Sharon Melamed journey- Matchboard
https://www.matchboard.com.au/
Entrepreneurial journey told by four students
Story written by Serwan Roman
“I realised oh my god, I don’t fit in here… I decided it was now or never to do something entrepreneurial. I was born in Australia, but I’ve lived in five countries and speak five different languages. I majored at Sydney Uni in Japanese and German, also did French and linguistics for a bit, and when I did my degree, Japan was the major the biggest source of tourism and trade for Australia. I got into a Japanese company after graduating, which happens to be now a billion dollar unicorn in Japan, but they were a start up back then. I spent 15 years with this company and it really influenced me a lot, including the foundation of my start up business, Matchboard. I loved Japanese business culture and the emphasis they place on long term relationships of trust. In this role, I worked in the US for 10 years, and met my husband on Wall St. When we had our first child, we decided to come back to Australia, where I started working for big corporates and really hated my last corporate job… I ended up in hospital with a stomach ulcer, I just needed to get out for my health. I had two young kids at the time racing to daycare after the job and there was no flexibility or work at home back then. I decided it was now or never to do something entrepreneurial. A lot of people ask you to think of what you’re passionate about, and one thing I had never really thought about seriously was I loved matchmaking people. I match made my brother and his wife, I match made students at school. So I realised, I love this matchmaking thing. So I thought, I do get a thrill out of match-making, but dating sites had already been done. I then saw an unmet need in the market for a business matchmaking site, and that’s what led me to Matchboard. I was inspired by the Japanese culture to build businesses based on trust, and most Westerners told me I was absolutely crazy, that people aren’t honest and they would never report deals so that we could take a fee… but now Matchboard is growing double-digit year on year and our mission remains the same: to help companies find the right match, save money and that’s extremely rewarding.”
Story written by Maria Raidy
I was once asked to describe a memory about my childhood that has helped shape my future. Without a doubt in my head, I would say matchmaking. I have always loved to put people together. I introduced my brother to his (now) wife, my friends to each other, students to teachers and so on. I grew up in Australia but was fortunate enough to live in five different countries and learn to speak five languages. Besides my passion for matchmaking, I developed a liking to learning new languages. If I was asked to describe where I see myself in the future, I would have thought I would end up as a language teacher or a translator, after having decided to pursue my undergraduate studies in Japanese, German and French linguistics. However, looking back, I believe my destiny was to become an innovator and entrepreneur. Working in the corporate industry for 15 years became monotonous and extremely stressful. One day, I landed in hospital with a stomach ulcer, built up from the stress of my day job as spearheading sales at an influential corporate company. From there, fate had me stumble upon an article in the Harvard Business Review, which highlighted that the average age for successful start-up founders was 45 years old. That gave me the reassurance I needed to quit my job, start over and (I would add) succeed in my entrepreneurial endeavours. It was difficult at first. Whilst it is crucial to love your idea, as I loved matchmaking and dating websites, that itself is not enough. In my case, I had identified an unmet need in the Australian market for a business matchmaking software application, but had no technological knowhow to implement it. Throughout adversity, I always recall my mother’s words: “Australia is the land of opportunity, seize it while you can” and with that, I set out to conquer each obstacle step by step. Today, Matchboard, the first start-up company I launched in 2012, is recognised by Optus as “Australian Business of the Year” and, by Westpac, as one of Australia’s top “200 Businesses of Tomorrow”. I tell everyone to always be curious, passionate, believe in themselves and pursue their dreams. Accepting failure is the first step in becoming a successful entrepreneur.
Story written by Björn Malmström
Becoming an entrepreneur and founding a company like matchboard was not always my dream, but since I was little, I am curious and open to different cultures, people, and especially languages. When I was studying Japanese at Uni, I started organising home visits to Australian families targeting Japanese tourists as my first small venture.
After Uni I was fortunate enough to work for a Japanese start-up for over a decade in the BPO sector accompanying the company from start-up to IPO while personally progressing from a customer service agent to a senior vice president. During this time, I was able to build up extensive industry knowledge which would later help me with founding matchboard.
Back in Australia, I started working at a big corporate and I absolutely hated it. The lack of creative freedom and the different corporate spirit in a big corporation was challenging for me and did not make me happy, and I even had to take time off due to health reasons. These experiences fostered my desire to become an entrepreneur in a field I was passionate about: matchmaking.
Founding matchboard was challenging, especially finding the right technology partner as well as the scepticism regarding my business idea as my business model is solely based on trust, many people did initially not believe in it. Matchboard is a company that connects buyers and suppliers for services like BPO and customer service but instead of charging a membership fee, we get paid only for a successful match from which we only get to know our customers directly. We need to be notified by our customers directly about the match, the system exclusively rests on trust in our customers.
To start my business off, I could, fortunately, rely on my network to build up the supplier side and find interested buyers. Especially my contacts on LinkedIn helped tremendously as I was able to secure my first three buyers over one simple post on the platform. Whenever I talk to aspiring entrepreneurs, I stretch the importance of their business networks and encourage them to go to start building them up.
Today, I am proud and happy with what my business has become. The Australian market has been kind to us, and we can grow our business every year by double figures. My only small regret may be that I have not been able to target bigger markets like the United States yet and therefore build the business more substantially. But what is not today can be tomorrow.
Story written by Suyun Lin
My career started from a Japanese-speaking call centre agent to an entrepreneur woman who helps 4,000 companies find solutions for their customer needs.
I’m the founder of Matchboard. I can speak five languages. I spent 15 years in my first job being hired by a Japanese corporate. Yet, this job gave me chance to stay in New York where I observed the US market and met my husband, and also gave me the idea of Matchboard’s core business value “ trust”. After we had our first child in New York, we decided to come back to Australia and work for other big corporate. During that period, I finally realised I don’t fit in here. I truly hated my last corporate job and decided it was now to do something entrepreneurial.
When shaping an entrepreneur’s idea, a lot of people will give me suggestions. I want to do what I’m passionate about. I love, which I had never really thought about, matchmaking. I matched my brother and his wife and matched teachers and students to that school. I totally believe it could be a start-up idea. Dating sites have driven enormous profits worldwide, but no one thinks of matching suppliers to buyers in a user-friendly platform. Technology is the key to my business. I found an Israeli software development company that was willing to charge me only at cost if I share the source code with them in the Israeli market. Since then, my entrepreneurial story has finally begun.
Our first mission was to have 100 suppliers on board by the time I launched. It wasn’t difficult as I thought; shortly I got our first three clients on LinkedIn. Matchboard can be successful because we found the colleagues we trust; we adapt to the trends and customers’ needs; we have a hard-to-copy business model. The special thing about Matchboard is that suppliers don’t need to pay unless they win a deal with our service. Furthermore, we don’t trace their deals; we let them report their income to us with trust. During my journey, I struggled the most not in searching for clients but in taking Matchboard to internationalise because of the family circumstance. But family is also one of my drives because I want to set an example for my daughters that women can be successful being a mom and an entrepreneur.