550,000 customers in 7 years: the incredible story of Sharesies, with co-founders Leighton Roberts & Sonya Williams

Leighton Roberts & Sonya Williams are co-CEOs and co-founders of Sharesies, an online share trading platform with over 555,000 customers across New Zealand and Australia.

Leighton and Sonya recently spoke with me — Owen Rask, founder of The Rask Group — for ~70 minutes about the major rocks and learnings behind building a huge investment platform that spans two countries.

Did you know: Sharesies have 6 co-founders and 3 co-CEOs! We drill into that and why it turned into an incredible advantage for Sharesies.

While you may not dream of crossing the ocean to grow your business, this discussion has many lessons for every business owner thinking about scaling culture, building a team, consistent branding and more.

❤️ If you liked this episode, you’ll LOVE our Australian Business Podcast series. We air two episodes every week.

Here’s what I asked Leighton & Sonya on this episode of The Australian Business Podcast:

1. Why a pineapple?
2. What was the motivation and inspiration behind starting Sharesies? What specific problem were you trying to solve in the investing and finance industry? (bonus points: who came up with it?)
3. A team of founders. How did you all come together and get each other motivated?
   1. How did you identify who would be involved?
   2. Their roles?
   3. What is the benefit of a co-founding team versus a single or duo?
4. Can you describe your business model and strategy in more detail, breaking down the unit economics (e.g. pricing, customer acquisition, etc.)? How do you make money and what is your revenue model, especially for listeners who aren’t from finance)?
5. So many people use Sharesies in NZ and tens of thousands in Australia. What have been some of the biggest challenges in building and scaling Sharesies over the years and how did you overcome them? (if you can each touch on strategies you used for technology, culture & capital?)
6. What were the obstacles you faced entering Australia and what did you learn from them? If you could go back in time, what would you do differently?
7. What one’s piece of advice would you give other entrepreneurs (in FinTech or otherwise) or just what you wish you knew sooner?
8. Are you a fan of big-picture goals? If not, why not? If you are, where do you want to see Sharesies in 5 years? What will be different about it and what will be the same?
9. Marketing game. You can only pick 1 medium, platform or channel (e.g. TikTok, IG, Influencers, Facebook, Reddit, Google Ads, Email, Podcasts, etc. whatever!), but you can’t pick the same one as your fella podcast guest (or Owen) on the call — which platform would you use to market Sharesies and why?
10. Couples & business. How do you two, Brooke and Leighton, manage to maintain a healthy working relationship and, for example, ‘not take your work home’? Can working together be a superpower?
11. A B-corp, inclusion, equality… company culture is a huge deal to you. Why is company culture important to the success and growth of your business, when it could just be about the numbers?
    1. How do you maintain it as you continue to scale?
    2. What are the adverse impacts of this inclusive culture?
12. Why did you decide to launch a book about investing, and what can people expect to learn?

About Leighton 

Leighton Roberts is a co-founder, director and co-CEO of Sharesies. Leighton drives Sharesies’ business growth and continuity and ensures that Sharesies is making the most out of every opportunity available. Before taking the leap into the start-up world, Leighton led the Home Loan and Business lending portfolios at Kiwibank. He’s experienced the benefits of investing on a regular basis—he’s been a part of an investment club since the age of 17.

About Sonya

Sonya Williams is a co-founder, director and co-CEO of Sharesies. Sonya has built a career in technology and global marketing and product management, in some of NZ loved companies Xero and Kiwibank. She is passionate about using technology to solve big problems, and create a more equitable society. This led her to seeing the opportunity to make investing more accessible, providing everyone with an equal chance to grow their wealth. Sonya was the co-winner of the 2020 Women of Influence- Business award, alongside co-founder Brooke Roberts.

New book: The Sharesies Guide to Investing aims to help answer these questions, and gain the confidence investors need to take the first step in investing. Through easy-to-digest information, jargon-busting investing speak, and stories from Sharesies investors, readers will learn how to make the most of investing in shares (while staying true to their values) and discover how investing can help secure their financial future.