Smart50 rank: 5
Revenue: $12.15 million
Growth: 173.09%
Founders: Alex Teoh, 33; Andrew Teoh, 29
Based: New South Wales
Employees: 17
Industry: Information technology
Website: www.mnw.com.au, www.mint-wireless.com
Brothers Alex Teoh, 33 and Andrew Teoh, 29 worked in IT and telecommunications and saw that business owners wanted to improve efficiencies in their business and their cashflow.
"We looked at the most relevant business applications that made sense," says Alex. "It seemed mobile payments would assist businesses of all sizes (large to small) to process invoices, collect payment and have all that information automatically reconciled into their financial and business systems."
So in 2006, they set up Mobile Wireless from their home to focus on providing mobile payment solutions and the development and management of consumer technology products and services. They created a software-based application that allows mobile businesses to securely and instantaneously process credit card payments from customers using a Microsoft Windows-based or Blackberry personal digital assistant.
"Anyone processing payments in situ can accept credit cards and other payment types, process credit card transactions, print an invoice on the spot and download all transactions into their accounting and ERP systems," Alex says. Mint also develops and distributes consumer technology products to many of Australia and New Zealand's largest retailers and online e-tailers through its subsidiary Mint Technology.It was not easy going. Start-up costs were more than $500,000 and start-up capital was a big problem. "We had to ensure that we did not spend beyond our budgeted expenditure," Alex says. "The easiest way to do this is through extensive sales and marketing campaigns. That is particularly risky for products with no track record, or not a known quantity in the market place."
They solved that problem through growing slowly and organically through direct promotions and targeted campaigns. "The more you can control in the outset, you will limit your exposure and risk," he says. "Once you have these learnings of what works and does not work, you can step it up with more confidence."
In August 2007, the company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, raising $8.7 million from an initial offer of 40 million shares at 20 cents each. The shares are now trading at 4 cents. "We learnt to always monitor your cash position and ensure that as a start-up, you have at least 6-12 months of cashflow in place," he says.
The second challenge was getting multinational companies such as banks, telecommunication carriers and resellers to trust in the technology. "We were deemed as a ‘great idea' but did not have the credibility because we were a start-up."
They also found that getting the right balance between moving quickly and not introducing too much change at once a difficult balance to get right. "If you would like to change direction - be confident in your resolve and consider all possibilities and the likely upside," he says. "But too much change too often is not advisable. Ensure you promote this change in direction internally and externally so that your ecosystem and staff do not think that you have no direction."
The downturn also affected the business and it had to shelve several research and development projects, grow the distribution and customer base locally and re-examine the export strategy.
"We now have a plan in place that we believe is of a much lower risk for the company, through partnerships or licensing models," he says. "The global crisis has definitely toned down our bullishness and given us the opportunity to step back and take a more conservative approach to our forward looking strategies."
They brothers found a board of advisors or mentors gave them a different perspective and advice and helped with the development of strategy. Expansion plans include expanding out the Mint Payment Solutions to other growth payment products. "We also intend to expand our export markets to SE Asia, US and Europe by partnering with key distributors and partners in particular regions."
 |
 |
