Podcast
“Come for the speed, stay for the quality” – Nick La, Co-Founder of Weploy
Nick La, stopped by the Give It A Nudge show to talk to Steve about his founder journey, from starting out in the international hospitality industry to his move into entrepreneurship.
About the guest
Nick La
Co-Founder at Weploy
Nick La is the co-founder of Weploy, an on-demand marketplace that connects businesses with vetted customer service staff. He built Weploy alongside co-founder Tony after a career that started in international hospitality, took him from Australia to Hong Kong to open bars, and then brought him back to Australia where he built and sold a traditional recruitment agency. Weploy also led to Neat, a workforce management tool spun out during COVID to digitise the paper-based operations of service businesses like commercial cleaners.
Episode overview
Nick La joins Give It A Nudge to tell his story from international hospitality to startup founder, how Weploy became Australia’s fastest online hiring platform for customer service staff, and how COVID forced the team to spin out a second business called Neat. The episode covers the chicken-and-egg challenge of building a two-sided marketplace, why focusing on one industry was the key to hitting the hockey stick, and what Nick has learned about trusting your people as a founder.
From hospitality to on-demand hiring
Nick’s path to founding Weploy started in the hospitality industry, where he left Australia with 800 dollars in his pocket, opened bars in Hong Kong, and eventually ran a boutique recruitment agency back home. When he met his co-founder Tony at Brazilian jiu-jitsu, they began talking about applying the on-demand model to recruitment. The insight was simple: if you could order food on your phone in minutes, why couldn’t you order a customer service rep?
“Come for the speed, stay for the quality. A lot of our clients come for the speed and then they realise the quality is there too.”
Nick La 3:00
Building a two-sided marketplace: solve one side first
The classic challenge in marketplace businesses is the chicken-and-egg problem: you need supply to attract demand and demand to attract supply. Weploy solved it through talent networks. When the first candidates joined and got jobs through the platform, they told their networks. The platform grew its talent side through word of mouth from people who had been paid above award rates and placed quickly, which gave the business a pool to sell to employers before it had significant marketing budget.
“Talent knows talent. If you jump on our platform, get accepted, and you’re placed at a mini bank the next day, you’re going to tell two to five people.”
Nick La 6:00
Pivot to customer service only: the hockey stick came after focus
When Weploy launched it covered too many categories: general admin, legal admin, HR admin, and many industries. The team could not reach critical mass. When they narrowed the focus to customer service only, particularly businesses with call centres of thirty-plus people, everything changed. Their ideal client became clear, their talent pool deepened, and the hockey stick growth appeared. The tagline that emerged said it clearly: come for the speed, stay for the quality.
“When we focused on one industry, one category, we got the hockey stick. We couldn’t get to that critical mass when we were doing too many things.”
Nick La 12:00
Neat: the COVID pivot that became a real business
When COVID hit and contingent workforce demand was uncertain, Nick and Tony looked at the technology they had built to run Weploy and asked whether it could be packaged for other businesses. They found that commercial cleaning companies, small businesses with large frontline teams, were still running on paper timesheets, paper checklists, and paper audit reports. Neat was built to digitise those operations. It launched commercially in January 2022 and became a second revenue stream for the business.
Key takeaways
Chapters
0:00Introduction and what Weploy does3:00Nick’s background: hospitality, bars in Hong Kong, and recruitment6:00Founding Weploy: Uber for customer service staff9:00Building the supply side: talent knows talent12:00The pivot to customer service only and the hockey stick15:00Neat: the COVID pivot and second product18:00Biggest lessons as a founder: trust your people21:00Anxiety, decision-making, and why it means you care
Mentioned in this episode
Frequently asked questions
What does Weploy do?
Weploy is an on-demand marketplace that connects businesses needing customer service staff with vetted workers who can be deployed within four hours. The platform front-loads all vetting so employers can search by competency rather than by name or demographic. It is particularly strong for businesses with call centres, insurance companies handling catastrophe events, and any business experiencing surge demand for customer-facing roles.
How does Weploy get customer service workers on the platform?
Weploy relies primarily on word-of-mouth within talent networks. When a worker is placed through the platform, earns above-award rates, and has a good experience, they typically refer two to five friends. This organic referral loop has allowed the platform to grow its talent supply without significant paid acquisition costs.
What is Neat and how is it related to Weploy?
Neat is a workforce management tool built from the operational technology Weploy developed to run its own business. During COVID, Nick and Tony packaged that technology for service businesses like commercial cleaners who were still running on paper timesheets, paper checklists, and paper audit reports. Neat digitises those workflows and gives business owners time back by removing manual administrative tasks.
Why did Weploy focus exclusively on customer service?
Weploy originally launched across multiple roles and industries including admin, legal, and HR. Without focus, the platform could not achieve the critical mass in any segment that would make it compelling for either employers or workers. When the team narrowed to customer service only, they could build deep talent supply in that specific area and win clients who needed those specific skills, which led to the hockey stick growth they had not seen with a broader offering.
How quickly can Weploy place staff?
Weploy can place vetted customer service staff within four hours for urgent needs, though they prefer some lead time to understand the specific role requirements. For a business that needs thirty people in response to a catastrophic event like hail damage triggering an insurance claims surge, Weploy can respond at a speed that no traditional recruitment agency could match.
Topics discussed
Full transcript
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Show full transcript (31 minutes, 5 sections)
0:00 Introduction and what Weploy does
Nick La, co-founder of Weploy. We’re an on-demand marketplace for customer service. When we first started it was really on-demand talent across many categories, but as we matured we realized we were doing too many categories and industries. Now we focus purely on customer service on demand. We’re a national business with a presence in New Zealand. A labour hire business with tech today, moving toward a marketplace for highly specialized customer service people.
6:00 Background and founding Weploy
I come from a simple background. My mother raised me and my three sisters. I ended up in hospitality, was a bartender as a teen, left Australia with 800 bucks, opened a couple of bars in Hong Kong, opened my own agency. I met my co-founder Tony at Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Over training and a couple of beers we thought: if you can order food on your phone, can you do this with recruitment? And that’s how we started. We wanted to remove unconscious bias too, where people get jobs for their skills and competency, not their name.
12:00 The pivot to customer service and the hockey stick
When we first launched we did general admin, legal admin, HR admin, so many categories and industries. We couldn’t get to critical mass. When we focused on one industry, one category, customer service, we got the hockey stick. Our ideal client is a business with a call centre of 30-plus people. An insurance company handling a hail event needs 30 people the next day. Traditional recruiters can’t do that. We can. Come for the speed, stay for the quality.
15:00 Neat: the COVID pivot
When COVID hit we asked what happens if tomorrow everyone shuts the doors. We repackaged the technology we built for ourselves, Weploy’s internal systems, into a business called Neat, a workforce management tool. We went to market and the category we picked was commercial cleaning. They’re running paper timesheets, paper checklists, paper audits. We digitise all of that, give business owners back their time, and launch in January next year.
18:00 Lessons and the team
Ideas don’t build companies. It’s who’s around you. I don’t run the business; I’m an employee first and foremost, and the people around me grow the business. Trust your people, believe in your people. You hire smart people for them to be smart. Running a business is a team sport. Even Michael Jordan can’t do it without his teammates. Anxiety before a big decision means you care. All the high performers I’ve met always have a level of anxiety. It’s because they care about what they do.
About the host
Steve Grace is the founder and CEO of The Nudge Group, a technology-focused recruitment and advisory business. He has built and scaled companies across Australia and the US, and hosts Give It A Nudge to spotlight founders and operators building something meaningful.
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