What tradies do at the start of a project is gather all the estimates and quotes, along with their own expenses and contractors, and Formal Tradie takes that data and creates a baseline for the project.<\/p>\n
Tradies can then see as time goes on how and when invoices and expenses are paid, who got paid and how much, and update their budget position in real time. There\u2019s also an AI agent to help support them with any tasks that need doing.<\/p>\n
What inspired you to start the business?<\/b><\/p>\n
I\u2019ve owned a small-to-medium-sized construction company on Waiheke Island for the last 10 years or so. The idea came into fruition from personal experience, whether it\u2019s on site or whether it\u2019s dealing with clients.<\/p>\n
Talking to my friends who are also tradies and asking them how they update their clients and do their admin, a lot of them are preparing them manually using spreadsheets. <\/p>\n
There is other software out there that encompasses everything, but it\u2019s quite technical to use, especially for someone who doesn\u2019t have much experience doing admin.<\/p>\n
It can be very stressful, depending on the workload that you take on. You hear stories of tradies that are stressed out and not getting any sleep, they\u2019re going home and staying up all night doing the admin. They\u2019re just getting burnt out.<\/p>\n
Being aware of those pain points, I was always curious and knew that there had to be a better way of doing it, and so the idea grew from there.<\/p>\n
Gene Gibson’s first foray into business was his smart wheelbarrow idea, Buster, which he eventually sold to Bunnings.<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t your first business, is it?<\/b><\/p>\n
A few years ago I developed a smart wheelbarrow called Buster, which was also inspired by my experience on the construction site. For the job I was working on, we were taking concrete down a steep hill to pour for a fireplace, and there were a lot of us losing control of our wheelbarrows. I came up with the idea of putting brakes on the wheelbarrow for more control.<\/p>\n
After a lot of research and development, along with some time spent in China, we got a prototype developed and shipped. I pitched it to Bunnings, and after a few tweaks to the design they ended up taking it on and distributing it nationwide, and so I sold the business off.<\/p>\n
How has the platform grown, and what goals do you have?<\/b><\/p>\n
We launched about five weeks ago now, so it\u2019s very early days, but we\u2019ve already got a good number of paying users. I\u2019ve still got to keep my day job at this point, but we\u2019re hopefully getting there. I\u2019ve tested the platform with a couple of friends of mine who own building companies for the last six months, and they\u2019ve been great in giving feedback and ironing out any bugs.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d like to get to 500 paying users in the next two years, that\u2019s the goal currently. I think part of getting it wider is just educating people that it\u2019s not another invoicing app, quoting app or finance app really. It\u2019s specifically a budget-tracking app and client-reporting platform. It\u2019s a niche on its own that hasn\u2019t been touched yet.<\/p>\n
Formal Tradie is a tool for tradies to track project expenses and generate client-ready reports.<\/p>\n
How do you feel like you\u2019ve grown since your first foray into business?<\/b><\/p>\n
I\u2019m 34 now, so it\u2019s been over 10 years since I worked on Buster. Obviously, a lot has changed, but I\u2019ve always been entrepreneurial. My father was a property developer, and my brother\u2019s got a drink business, so we\u2019re all entrepreneurs at heart. <\/p>\n
I think those early learning curves of doing it myself without any external help from family or anything, in terms of funding, has definitely moulded me. I got a loan from the bank to fund my work with Buster, and I\u2019ve bootstrapped everything else myself, so that\u2019s rewarding in its own right.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been an awesome journey so far, and I feel like I\u2019m just getting started. I\u2019m actually also working on another product, which hopefully I\u2019ll be able to share more about soon.<\/p>\n
What would be your advice to a budding entrepreneur wanting to start a business?<\/b><\/p>\n
Ask questions and get a good network of people around you. Having people you trust and who will mentor you is key. But also realise you don\u2019t have to do it all. You don\u2019t have to be a genius to start a business, you just need to be personable, honest, and put yourself out there, then good things will happen.<\/p>\n
Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the <\/b>Herald<\/b>, covering small business, retail and tourism.<\/b><\/p>\n