{"id":38646,"date":"2023-10-20T14:57:58","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:57:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/nab-and-telstra-team-up-to-launch-a-startup-aiming-to-help-australian-small-businesses-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T14:57:58","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:57:58","slug":"nab-and-telstra-team-up-to-launch-a-startup-aiming-to-help-australian-small-businesses-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/nab-and-telstra-team-up-to-launch-a-startup-aiming-to-help-australian-small-businesses-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"NAB and Telstra team up to launch a startup aiming to help Australian small businesses – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Leigh<\/div>\n

NAB and Telstra have joined forces to launch their very own startup with the aim of helping Australian small businesses.<\/p>\n

Proquo\u2019s “quid pro quo” digital marketplace platform will allow\u00a0Australia\u2019s two million small businesses to network, exchange services and barter for work in an online market inspired by startup-style co-working.<\/p>\n

NAB executive general manager of micro and small business Leigh O\u2019Neill says one of its most important features is that users will be able to help each other even if their\u00a0budgets are tight.<\/p>\n

\u201cCash flow is a key issue for small business so being able to swap services is a great way to get things done as you\u2019re growing,\u201d O\u2019Neill tells StartupSmart.<\/em><\/p>\n

Corporates teaming up<\/h3>\n

The startup was built in NAB\u00a0Labs and Telstra\u2019s Gurrowa Innovation Lab after conversations between the two big corporates revealed they both had\u00a0small business customers that were looking for better ways to interact with each other to trade and exchange services.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat led to the initiation of an idea of how can we digitally connect our customers,\u201d O\u2019Neill says.<\/p>\n

The venture, which is split 50-50 between NAB and Telstra, will begin\u00a0its pilot this month and is expected to launch fully in July.<\/p>\n

\u201cIncreasingly NAB is realizing that to have proactive relationships with many more customers, partnerships are an enabler for that,\u201d O\u2019Neill says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw a real benefit of us coming together to collaborate for the benefit of that [small business] sector.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill says Proquo was built by small businesses for small businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really, really excited,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we build a strong small business economy, Australia is stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n

At this stage, NAB\u00a0Labs general manager of innovation Carl Spurling and Telstra general manager of ecommerce solutions Ricky Lam are acting as co-CEOs for Proquo.<\/p>\n

But O\u2019Neill says they are looking for an independent CEO to take the reigns as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to find an individual who is really motivated at growing and building a startup but also the startup community,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

How Proquo works<\/h3>\n

To use Proquo, users first create free profiles on the platform and enter information\u00a0including what skills they offer and what they need before connecting with other members who they can chat with in real-time.<\/p>\n

They can also enter briefs or quotes with agreed outcomes, set rates if payment is involved and provide ratings and reviews.<\/p>\n

For traditional money for skill exchanges, Proquo stores 50% of the payment in its \u201cvault\u201d, which is released once the job is successfully completed.<\/p>\n

The platform will be a great place for tech companies to grow too, Telstra Group managing director of business Andy Ellis says.<\/p>\n

\u201cSmall businesses often struggle to get off the ground and our research shows that the exchanging of services will be a great advantage to many startups,\u201d Ellis says.<\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em> Facebook<\/a>,<\/em> Twitter<\/a>,<\/em> LinkedIn<\/a><\/em> and<\/em> Soundcloud<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAB and Telstra have joined forces to launch their very own startup with the aim of helping Australian small businesses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38646"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}