Candice Pardy: Finding senior talent tough in the regions

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Gisborne-based Candice Pardy is founder and CEO of Jobloads, a digital platform that connects growers with pre-verified seasonal horticultural workers.

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Why did you start Jobloads from Gisborne?

I grew up in Gisborne and moved back and bought a persimmon orchard in 2017. I quickly realised there was a disconnect between growers and seasonal workers: there were a lot of unhappy growers who couldn’t find labour and a lot of unhappy workers who couldn’t find the right working conditions. So I was ‘in’ the problem; I was the customer – the grower – but to some extent, I was the worker too.

Finding funding can be hard when you’re based outside of the big cities. What’s worked for you when connecting with investors? What hasn’t?

It’s important to find out who the economic development agency is in your region. I targeted this non-dilutive funding first – all the grants and government money that was available. This allowed me to develop relationships with local agencies, who in turn connected me to dilutive funding opportunities. Also, make sure you choose investors who resonate with you and your vision. I’ve had experience of having the wrong investors on my cap table, and once investors are onboard, they’re coming with you – good and bad.

What agencies or organisations based in Tairāwhiti have been helpful as you’ve grown Jobloads?

Trust Tairāwhiti, which is the Regional Business Partner Network entity for New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) in the area, was the only regional agency I used, and they then introduced me to NZTE, which has a specific investment team for Māori. The NZTE Māori Investment team was fantastic, and they are the ones who connected me with investors and opened all those doors for me.

How much travel do you do, and how do you balance this with staying connected to your team?

When I was raising money I did a lot of travel, but I think it can become a distraction for founders. I now travel once a month for client work, but I can manage everything else from Gisborne. We recently condensed down to a team of three prior to our relaunch in September, and we’re all based in Gisborne, so it’s easy to stay connected.

What has worked for you in terms of attracting talent?

The main problem for me was finding senior talent. There are some great initiatives to get young coders into the regions, but we don’t have the senior talent to train them. However, I’ve found that everything can be run online: when we were a larger team our CTO was based in Auckland and our coders were in Gisborne, and the job got done. I think most founders these days are open to having people working remotely.

Who else have you worked with in the startup ecosystem who’s helped you grow and succeed?

The women from Coralus [formerly SheEO], which at the time was led by Theresa Gattung, were great allies. It was helpful to be in a room with these women who have wealth and big companies. Sam Wong from Blackbird linked me in with the Startmate Accelerator in Australia, a 14-week online course that helps founders reach their potential and learn what makes a business work. I’ve also recently come back from a women-only founders’ retreat, organised by ArcAngels, the women’s network of Icehouse Ventures. There were around 30 women from all over the country and it was a safe space to connect and talk about our struggles.

There will also be some highly influential and passionate people in your town who care about your region and want to see it do well – find them.

What else do you think a founder starting out in regional New Zealand should know?

Prove your business model as inexpensively as possible. With advancements in technology, you can now build a full app, put it to market and test it cheaply. So, make a business that people are going to want to invest in – then go and get the money.

Also, it was hard – too hard – being a woman and Māori trying to raise money, yet I still felt bad that there were these agencies created specifically to help me. However, I know now that they are put there for a reason, so don’t be scared to use every avenue that’s available to you.

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As told to Anna Dunlop

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