Nathalie Rafeh | Company: Splashup
Visit Splashup here: https://splashup.co/en/
Entrepreneurial journey told by nine students
Story written by Guo Dong Yuen
“I believe there is always an entrepreneurial voice in everyone.
Being close to the start-up ecosystem, I have always wanted to venture into business because it would be more rewarding on a financial and opportunity level in the long run. I founded my first venture in Unicircle, which although it flopped, gave me an incredible first learning experience. When I pursued my Masters in Journalism and Communication at UNSW, I also used this opportunity to do consulting for a few SMEs. After which, I joined Mad Paws as an Entrepreneur in Residence where I was involved in the planning, building, and scaling MVP from ideation.
Through these experiences, I eventually decided to start Splashup because of how, as a brand owner myself, have faced challenges in acquiring customers in a cost-effective manner and away from conventional monopolies. Sticking to our mission, we aim to become the biggest brand discovery platform where we can allow brands and retailers to cross-promote their products with complementary brands at checkout, boosting awareness and cutting the costs of customer acquisition. We are coming together and finding creative ways to reach new audiences, to help these customers continue to grow and thrive in an ever-changing business landscape.
The journey with Splashup has been rewarding so far. It is like surfing, where the first time you paddle, you keep getting hit by waves, but you need to be tenacious and kind of say I’m going to give it another go. Throughout our journey, we have to make a lot of changes of directions – 3 pivots before landing on a proposition that really works. People may lose confidence in you, and you may burn out a little faster, but even though it is hard, you have to keep doing it because it is pivotal to the vision and things that you want to achieve.
Hence, I believe the key message is that there’s an entrepreneurial voice in everyone, that there is something that we want to do for this world. Don’t silence this voice, keep it ignited and exercise that entrepreneurial muscle.”
Story written by Anubhav Ghosh
I am the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a retail tech start-up called Splashup, which I founded in August 2021, and is based in Sydney, Australia. I had completed a Master of Journalism and Communication from The University of New South Wales. I had also studied a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance and Marketing from The University of Sydney. Before establishing my own start-up, I had worked in another fast-growing start-up as well. I have around nine years of experience in Australia’s start-up ecosystem. Moreover, I had also worked as a volunteer at Plus Education, in which my team used innovative solutions to establish social businesses, empower women, and create educational and employment opportunities in rural areas of India by using innovative solutions through the PLUS pod extracurricular program. Our team worked on strategic planning, product and process development, market research, supplier sourcing, employee management, financial budgeting, and logistics.
I love doing completely different things simultaneously. I had a passion for investigative journalism. However, I decided to venture into business, as I felt it will be more rewarding in the long run. I wish to explore the interesting field of journalism after seven or eight years, after I finish from the start-up space. It is needless to mention that, entrepreneurship is both immensely challenging and interesting. It is actually a lonely and arduous journey. My resilience, tenacity, and the urge to keep on trying day and night without losing hope amid a lot of rejections and failures has made Splashup one of the fastest growing e-commerce start-ups in Australia. Our aim is to create the world’s largest network of brands and retailers that allow cross-promotion at checkout to cut the costs of customer acquisition. We have taken an unconventional and innovative customer-led approach to reinvent and revolutionize the shopping experience.
As a nineteen-year-old university student, I started my first venture, which was a complete failure. However, I believe that failures are the pillars of success. I call them charging stations which give us practical learning experiences and help us not to commit bigger mistakes in the future. I still get hit by such waves and use them as lessons for undertaking sound decisions in the future. I could have chosen a much easier life by doing a well-paid job. But that would have been like a garden, where I can clearly predict the outcomes. I always had a passion for risk-taking and challenging the status quo, which motivated me to undertake the adventurous and tenacious path of building and running my own e-commerce venture.
Story written by Titapha Janthaisri
“I wanted to create my own adventure at the same time so there’s the financial aspect of things and the need to create an exciting adventure for myself, something that I can look back at on when I’m 60 or 65 and I don’t really regret doing something stupid in my 20s or 30s or whatever that is.” Said Nathalie Rafeh, the founder of Splashup. “Pursue career and getting a [corporate] job, a totally well-designed pretty pathway that I could walk and have a great life for, but I know that you could see what the outcomes are and I didn’t like that. I love solving problems and entrepreneurship and this pathway gives you and this is the biggest thing. It’s a choice form of profession that is in line with who I am at core and I think that is why it feels very natural for me to be in this space. I would say take your time in finding a problem that you want to solve. If you really want to do entrepreneurship, and it’s really something you’ve always wanted to do, don’t silence this voice.”
“We [Splashup] are essentially creating a network, where we enable brands and online merchants to cross promote with one another post checkout. The way it works is we’ve got brands on this network that joined and all opted in. What happens is if you make a purchase that thank-you page saying “thank you for your order”, it’s empty. It’s not really leveraged effectively, so we’re giving brand and online merchants the chance to promote their products with one another. If you buy a skincare product, then we would show you a “check out these new swimmers” that came out from another brand. Because it’s the same targeted audience and it gives them a more affordable marketing channel and a funner experience with people to continue exploring after they’ve made a purchase. This really came from tackling, the problem of high advertising cost, acquisition costs for customers on Facebook. We want to essentially build the best network in Australia for brands for the post purchase space. At the moment, we’re really focusing on getting more brands on board. It’s what we want to do is to dominate all of post purchase space. Eventually we want to venture out of Australia and, our preference would be to go to the Asia-Pacific region. We just need to adapt but ideally prophetical like Japan, Singapore, and the Philippines where we think they’re quite great markets to roll this out.”
Story written by Becky Li
My E-commerce Journey: The Story Behind Splashup
Hello, I am Nathalie Rafeh, the founder of an artificial intelligence technology startup called Splashup. Today I want to share my entrepreneurial experience, hoping to inspire others who are starting a business or are hesitant to do so.
In fact, my entrepreneurial process was not smooth sailing, which is of course the norm. I have faced full of challenges during my startup, from decision-making to leadership style adjustments to brand partnerships and financial issues. However, they are the key to cultivate my entrepreneurial spirit. To provide consumers with a unique shopping experience, I have devoted nearly a decade to researching and testing the market, finding partners, and optimizing the product.
There is no denying that my educational background and work experience have given me the most solid foundation to become an entrepreneur. I gained theoretical knowledge through my studies in business, finance, and marketing, as well as practical experience through my involvement in the development of startups. Therefore, I gained insight into the various stages of the startup ecosystem and the challenges and opportunities that startups face.
Because I am a person who likes to break the rules of life, seeing the potential outcomes of my future path makes me more inclined to take the risk to join the entrepreneurial journey in the e-commerce field. Meanwhile, the successes of Melanie Perkins and Sam Walton inspired my decision to be an entrepreneur and customer-centric approach. Although starting a business is risky, high risk also can bring high rewards when we maintain consistent enthusiasm, resilience, patience, perseverance, and the spirit of not fearing failure. There are also moral and technical support I received during my startup, which has been the key to my ability to keep moving forward.
In this case, my competitive advantage and keen interest ensure my continuous innovation and motivation, adaptability, and resilience, and also promote my alertness in exploring market gaps. Despite a mature market, flaws in competitors’ products inspired me to intervene. Thus, by analyzing merchant feedback and conducting low-tech tests, my idea was positively validated. However, this was not the end. I refined my business direction by testing hypotheses, exploring market trends, and understanding customer segments.
Finally, I recommend that you always be alert, look beyond the status quo, seek inspirations, gain experience, find the area that aligns with your heart and believe and pursue your vision. Every great adventure begins with an idea and the courage to pursue it.
Story written by Watsamon Matupumanon
“Entrepreneur is a professional choice that is in line with who I am at the core. It feels very natural for me to be in this space. I love solving problems and exploring new ideas. When I was 20–21, I usually walked down the streets, went to local stores, and discussed and exchanged ideas with business owners about how to improve their stores or get more customers. I know that working and getting a job in a conventional way is a well-designed path on which I can walk and live a good life, but I don’t like that. I want to create my own adventure that I can look back on and not regret. Although entrepreneurship is a painful, emotional, and risky path, it is also highly rewarding. It’s like surfing, where everyone faces relentless waves. This path requires a lot of patience, resilience, and tenacity to persistently try again until we achieve success. However, don’t force ourselves too much. Sometimes we need to give ourselves time to refresh, hang up our boots, go experience the real world, and come back again when we’re ready. Just promise ourselves, never forget our intentions, and make it ignite in our hearts why we love being entrepreneurs. Startups are full of variables and uncertainties. When we have an idea, we have to ask ourselves: Is there a need for what we are doing? Is there a market for it? Is this worth pursuing? What evidence do we have for that? What is the market interested in? How much and how often are people willing to pay? These things can enable us to see opportunities and ways to run our business. Like Splashup, my team and I discovered the need for small and mid-sized brands to have more customers and brand awareness, so we knew there was a market for that, and when we looked at the ecosystem, it all made sense as at that time there were no competitors with similar business models in the Australian market and technological advances and the community were open. I would say Splashup comes at the right time and in the right market. We know we are working on something super cool. Our team is very passionate about this, and we’re glad people are starting to see that. Winning a competition and being ranked as the top innovation business are good accolades, but for me, they are just an add-on. The most important thing is that we have to keep pursuing our goals, expanding our range, and building the best network for our clients.”
Story written by Yulin Pei
“Although the road ahead is not apparent, resilience is my key; I can coexist with the difficulty while maintaining my peace of mind.”
Since I can remember, I’ve been the one with the most inquiries, ranging from the most fundamental—why is the planet round? To the more intricate—why are things the way they are and what reasoning underlies them. My family and teachers have supported me as I’ve grown up, and as a result, I’ve progressively become a person who is friendly, upbeat, and challenge-seeking.
I eventually found a field that I liked, and I did a Bachelor of Business in Finance and Marketing and a Master’s in Journalism and Communication. Through learning, I gradually understood how enterprises operate and continued to learn about case studies of brands, which inspired me to set up my own company one day. In 2015, I took my first steps towards becoming an entrepreneur and found Unicircle, which specialized in building web platforms and mobile apps. I investigated several fields that were all related to entrepreneurship throughout the ensuing years. After that, in 2019, a chance came up. I noticed a demand on the market for brands to draw in their ideal clients at lower acquisition rates. I set off on a path that might be fraught with failure, leaving behind stability. I was urged to venture again by a loud voice, notwithstanding my trepidation. I accepted the challenge, even though it might have seemed absurd.
On my way to chasing my dreams, I was keen to try new things, but things didn’t go as well as I had hoped. I had financial difficulties that made me question whether I had made the right decision. After many attempts, I finally got funding and received positive encouragement. So, I told myself that nothing could defeat me and that the difficulties were only temporary.
It has been 4 years since Slashup was founded in 2019, and my employees are like my friends and family by my side, supporting me and our dreams together. My leadership style also favors collaboration because I know that a healthy and relaxed work environment will bring out the best in everyone.
Throughout my entrepreneurial journey, I have stayed true to my original goals: first, I have a healthy physical and mental state; second, I have supportive partners, a receptive market, and a long-term outlook. If you want to be an entrepreneur, my advice is to find your passion, stick with it, be resilient, and keep improving.
Story written by Queenie Qiu
“I am someone who tends to get bored very quickly and easily. Quite evidently, back in the days, when I was still in university, I studied commerce, finance, marketing while also studying investigative journalism, I needed it to clam down my subconscious mind in terms of wanting to do something else at the same time. I really enjoyed doing all those things at once. But, eventually, I decided to venture into the business and entrepreneurship landscape because I felt like in the long run, it’s more rewarding on a financial and opportunity level. But also, paradoxically speaking, I am someone who recognises this as my weakness, as in liking to do a lot of things at once because I have a higher level of motivation where I force myself to push through by insisting to stick to the same idea and persist on that idea until the job is complete, and goal achieved. And indeed, resilience and patience are especially important characteristic traits for an entrepreneur. I have always been close to the Australian startup ecosystem, from starting my own little business to do with social media when I was 19, which completely flopped, to then joining a fast-growing startup with an IPO, and now, founding my own AI-empowered tech startup called Splashup. I have long
been aware that the entrepreneur journey is one that truely aligns with my aspirations. For me personally, being an entrepreneur is all about being okay with failure. I have failed numerous times, whether that was when I first started my social media business, or having to make pivotal decisions in my startup right now that completely shifts the direction of our business, it is about the creative freedom and process-based journey that makes it so valuable. I always say, it is like surfing, the first time you paddle, you will get hit by waves, and you might keep getting hit by all these waves, so it definitely takes tenacious to say I am going to give it another try. I like to call failure almost like charging stations. Because failure is just a charging station where you recover and learn and reapply your skills again, rebuild yourself in a professional setting, and then you jump back into it and you try again, and all of that takes a lot of resilience. And you know what, maybe in seven, eight years time, when I finish my startup, I might want to explore journalism again.”
Story written by Yufei Qi
Since I was a kid, I’ve always dreamed of being an entrepreneur, so I lived in an entrepreneurial ecosystem for ten years of my adult life until 2021 when I managed to create my dream castle. Let me demystify it for you, it’s called “Splashup” and it’s a network of brands and retailers that work together and the mission is to build a leading network of online merchants that provide a global and local post-transaction shopping experience. At this point, you may be wondering how I managed to gain a foothold in the e-commerce boom as a startup. Well, it is a long story. My entrepreneurial journey began with a deep interest in the digital world and marketing. As a graduate of the University of Sydney’s Business School, I not only absorbed a wealth of business knowledge but also met a lot of like-minded people, so it was during my time at the university that I started my first ‘creation’. Undoubtedly, like most first-time entrepreneurs, I failed, but I didn’t give up. I always believe that ” resilience” is one of the most important qualities of entrepreneurs. When it comes to motivation, I’d say that while financial strength was one of the reasons, the real driving force was my desire to break the mold and create my own adventures on my own terms. I remember that before I started Splashup, I had conversations with store owners and did market research and I realized that there was a big problem in the retail market. This was a huge opportunity for me, and it made me determined to start Splashup. Even if I had seized the opportunity, the road to entrepreneurship is still full of uncertainties. Luckily, I have a great group of colleagues who are my think tank and my charging station in life. I prefer to work collaboratively, treating team members like friends, focusing on trust, and letting go. I have big ambitions for the future, I want to get Splashup to expand further into the Asia Pacific region. I keep an open mind and implement policies flexibly in response to market changes. I firmly believe that only entrepreneurs who truly understand the market, consumers, and technology can succeed in this increasingly globalized economy. Don’t be afraid to fail, failure doesn’t always hurt, stay resilient and you too can certainly create your own castle.
Story written by Clara Zheng
I’m Nathalie Rafeh, the founder of a retail startup called Splashup. Our goal in creating Splashup was not simply to establish a small network for generating revenue. We have much grander ambitions – we aim to construct the premier network in Australia for brands within the post-purchase space. However, every entrepreneur, despite their grand ambitions, must begin small and dedicate consistent time and effort to achieve their mission.
Embracing a non-conformist attitude, driven by a thirst for adventure and an insatiable desire for remarkable success, I embarked on my first entrepreneurial endeavour during my university years; unfortunately, it concluded in failure. Yet, failure can also be a reward, can it not?
The lessons gleaned from real-life experience enriched my knowledge, ushering me back onto the entrepreneurial path. Armed with acute awareness of opportunities, I recognized the high growth potential of the E-commerce market. Moreover, Australia’s E-commerce environment offers a favourable space for testing innovative ideas before seeking global expansion, further bolstered my belief. Equipped with a passion for the field, honed skills, and pertinent e-commerce experience, I embarked on this venture, confident in my ability to create a change!
Action speaks louder than words. Through market research and comprehensive analysis of competitors like Rokt, I believe this market really has high potential. With merchant feedback and encouraging market signals, I delved deeper, aligning idea with the evolving landscape shaped by changes such as third-party cookies and privacy laws. Fortunately, the synergy of the right market, timing, and customer demand propelled us to test the concept on a modest scale, enabling us to gain early traction and subsequently build upon it.
Yet, smooth sailing is a rarity. We encountered the challenge of attracting brands to join our platform. I reminded myself that significant achievements often commence with modest beginnings. Swiftly, we resolved to onboard smaller brands initially, gradually enticing larger players while fostering an aura of competition to attract further participation.
Fortunately, our efforts bore fruit! Splashup has since evolved into a comprehensive network, gaining increasing recognition across various brands. However, our mission remains a work in progress. Presently, our primary focus is acquiring more brands on board to continue developing and scaling within Australia. Looking ahead, our ambitions extend to the Asia-Pacific region. Countries like Japan, Singapore, and Philippines as potential markets where we hope to expand our network and establish a lasting presence.