea is worthless unless you act on it. Starting up something new is just like doing a lab experiment - it should be a scientific process, not just a hunch. i.e. you repeatedly test your assumptions until you can see a clear business path before you. This part usually entails you speaking to real or potential users, and lots of them! Why? Because you need to understand the problems/opportunities before you can start building/selling something! The art of fast failing - quickly learn all the ways that don't work until you hit the one that does. How do you know? The data and insights gathered should offer irrefutable evidence as to which business direction makes better commercial sense. On top of this, have lots of conversations with other business founders who have been there and done that, especially those who are ahead of you on a similar journey. Talk to them not because you need to learn from past mistakes, but because you need good companions to help you stay on this entrepreneurial journey long enough. If you are still absolutely not sure or vice versa, you can come and have a chat with me!
What is a memory or experience that stands out when looking back at your time at UC?
Central Library will always have a special place in my heart! I spent so many hours studying there, Monday to Friday, morning till night - a routine I religiously observed for 7 years. UC is truly a great place for learning, and for getting those countless essays done!
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