Momentum: helping young entrepreneurs to succeed

University of Canterbury master’s student Monique Lau says winning this year’s Momentum Student Entrepreneur of the Year Award has provided valuable networking opportunities.

Lau founded a company, Endosoothe, which offers a range of menstrual care products – including a topical cream, a balm stick, and herbal teas – that utilise natural ingredients to address the challenges women face during their menstrual cycles.

The student’s business idea was based on her own experience with painful endometriosis – a condition she suffered from for seven years before finally being diagnosed with it in 2022.

Lau started working on the idea as part of her third-year project researching potential ingredients and then took part in the university’s Summer Startup Programme to develop the natural product range and commercialise her idea.

Although she’s received some seed funding – yet to be publicly announced – Lau invested her own money to get the company started.

Winning the award has led to her making important connections and gaining good PR, she says.  

The Momentum Programme is a part of the government-funded Commercialisation Partner Network, aimed at turning science findings into commercially viable products. It focuses on startup ventures originating from tertiary students.

The Momentum Student Entrepreneur of the Year Award is included in the annual KiwiNet Research Commercialisation Awards.

But what support do young entrepreneurs need to turn their research into a commercially viable startup and how does Momentum measure its success?

Momentum’s student of the year award recognises those who have made significant progress developing their commercial idea – either creating a startup, licensing their technology or providing expertise to support innovation.

“We’re looking for the person, not the project,” says programme manager Jules Haus. “A key component is how their project impacts their community and how they’ve helped their entrepreneurship community grow.”

Part of the reason Lau won this year’s award was that she created a big community around her project, says Haus.

The winner’s prize, introduced this year, includes attendance at the Angel Association New Zealand Summit in Auckland in February, followed by full access to the Angel Capital Association’s three-day Summit of Angel Investing in the US in May.

“Both events will give me opportunities to meet people who will potentially want to work with us,” says Laus.

Endosoothe’s first product, its Soothing Cream, is available exclusively on its website, and Lau says four more products, including a range of herbal teas and the balm stick, are in final development and will be launched late this year or early next. 

She’s also focused on raising awareness and providing education on women’s health issues, and building a strong online community.  

Next year, Lau hopes to expand into Australia, followed by Southeast Asia, Europe and the US further down the line.

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Investing in the future

Momentum’s five student-led investment committees meet monthly or bimonthly in New Zealand’s major university locations – Auckland, Manawatū, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago – to provide advice, connections and investment opportunities to students and startups.

Haus says anyone (providing they were a student within the past 12 months) can present to Momentum. “It could be on an idea they came up with the morning before or they might be about to raise the Series A round,” he says. “Entrepreneurship has many stages; we’re here to get them on the right track.”

Students have 10 minutes to present their ideas, followed by a 30–40-minute Q&A session, where the committee focuses on several key areas: the technology, target market, solution, commercialisation pathway, IP, and finance.

“We call it a presentation not a pitch because we want it to feel like a safe environment,” says Haus. “We encourage students to see the investment committee as an extension of their team, and to be open with the knowledge they currently have so we can help them move forward.”

The committee then provides a recommendation paper with actionable next steps. Haus says students are often looking for industry connections but are also struggling with a lack of funding. “They’re looking for funding but can’t get it at that stage. We provide recommendations on how to succeed even without that initial funding.”

He says the recommendations often change the way students think about their startups and they will sometimes pivot.  

Connections relevant to the student’s industry, both within the Momentum network and outside of it, are also identified, and members of the committee provide students with introductions to those connections when they are ready.

Haus says students are encouraged to return to an investment committee once they have made progress with their project, so they can be supported in their next step. “We’ve had some students come back and present to the committees several times at different stages.”

The committees are also accredited by MBIE to make formal investment recommendations for the PreSeed Accelerator Fund.

Haus says that in the past three years, six startups that have gone through the Momentum programme have raised a total of just over $15 million in venture capital funding, including VXT ($600,000 in pre-seed funding), KiwiFibre ($1.5 million in pre-seed funding) and property subletting company Kiki, which raised US$6 million (around NZ$10 million) in one of New Zealand’s largest seed investment rounds.

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Gaining momentum

Many of New Zealand’s student founders say they have gained invaluable advice and experience from both the Momentum investment committees and the award.

Luke Campbell, co-founder and CEO of integrated phone system VXT, won Momentum’s Student Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2021. Since its launch in March 2021, VXT usage has grown by 20 percent a month on average, and the company now has several hundred customers who have made around 1.5 million calls.

“Momentum was a great opportunity to present on the company and be involved in the process,” says Campbell. “I already had a strong network of contacts at that stage, so I do think it would have been even more valuable if I had done it earlier in my founder journey.”

EatKinda CEO Mrinali Kumar co-founded the plant-based ice cream startup while at Massey University. Following a partnership with Hell Pizza, the brand launched in Countdown supermarkets nationwide in October.

After presenting at Momentum’s Christchurch Investment Committee, Kumar says “they brought things up I hadn’t thought about, some problem areas around supply chain risks; it was quite confronting, but very helpful too”.  Kumar won last year’s award, and says it boosted her confidence in the product.

“Having the Momentum team back us elevated the brand and helped me with initial conversations with investors. We raised some money after that.”

Ben Scales agrees. The co-founder and CEO of KiwiFibre Innovations, which has developed a plant-based composite material similar to fibreglass, has presented at various Momentum investment committees and came second to Mrinali in the 2022 award.

“KiwiFibre was a difficult idea to articulate and an even harder business model to figure out. Coming second in the award was proof for me that we were on the right track.”

For Sophie Burling, a Massey University PhD student, her position as Chair of the Manawatū Investment Committee has given her a new perspective on the startup ecosystem.

“Being on the committee has given me a much greater understanding of the system – how it works, the governance structure, who to talk to if you have an idea or want to access funding,” she says. “It’s been an incredible learning experience, and I’ve grown immensely.”

Burling was also a finalist in this year’s award for her work on Project Geminae, which aims to transform drug discovery for motor neurone disease. She says she’s particularly grateful for the increased awareness of the project, and the media opportunities that arose.

“I’ve had numerous letters and emails from patients, family members and just interested members of the public. Those networks even allowed me to spend some time overseas last year.”

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‍Five tips for success

Momentum experts and student entrepreneurs provide their advice for fellow founders.

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1. Network, network, network

“I was networking from second year onwards, so when I had an idea, I already had people I could talk to,” says Kumar. “Get involved in your university entrepreneurial scene – reach out, talk to people, make connections. You never know where it’s going to lead you.”

“Participate in lots of different programmes, like Momentum, and check online channels like Facebook and LinkedIn,” adds Campbell. “I was constantly hunting for programmes, awards and competitions that we could take part in.”

2. No idea is too small

“Sometimes our most interesting discussions at Momentum committees come from grassroots ideas rather than established companies,” says Burling.

3.  Cultivate your ecosystem

“Get involved with your local ecosystem; if you don’t have an ecosystem, don’t be afraid to create one,” says Haus. “Talk to previous Momentum award winners – or get in touch with us; we are always keen to help.”

4. Talk to the right people

Campbell says a major challenge is recognising good advice from bad. “You’ve got 100 pieces of advice, taking you in different directions – which do you focus on?” He says it's important to talk to entrepreneurs who are at a similar stage in their founder journey. “I think the best advice comes from those people just a few steps ahead of you.”

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Scales adds: “Advice isn’t something you should just follow; it’s something that should influence you in making your own decision.”

5. Know your stuff

Burling says students must be able to fully articulate their ideas to the committee. “Often our first recommendation is to go away and clarify what the idea really is – where it’s come from and what they want to achieve. It’s easier said than done.”