In the past few years we have seen the rise of the startup in New Zealand. We love to work with innovators here at Beyond Recruitment, and now we call many of these startups our clients, with more and more becoming known to us every day. There are many Kiwis with great ideas, and also many Kiwis from overseas that choose to call NZ their base for nurturing these great ideas.
Technology is fast becoming one of this country’s biggest and best exports, with a lot of local startups and also a lot of large corporate Blue Chips seeing the opportunity of setting up development shops here in New Zealand for two main reasons: it is vastly cheaper to do so here rather than the US, and of course there is a wealth of talent.
Client Profile
Some of our current clients in the startup category have fantastic ideas and products at various stages of maturity. One client that’s doing great things is VMob, an Auckland-based, NZX listed company. VMob offers an end-to-end mobile personalisation platform that lets retailers and hospitality brands create highly personalised marketing campaigns to reach customers at exactly the right time and place. The VMob platform integrates with each brand’s own smartphone app to continuously collect and store a range of real-time data (including location, movement speed, local weather and nearby events), combining it with information on past transactions to deliver a level of personalised content not possible with other media.
Despite only starting in 2011, VMob has grown quickly (nearly 500% in the last year), attracted strong investment and expanded internationally, establishing them as a global leader in their field. They have already achieved success in worldwide markets and they have offices in San Francisco, Chicago, New York, London, Tokyo and Sydney, along with strong partnerships and clients including McDonald’s, Spark New Zealand, Yellow and most recently IKEA. To give an idea of their impact, when VMob launched their app with McDonalds Japan, it was downloaded over a million times within the first few weeks, making it number one in both Google Play and iTunes. VMob was also recognized by Microsoft at their Worldwide Partner Conference, accepting the award for 2015 Partner of the Year in the Cloud Platform Application Innovation category this past July.
Recruiting for Startups
This kind of growth is exactly what many candidates are looking to build when they join a startup. Though it can be difficult to sell an unknown brand to a candidate, working for startups can be an attractive proposition for many technology professionals, as it gives them an opportunity to get in on the ground floor and be a part of growing a company. The startup culture is also a big attraction, as they traditionally offer a more collaborative working environment and put work/life balance at the forefront, often offering flexibility with hours or the option to work from home.
But being a part of a company’s progression isn’t the only thing technology candidates are looking for. One of the big attractions for candidates of working for a company like VMob is in their use of the latest technologies. Having their finger on the pulse of the latest technological developments is something that many startups have an advantage in when compared to bigger, more corporate competitors, and something that is exciting for technology professionals, particularly amongst younger candidates.
The success of VMob also highlights the benefits that startups can have by working with a recruitment agency. Though having an in-house team and shouting from the rooftops is one way to recruit people and build your brand, this can also have negative effects, as a lack of outside ideas can lead to one-track thinking when it comes to recruitment, and may lead to a negative brand perception in the market. Young companies with fresh ideas can especially benefit from working with an agency, as specialist recruiters can lend knowledge and experience to the recruitment process.
In Summary
Here at Beyond Recruitment over the past 10 years, we’ve supported lots of startups. Supporting ambitious Kiwi companies like VMob makes us immensely proud, as they assist in the growth and success of tech in New Zealand. If you’re a startup looking to recruit, or a professional looking to move to a startup, get in touch.
