Riding the waves: Shaun Quincey on what rowing the Tasman solo taught him about business

All founders must find the resilience to push through hard times, but Shaun Quincey, co-founder of Simfuni and the second person to row solo across the Tasman, has faced more challenges than most. 

“I remember sitting on the boat on day four. It was awful, like I wanted to set the boat on fire. I just realised, actually, you know, I was about 50 or 60 grand in debt. I was 23,” he told Caffeine. 

“There was bad weather coming. I was lonely, everything was awful. I was like, actually, I don’t want to f**king do it. What this is, this is just terrible.” 

Quincey was attempting to row from Australia to New Zealand, following the footsteps of his father, Colin, who completed the journey in the reverse direction back in 1977. 

Despite his dire circumstances, including capsizing and nearly running out of drinking water, Quincey never gave up. Or set his boat on fire.

Asked what helped him push through, he said reflecting on the historic opportunity helped him stay on course. 

“I’m the only person that’s been given the opportunity to be the first in the world to row from Australia to New Zealand. There’s no one else here; there’s no one else who’s taken this opportunity. And if I give up on that, that’s it; someone else will probably take that for me.” 

“I sat back, and thought, all of these people believe that I can do it. These people behind me, who have given me this chance, believe that this is possible, that I can do it, and that I’m the guy for the job.” 

Nearly 15 years after his success, many lessons he learned at sea have transferred into his work as a founder. 

For example, in business, like in rowing, there will always be good days and bad days, but learning to focus on what’s in your control will determine how many of either you have.
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“Whether you are embarking on rowing the Tasman or whether you’re building a startup, it’s gonna come down to your repeat scalable systems and processes. Your ability to identify the patterns of success that enable progress. Then, continuing to repeat those time and time again.“

“That will make sure that when the going is good, and the wind’s behind you, you’re crushing it; you’re smashing ahead in the right direction. And also when it’s not, well, at least you’re holding your ground.”

But while making plans and pushing through is a key lesson from Quincey’s journey, he also says having an eye on the weather and knowing when to change course is just as crucial. 

Quincey founded Genoapay in 2016 just as the market for afterpay services was beginning to heat up. Within two years of founding, competition had swelled. There were around three afterpay services in 2016, but 27 just two years later.  

Competition, combined with a sharp increase in regulatory pressure on the industry, drove Quincey to a hard realisation.  

“In assessing the market, continuously reading the bill we saw very quickly that the oceans had turned from blue to red,” said Quincey. 

“So by design, we went out to sell the business because we felt at that time, we couldn’t return the shareholders a massive exit, but we could still give them a very good exit in a short amount of time. We felt that was kind of our obligation.” 

Ultimately, it was the right choice. In 2018, Genopay was bought by Latitude Financial Services for $6m. Five years later, it closed down the operation in New Zealand. 

“As a founder and director, whatever it might be, you always need to be aware of how the market is moving. You’re analysing that as much as you possibly can,” Quincey said.

His latest venture, Simfuni, is disrupting outdated insurance premium payment processes, which still rely on outdated manual methods rather than modern digital solutions.

He says that unlike his trip across the Tasman or even his experience at Genopay, he is now learning to captain an ‘aircraft carrier’ instead of a one-man ship. 

“We’re setting up for a much bigger business and so building other leaders with those capabilities as well as executing at the same time has been a lot more enjoyable,” he said. 

“It’s real time learning for me as a founder. It’s about the importance of exponentially growing your own best qualities and then outsourcing your worst qualities. Giving the stuff you aren’t good at to the people that are way better than you to drive those parts of the businesses.”