Tim Wixon built a lending model at BNZ that most traditional bankers said was impossible. Over 11 years he created a framework for funding pre-profit tech companies against their recurring revenue, on interest-only terms, with no personal guarantees and no equity dilution. BNZ has now funded over 1,700 NZ tech companies through that model. Then the board of the SaaS company he co-founded voted him off it.
That second story is as candid as anything I've heard in a studio about what actually happens when a founding team breaks down. Tim doesn't dress it up. The relationship deteriorated, the trust broke, and his co-founders used the board process to remove him from the company he helped build. He talks through what he learned from it and what he'd do differently.
We get into:
- How BNZ built a lending model for tech companies that traditional banking said couldn't work
- Why debt used well during a growth phase protects your cap table better than another equity round
- The lead indicators Tim looks for that most founders don't track
- What the SaaS apocalypse has done to NZ founder attitudes toward non-equity capital
- The co-founder breakdown that ended with a board vote and what came after
If you're building a tech company in New Zealand and wondering what capital options actually exist beyond equity, this one's worth your time.
Tim WixonGuest
Josh ComrieHost