Although our platform can be adapted for many industries, all of us co-founders have aviation in our blood, so are passionate about focusing on this industry. While compliance isn’t sexy, it’s essential - particularly for aviation, where safety is paramount.
OneReg ensures all critical information and regulatory requirements are instantly accessible in one place.
This not only enables aviation businesses to understand at any given moment whether they’re compliant, it also outlines what they need to do if they’re not.
This helps reduce the “operational drag” most airlines face, which is often partly the cause of long lines, lost luggage, and delayed flights - to name just a few.
What motivated you to start the business?
Having previously worked at Air New Zealand with OneReg’s two other co-founders – Wayne Thomas and Daniel Payley – we were all heavily involved in the airline’s certification activity in late 2019.
During this programme, it became abundantly clear that when it comes to aviation, having multiple IT systems and databases makes regulatory compliance painfully inefficient.
We knew this wasn’t just a local issue. For a global industry worth $814 billion, you’d think aviation would have the ultimate digital processes, but it’s quite the opposite.
Across the world, most aviation organisations have yet to adopt modern digital tools, and their legacy systems often aren’t fit for purpose.
Under normal circumstances, we probably would have kept doing the extra work to overcome these inefficiencies. However, when the pandemic hit in 2020, world travel came to a halt and like many others in the industry, I was left unemployed. Rather than looking for another job, I saw the opportunity for us to take the leap and try solve this international problem.
With the aviation industry effectively resetting itself over the next few years, it seemed like the perfect time to take a shot at it.
What were you doing before OneReg?
Prior to founding OneReg, I worked in various digital innovation-focused roles at Air New Zealand. Unlike most of my colleagues in the aviation industry, I originally started in visual art and photography, which led to crafting experiences for digital devices.
Since then, I’ve been creating digital platforms and experiences. Somewhere along that journey, I also got my masters in commercialisation and entrepreneurship.
How big is your team?
As a startup, we’ve had to keep numbers small, often engaging with contractors to support specialist needs as they arose. As we’ve grown, we have found some amazing people, and now have 11 fulltime employees located in three countries - a typical IT start-up!
This year you launched OneReg in Australia. What has the response been like from that market?
One of the greatest moments in our development was when we learned our early adopter airport customers were recommending OneReg to other airports.
That’s when we knew we truly had something exciting. That network effect has continued as our New Zealand customers - unprompted - recommend us to colleagues at Australian airports. I don’t think that happens very often.
With that support, it’s been great launching in Australia and taking on new customers there. The response has been overwhelmingly positive so far with similar feedback about the pain points we solve.
OneReg now has the majority of New Zealand airports using the platform and I expect that in time, this will be similar in Australia.
How have you funded the business?
As founders, Wayne, Daniel and I bootstrapped the prototype. Once we proved customers were willing to pay for the product, we got funded by the highly supportive early stage investment network in New Zealand. We’re so appreciative of the brave and long-term minded investors who supported our aviation-focused startup in the middle of a global pandemic.
What have been your biggest challenges in business?
Our global ambition requires patience, talent, and clear execution of strategy.
The biggest challenge is to navigate OneReg to grow rapidly and sustainably from a small aviation market in the Southern Hemisphere into the vastly larger markets of the UK, Europe, USA, South America, and Asia.
The global aviation industry is evolving in developed countries and rapidly growing in developing nations. Our challenge is finding the resources to scale globally.
What have been your highlights in business so far?
It’s been incredible to grow a great team and see their enthusiasm as they, and our customers, see more and more benefits being achieved through OneReg.
Another highlight has been how supportive our investors and industry colleagues have been in really pushing the platform to others across their own networks, both locally and globally.
Where do you see the business in the next two to three years?
I see the business growing into new markets over the next few years. As AI technologies get more reliable, we will be the ones to help revolutionise how compliance and regulations are managed in highly regulated sectors. For now, we simply have to keep up the pace we’ve been at.
What’s your advice for other budding entrepreneurs?
Focus on building a great team and, if applicable, alongside great co-founders. Startups are challenging at the best of times, but having peers you are proud of just makes the journey worth it.
Startups are hard, so keep in mind that going it alone without a support structure would be more challenging than you think.
