Kiwi start-up from bus in US goes big
Wellingtonian Andrew Underwood, 30, is making waves in the brutally competitive tech industry in North America but he took an unconventional path to get there.
Underwood, alongside business partner, Taranaki-born Devan Koshal, created tech start-up Commerce.js and has seen millions invested in it. But before this opportunity, a stroke of Kiwi ingenuity allowed him to subvert the extreme rental market in San Francisco, and he worked out of a renovated school bus to avoid astronomical rent prices.
‘‘I thought, ‘How can we not pay rent in San Francisco?’ ’’ The buses were priced at the equivalent of one month’s rent, so it was a no-brainer. ‘‘In America, you can buy almost anything online.’’
He and his Australian-born cousin, Bryan Curtain, whom he’d been living with, bought one each, picked them up in LA and drove them to San Francisco. They stripped the seats out, and built a space in the back of each that was entirely their own.
The tech startup scene in San Francisco was ‘‘so competitive’’ compared to New Zealand, he said. ‘‘You would go to a party and everyone worked for a startup, or had an idea that would change the world.’’
He said Kiwis found it really hard to promote themselves. ‘‘Americans are perplexed by Kiwis, and Brits as well; ‘You’ve got something great, why aren’t you shouting it from the rooftops?’
‘‘They say that you have to speak to 100 investors to get the first million dollars. I remember thinking surely not but it’s definitely true.’’
Eventually, Underwood and Koshal’s idea was recognised. He and Koshal, whom he paired with in 2015, have since received NZ$3.3 million in funding, including from Initialized Capital, an investment firm coowned by Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian.
Underwood described their startup as a ‘‘headless e-commerce platform’’ which allows businesses to easily create an online presence. ‘‘We are an e-commerce platform for websites, mobile, any device where there’s a wifi chip – your fridge, even.’’
Underwood grew up in Wellington and represented New Zealand as a runner, before glandular fever knocked his health in high school, and he decided to try the software world. He went to Auckland University, where he studied business and IT, then took advantage of the US’ J-1 visa and worked for a year there.
‘‘It was really quite exciting to go from New Zealand to a place like Silicon Valley.’’
Underwood is based in Vancouver now, but while his visa is being cleared to go back to Canada, leaving New Zealand depended on the availability of flights.
To help people through this period of financial hardship, they are waiving their platform’s fees for six months.