Peter MacKay of Euro Asia Pay: Five Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Startup

A successful start-up has a clearly defined vision. With Euro Asia Pay, the company was founded with clearly set goals in mind: to meet unaddressed needs among market segments that have previously not been serviced, as well as to offer a fintech product that empowers its users by educating them and providing them with financial literacy tools. Those are the things that we observed were missing from traditional financial players, and we sought to fix that.

Startups have such a glamorous reputation. Companies like Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Uber, and Airbnb once started as scrappy startups with huge dreams and huge obstacles.

Yet we of course know that most startups don’t end up as success stories. What does a founder or a founding team need to know to create a highly successful startup?

In this series, called “Five Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Startup” we are talking to experienced and successful founders and business leaders who can share stories from their experience about what it takes to create a highly successful startup.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Peter MacKay, CEO, Euro Asia Pay.

Peter MacKay is a senior business leader with international experience in both private and public companies with a record of building and growing successful technology businesses, spanning more than 20 years and including two successful exits plus three public listings. Prior to joining EAP, Peter acted as the President, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Venzee Technologies Inc, the Managing Director at Websky Ltd. (Expert Agent), and the Chief Operating Officer at PDT Technologies Inc., a global, full-service product design and development company. Peter holds an MBA degree from the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University, a diploma in Business Management from Salisbury College and a BTEC in Computer Science from Boston College (UK).

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?

Euro Asia Pay is a Vancouver-based fintech and digital payments company, which was founded in 2016 to develop and deliver financial solutions for the next generation of consumers.

As parents, our team struggled to find a financial solution that fit our kids’ needs and could offer tools to support our efforts in educating our youth. We have observed and spoken to many parents who had concerns regarding money management as their children started high school or college. We kept seeing red flags with the options available to us. Financial solutions with slow transfers, lost credit cards, overspending, high fees — and we wanted to solve them.

We decided that no parent should lose that meaningful financial connection with their child, and no kid should waste another moment worrying about how to pay for their own expenses when their parents are not by their side. We brought our diverse knowledge, experiences, and skills together to create a way for parents to be part of their kids’ lives, even when they are away. We developed a convenient solution for kids that is reliable and convenient when paying for their own things.

Our aim is to empower age groups and demographics that have been underrepresented and to make sure that they have all the tools they need to gain financial literacy and better manage their funds.

What was the “Aha Moment” that led to the idea for your current company? Can you share that story with us?

We had been doing extensive research into specific market segments with unaddressed needs. At first, we found that international students faced several hurdles with managing and securing funds when they moved to Canada. For one, foreign exchange rates and wire transfer processing times are often unfavourable by most financial institutions and setting up local bank accounts takes a long time. SideKick automatically solves this problem, whereby funds can be deposited onto SideKick Card at highly favourable exchange rates to be used instantly in Canada — at ATM Machines, brick and mortar outlets or online.

We were also looking to create a product that would allow parents to constructively monitor and restrict their kids’ spending while abroad. For example, parents can deposit money onto their kids’ SideKick Card. They can further restrict purchases on items deemed unnecessary (like alcohol or cannabis, for example) or allocate how it can be spent in certain categories, such as food or books, for example. As such, the idea of SideKick came along to offer new students in Canada, as well as their parents, convenience, peace of mind, wise spending options and added transparency.

Later, we also heard similar complaints from Canadian parents and students. They told us that traditional banks were not delivering services that helped develop financial literacy among Canadian youths. We decided to investigate the matter, extend our audience reach and evolve the product to be an alternative to traditional banking. That’s when Hero Financials was developed, and it is currently in its initial launch for beta testers.

Was there somebody in your life who inspired or helped you to start your journey with your business? Can you share a story with us?

We’ve talked to a lot of professionals and specialists from the education and fintech industries to start our initial journey. It would be unjust to mention just one person, but I would like to publicly recognize and thank everyone that contributes to the creation of our products. Hero Financials and SideKick Card were collaboratively made by a variety of shareholders, from our team to educators to parents. We love to hear from our clients, so I’m sure our products will keep evolving based on their feedback and needs.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

What makes our company stand out is that we want to empower our users with access to knowledge and financial literacy. Our proprietary technology is intuitive and user-friendly, with customized features such as our budgeting tool. We use language and terminology that is accessible to all users in order to entice them to learn more about money and wise spending habits — unlike many traditional financial institutions who offer confusing jargon which is difficult to understand (and is sometimes misleading). We identify groups and demographics that could benefit from customized fintech products which cater to their specific needs to empower them and simplify their lives. Another way that we stand out is through exceptional customer care. We genuinely want to deliver, educate and empower our subscribers. I can recount one story that would resonate here. One time, a SideKick user who was new to Canada ordered the card to the wrong address, because they were not used to how addresses were written in North America. Our Administrative Manager at the Vancouver office personally delivered a new card to them on a Friday evening to make sure that they had swift access to their funds.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

In addition to promoting financial literacy to Hero and SideKick users worldwide, Euro Asia Pay’s team is comprised of a diverse team of professionals, each of whom brings their set of unique values and passion points to our company culture.

We live by our core values: Happy, Hungry, Humble, and Human, and we are proud to have been praised for its commitment to maintaining a multicultural work environment that celebrates gender equality and implementing at-work wellness programs. We strive to inspire other companies in the fintech and EdTech sectors to follow similar mandates.

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

• Encourage collaborative ideation and combine team values: As a CEO of a company that services the fintech and youth demographic, I have worked collaboratively with the extended team at Euro Asia Pay to align our vision and goals for the company. A good leader is one who is responsive to collaborative ideation and brainstorming.
• Be open and receptive: My leadership style is one that values and nurtures creativity. There is no ‘right or wrong’ answer. The best ideas can sometimes come from places or people you least expect them to come from. Be open to listening to all sides of the story.
• Set realistic expectations and have a backup plan: If there is anything that the past two years have taught us is that things don’t always go according to plan. As a fintech company with a global reach, we have worked very hard to get the company up on its feet and to where it stands today. However, our leadership team is also cognizant that disruptions do occur. This is where it is important to be flexible, amend expectations and have a contingency plan ready.

Often leaders are asked to share the best advice they received. But let’s reverse the question. Can you share a story about the advice you’ve received that you now wish you never followed?

One particular individual whom I had worked with lived by and reinforced the motto of “if you believe in it, it will happen”. They also repeatedly reassured me with words such as “trust me, it will be fine”, and reminded me that if one truly believes that something could happen, then it would. For a while, I followed their enthusiastic advice which could have led to a less than desirable outcome. Personally, I found that this over-optimistic approach both implied that if you have the ambition, the dream, and the desire, the results will follow. Although I believe in maintaining a positive outlook on things, the level of ambition must be balanced and kept in check. With time and experience, I have learned to balance this with a sprinkle of ‘productive paranoia’ and empirical creativity, backed up with a healthy amount of fanatic discipline. Entrepreneurial optimism is highly motivating, but it must also be matched by a sturdy work ethic, as well as a realistic and objective way of looking at things to drive personal and organizational success.

Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey?

Well, just because you get to be a leader doesn’t mean the floor won’t drop around you, and that is why you are chosen to deal with it. If you have the right tact and skill, you can chalk out an intense course of action and come out as a winner. In our line of work, products can sometimes fail, timelines may be delayed, and goals may go unmet. However, we must acknowledge that is all part of the business. My job is to communicate the bad news with equal grace and confidence that I would do good news. Being able to deliver the hard truth with clarity helps us tackle solutions and next steps constructively. Of course, things will not always go as planned; however, how you communicate your successes and mishaps will matter in your next move.

Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard? What strategies or techniques did you use to help overcome those challenges?

Personal drive is the innate urge to attain a goal or satisfy a need; as a leader, we must be driven and, in turn, guide our teams and the organization towards success. The leader’s drive as an individual sets the stage for the whole organization. When times are hard, leadership becomes the most significant determinant in the success and withstanding of any business. Here are two essential strategies that I recommend looking at to succeed in a challenging business environment.

• Resilience: Successful managers are not prone to giving up in the face of incessant failures. On the other hand, they recognize the challenges at stake, acknowledge difficulties and step up to address them. The ability to recover from failures can be a determining factor in the survival of a business. Those who are able to stand the test of time and move on from difficult situations make the most remarkable business leaders.
• Efficiency and Prioritization: Navigating through tough times by prioritizing ruthlessly but purposefully is the key. Focus on skipping over the ‘nice-to-do’ things in favour of ‘must-dos.’ A leader is most efficient when they can prioritize, while often multitasking, and make smart choices. Sometimes, it is as much about ‘working smart’ as it is about ‘working hard’.

Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. Many startups are not successful, and some are very successful. From your experience or perspective, what are the main factors that distinguish successful startups from unsuccessful ones? What are your “Five Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Startup”? If you can, please share a story or an example for each.

• A successful start-up has a clearly defined vision. With Euro Asia Pay, the company was founded with clearly set goals in mind: to meet unaddressed needs among market segments that have previously not been serviced, as well as to offer a fintech product that empowers its users by educating them and providing them with financial literacy tools. Those are the things that we observed were missing from traditional financial players, and we sought to fix that.
• Listen to your users. Much of SideKick success is owed to the fact that the company delivered a product that the target users (new students in Canada and their parents) needed, based on comprehensive research and feedback. Where many companies fail is that they overwhelm customers and charge them for products and add-ons that are not necessarily needed or requested by their customers. With SideKick, the services that we offer are specific for international students and it is designed to specifically help them resolve those challenges.
• Differentiate your product. The future of fintech lies in specialization. While there may be thousands of companies that offer digital payment solutions, Euro Asia Pay stands out in that it offers niche services, like Hero Financials, for specific needs encountered by parents and their kids. This is our unique value proposition.
• Invest in innovation. Hero’s and SideKick’s platforms were designed using Euro Asia Pay’s proprietary technology. Our aim is to provide a user experience that is intuitive and highly personalized, while rolling out new features as requested by our users. To come up with unique and timely solutions, companies must invest time and money into extensive research and be able to foresee trends that they can incorporate into their offerings.
• As a start-up, you must be open to diversifying your sources of investment and revenue. This can be as varied as hiring a specialized investor relations agency to start a funding campaign. If you can effectively communicate the USPs and value of your product or service, the possibilities for growth are endless!

What are the most common mistakes you have seen CEOs & founders make when they start a business? What can be done to avoid those errors?

When CEOs and founders are in the earlier stages of their business, they are under immense pressure to demonstrate viability and profit. Often times, they stray from their vision and diversify too quickly. This can be detrimental to the company brand and confuse target audiences. The key is to stay as close to their vision as possible. SideKick Card has been Euro Asia Pay’s single flagship product since the company was founded (2016), and this year we are introducing Hero Financials. We made a conscious decision to not introduce new products before we ensured a steady subscriber base and built a solid association between SideKick Card and Euro Asia Pay among our target subscriber base.

Startup founders often work extremely long hours and it’s easy to burn the candle at both ends. What would you recommend to founders about how to best take care of their physical and mental wellness when starting a company?

Much of our work has shifted to a home setting nowadays, and we tend to forget the importance of physical movement. We no longer commute to work, so that is one missed daily exercise. Our Administrative Manager, Christie Kennedy Manuel has been a certified fitness coach for 15 years. The first thing that she did when she joined was implemented office exercise and stretching activities. It has clearly paid off! I would highly recommend incorporating exercise, whenever possible during working hours. It is also important to allocate time and have a strong support base of individuals, each with their own skillset, to help manage the workload. As founders and senior leadership members, we are often tempted to put more on our plate than we can handle. It is very important to take a few minutes away from our desks, tackle our days one task at a time, and be able to delegate.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

It would be one centered on diversity and inclusion. For me, workplace culture is more than just policies, programs, or headcount. Having a substantial diversity and inclusion strategy can help organizations attract top talent and drive innovation. At Euro Asia Pay, we celebrate our culturally diverse team of experienced industry professionals whose ‘out of the box’ and progressive ideas helped create a feature-rich service platform that has been favoured among young consumers. EAP’s senior leadership team is comprised of diverse experts with extensive international business, fintech, education, software development and technological innovation.

We are blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

Great question, the list is long and distinguished, but if I had to choose one it would have to be Elon Musk. He is simply audacious in everything that he does, more so than any other entrepreneur in modern times. He has a vision for the future, and he is open and transparent in his approach. Tesla has — without a doubt — disrupted the automotive industry, and Elon Musk is doing the same in space exploration with SpaceX, in addition to working with several other companies and industries. I’d love to talk about his drive at X.com, the prelude to PayPal and his motivation coming out of that, but most of all, I’d love to get his perspective on what the future holds for the next generation of consumers and how companies like ours can help deliver that future.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Readers can learn more about our unique offering on the SideKick card website as well as our initial launch of Hero Financials here. For company-related news and updates, such as our partnership with PhoneBox across Canada and industry event participation, we update the news section on our company website on a frequent basis.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success and good health!