Buying stocks has never been easier

What was your biggest inspiration for starting Stake?

“We’re surrounded by US companies changing the Australian landscape, from Netflix killing the DVD, to Amazon threatening our supermarkets and retailers. Yet many investors are still pushed to buy on the ASX, the very companies threatened by global companies.

For Aussies, buying US shares is hard — there’s tax forms, foreign exchange fees, a mess of old-school advisors, not to mention every trade is likely to cost $65 or more, no matter how small.

I, along with my other two co-founders, Dan and Jon, were frustrated that Australians couldn't easily buy shares in the companies and ideas we wanted. So we built Stake, a super easy platform for anyone to buy US shares. We tied together dozens of partners and requirements into one, simple online shop that eliminates the sneaky charges and crappy user experience online investment has been plagued by for so long.”

What have been the biggest challenges in your start-up journey?

“Nothing comes easy. Particularly in trading and execution - the space is so detailed and technical. You need to know the intricacies of the market while working really hard to make it simple for our users. That's our role here. Like any business starting up, it's a roller coaster, but with a great team and partners around you, nothing is impossible.

We're an early stage business, so finding the balance between continuing to grow rapidly while also ensuring our product is improving is a constant battle. We have chosen to make sure we're servicing our existing customers ahead of growing our user base.

We've seen too many start-ups forget their current customers while chasing new ones, but it's our early adopters who are most passionate about our product development and advocates who are sharing the movement. By focusing on their needs first, they help grow us and we keep improving.”

How would you reflect on your growth?

‘It's actually funny. We focus on the customers we have, not on getting new ones. In some way, that's helped us grow. ~85% of our customers have recommended us to another person as they love the product and the service they get. I think being a customer first business with a great product and great customers has been the secret (although that's not really a secret!)”