Kristen Lunman is the co-founder and general manager of Hatch, a digital investment platform that gives New Zealanders access to the US share markets and allows them to invest in well-known brands such as Apple, Amazon or Netflix. Lunman has over a decade of experience in running product teams across North America and has played a pivotal role in the start-up ecosystem in New Zealand over the past five years. She was the innovation director at Kiwi Wealth, Hatch’s parent company, as well as programme director for the Kiwibank Fintech Accelerator. She also was the chief operating officer of Wipster, a video collaboration, publishing and analytics platform. An active mentor, Kristen is passionate about women in leadership, governance, and founder roles. Here, she shares five things established companies can do to help the start-up community.

Five things established companies can do to help the start-up community

The best thing for businesses and start-ups is to work together. And it’s not hard. Here’s all you need to do to get started:

• Engage with the start-up ecosystem and sponsor an event, from a hackathon to an accelerator.
• Learn from one another. Be open to new ways of doing things.
• Open your networks to startups. Make intros. Share the goodness.
• Innovate with start-ups. Collaboration can bring solutions to customers much faster and much more cost-effectively than trying to do it all yourself.
• When partnering with start-ups, move quickly so that you don’t waste their precious time and resources.