SAP’s youngest hire at 19, Dominic Pym went on to build Up—Australia’s first cloud-hosted bank—and sold three companies during COVID.

Dominic Pym is an Australia-based, New Zealand-minded tech entrepreneur, builder, and investor behind products used by millions—from Up (the mobile bank he co-created and later sold to Bendigo & Adelaide Bank) to Buildkite (CI/CD rails powering top tech companies). In this episode, Dom unpacks his path from early internet projects at SAP and Toyota kiosks to bootstrapping fintech, scaling a digital bank, and designing hardware + OS for expert builders.We also get Dom’s ecosystem thesis for New Zealand + Australia: keep IP local, go global (“go big, grow home”), and create multi-generational startup “turns” by seeding founder mafias after meaningful exits—exactly what he’s now doing with Euphemia and the Triple Bubble fund.

🧒 SAP at 19 → ABAP → SAP Markets “speedboat” for the web.

🧰 Early web builds: kiosks at Toyota, MySAP.com → NetWeaver.

🎧 Record-label detour → iTunes aggregator → first iPhone apps (WordPress, Lonely Planet).

🏦 Up: frustration with banks → infinite activity feed, merchant logos, instant wallets; kept independent post-acquisition.

📈 1.5M+ customers, billions in deposits & home loans; why he sold and how staff shared the win.

🧱 Buildkite originated inside Pin Payments → now powers teams at companies like Airbnb, Shopify, Slack, Lyft.

🌏 NZ as launchpad: meeting Emerge, Dosh; the case for regional fintech and keeping IP at home.

🧠 Euphemia & Triple Bubble: backing regulated fintech + secondaries/publics across AU/NZ/Pacific.

🖥️ Caligra: new expert OS + hardware (retro-inspired, distraction-free) for engineers & researchers.

Connect with the Guest

Dom Pym — LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dompym

Euphemia: https://www.euphemia.comTriple Bubble: https://triplebubble.com

Up: https://up.com.au

Learn more about NZVC & Hosts

NZVC: https://www.nzvc.co.nz

Mark Pavlyukovskyy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavlyukovskyy/

Hendrik Remigereau: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hendrik-remigereau-09a03067/

Timestamps:

00:00 — Intro & why Dom’s story matters now

01:23 — Early years, curiosity, Apple IIe → DOS → QBasic

08:43 — Building PCs after school; first OEM Windows installs

09:59 — Meeting Steve Wozniak; a spark for starting up

12:12 — SAP: first undergrad hire; youngest at 19

16:05 — “Titanic & speedboat”: SAP Markets and the browser era

19:36 — Toyota kiosk & early e-commerce UX

24:03 — Side projects → CMS → Band Manager

31:02 — iTunes aggregator; first iPhone apps (WordPress, LP)

37:16 — Clear Interactive → Clear Grain Exchange

38:42 — 22 companies built; hits and misses

41:11 — Pin Payments → the Buildkite spin-out origin

49:51 — Why Up had to exist; building for love & engagement

55:20 — Infinite feed, merchant logos, instant wallets

58:05 — Up x Bendigo: first cloud-hosted bank in AU

59:32 — Selling Ferocia; keeping Up independent

01:01:40 — NZ visit: Emerge, Dosh, and the fintech wave

01:07:37 — Three COVID-era exits; why timing matters

01:12:15 — Euphemia & Triple Bubble: thesis and structure

01:17:47 — Caligra: expert OS + retro-inspired hardware

Enjoyed Dom’s playbook for startups and business in and beyond New Zealand? Smash 👍, drop your questions, and subscribe for more founder deep-dives.

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