Gamechangers: Kard

I first got the idea… when my wife and I were moving into a new house. We’d always been big fans of credit card rewards – having funded our honeymoon with them – and were looking for the best credit card to use to furnish our new home.

The whole process was difficult from start to finish: there was no easy way to compare rewards and check how many points we had already earned. I realised there was a gap in the market, and no one was taking advantage.

Kard is… a loyalty platform. It is our mission to help consumers maximise their rewards, while helping credit card companies increase their transaction revenue. Through our partnerships with over 500 merchants we provide a far more valuable reward-based system for our customers that is free for card issuers. Everyone is a winner.

I started the business because… I was working in the tech sector and really admired the founders of the company I was working for. They are both serial entrepreneurs and I wanted to be just like them – so I decided to take the leap and start my own business.

The scariest thing has been… the drastic change in a short space of time. I left a comfortable job where I’d been successful to go and work from my apartment without a salary. Starting a business is tough but if you believe in yourself and have a network of supporters that believe in you too, you can make it happen.

One of the most important things for a start-up is to… talk to everyone. I’m not a technical person, so I went to every networking event possible and convinced a few great people to come on board with me.

I also knew that understanding our market was integral to our success. So I grabbed a clipboard and walked around Washington Square Park – chatting to everyone and anyone about our idea. I needed some early validation before we had a live product on the market.

The highest point for Kard has been… signing our deal with Barclays. We always knew that getting a bank to engage with us would be one of the biggest barriers facing the business. So when we were able to convince a financial institution with the scale and reputation of Barclays to work with us, I could not have been happier.

The best thing about the Barclays Accelerator programme is… the relationship we’ve developed with Barclays. I can’t stress enough how helpful they’ve been – assisting us with growing our company, shaping our product and creating our business model. Through every stage of the process, Barclays has been there to lend a hand. Without Barclays’ help, we would not be in the position that we are today.