Faces of CoWork Me: Paul McGee – MyArray
Paul McGee co-founded Array alongside Matt Slutzkin. We sat down with Paul to get an understanding of their product as well as the journey they are undertaking.
Please have a read through of our interview with Paul.
Can you provide a short summary of what Array is and why you started it?
Array is an online portal for owners of retirement villages to manage their sites in order to communicate with their residents.
I have worked in the Retirement Sector for over 15 years. My way of giving back to this industry is to develop a SaaS platform for retirement villages in Australia.
How did you build your team?
There are three of us in the team. Matt (co-founder) is the finance guy, Marty is the tech guy and I’m the operations guy. We’ve been working as a team of three for six months, however Matt and I have been putting it all together for the last 18 months.
How did you come up with the name?
I used to live in an apartment block in Docklands and the name was Yarra. Matt is a mathematical guy and the word array means ‘a multitude of things’ which is exactly like our software platform. The best part is that Yarra spells Array backwards.
How do you advertise?
We don’t. We do have a website but we are not promoting on there. At the moment we are still conceptual as we don’t have a product to sell just yet but in March/April of this year when our product is ready we will start pushing the advertising.
Why co-working?
We had been in another co working space when we heard that CoWork Me was being built. We came in and had a look and saw the building itself was clean, fresh and quiet. We were sold right away!
What has been the hardest part about being a business owner?
You always get wisdom a day too late which means that the hardest part is being patient.
What’s been beneficial since working at CoWork Me?
I have found that I have more focus when I am working from here. Everyone in the space has a wealth of information and you get so much when you talk to them about what they have been creating. It is also a great networking opportunity when you base yourself out of a co-working environment.
What drives you to keep going when it’s tough?
Each day presents a new challenge and I like to make sure that whatever the problem is, I have it sorted out by the end of the day. It is important for me to not take any worries of today into tomorrow because one day can change everything in business.
Did you need to raise capital to get this going?
We bootstrapped it to begin with and we are now actively looking for funding.
How do you find investors?
We find investors through networking events as well as programs we have participated in to find potential investors. We like to say that although we have had some knock backs, it is all about the journey and not the destination.
Who inspires you?
It is not a person that inspires me but a philosophy, it’s called ‘Standing on the Shoulder of Giants’. This philosophy focuses on how we are who we are because of the hard work of the people who came before us.
What are your thoughts on teaching children in schools that they can be an entrepreneur?
I believe it to be fundamental. Students are taught theoretical knowledge for 10 years and then they are released into a world where there is not much academia needed.
