Andrew Butt Discusses Enable's Global Growth and Rebate Management

Chris Titley: 00:00 Hello, it’s Chris Titley here on this week’s episode of FinTech Fun. We’re joined by Andrew Butt, co-founder and CEO of Enable. Andrew, thank you so much for being part of the series. Andrew Butt: 00:08 Great to be here, Chris, thanks for having me.

Chris Titley: 00:11 Andrew, something unique - we normally focus on Australian-based FinTechs, but Enable is not an Australian-based FinTech. I’d love to get a little bit of an understanding of what Enable is and a little bit about the history of the business. Andrew Butt: 00:21 Absolutely, yes. We’re certainly growing fast in Australia.

I’ve enjoyed spending a lot of time there. We have offices in Sydney and Melbourne and customers all over the place. We can talk about that more, but Enable is a B2B SaaS platform that helps companies of all types in the supply chain, particularly to manage incentive agreements and what we call rebates. We work with a lot of retailers, as well as distributors and manufacturers, to manage all kinds of incentive and rebate agreements.

Chris Titley: 00:50 And Andrew, how did the business begin? What was the spark around the idea? Take us back to the early days of day one with Enable. Andrew Butt: 00:58 Yeah, sure, absolutely.

I met my co-founder when we were both learning to fly, which was my other passion in life. He was already running a very successful distribution company in the UK - that’s where my roots are. This was a central distribution company that was growing very, very fast. It had more and more complicated programs and arrangements with its suppliers, but there was no modern software to track that.

So, that was the initial inspiration. My background is in coding, and fortunately, we now have much better engineers than myself, but I started by building a system for that distribution company called DCS. We had a huge amount of inbound interest from its immediate trading partners and elsewhere, which led to us building Enable as a dedicated software company. Chris Titley: 01:49 And Andrew, can you talk about the rebates and incentives and the whole market where you play?

Is this a new market that you’ve built? And could you share some high-level metrics on how it works globally for SMEs and large businesses? Andrew Butt: 02:07 Sure. Andrew Butt: 02:07 Absolutely.

Rebate management is a new category, a new software category. When we were starting this a few years ago, a lot of analysts and people thought it was a small market, and some questioned if many companies really used rebates. But we’ve since demonstrated that it’s a huge space. Every retailer and distributor in almost every industry uses these types of incentives to drive revenue and margin because it’s essentially pay-for-performance.

Companies buying and selling goods buy at cost and sell with a markup to make a gross margin. Rebates are an overlay on top of that, driving behaviour to hit certain targets like value, volume, product mix, or market share. To give you some stats: 80% of global trade goes through the supply chain, valued at around $80 trillion USD globally. Rebates and incentives are attached to the vast majority of that.

While I can’t give you an exact percentage, well over 50% of that trade involves rebates, and these rebates typically account for about 5% of the value. So, you’re talking trillions of dollars a year in rebate funds. Chris Titley: 03:34 And when companies use your platform, they likely see tangible numbers - whether that’s saving money or increasing revenue. Can you share what kind of feedback you get from clients?

Andrew Butt: 03:55 Yeah, absolutely. It’s all of the above, depending on the use case. For a retailer or distributor, rebates typically represent 100% of their margin. We often find millions of dollars that aren’t being received because they aren’t tracked accurately.

That results in a significant ROI, maybe 400% in the first year, which is a common figure if the company is recovering missed rebates. On the other side, for companies paying incentives, it’s about optimising margin and revenue for every dollar spent. They’re already paying these incentives, but often the effectiveness isn’t great. So, we boost revenue by improving effectiveness, which is one reason we’ve grown so fast - we can demonstrate such tangible ROI.

Chris Titley: 05:10 In terms of platform features, are you getting good feedback from customers regarding development and innovation? Are there any pain points that you’re working on improving? Andrew Butt: 05:11 Yes, absolutely. We get a lot of feedback, and we have a customer advisory board and multiple forums where we engage with users.

We also have a community of about two and a half thousand rebate experts, many of whom use our system. Some of the feedback leads to incremental improvements, while others are game-changing innovations. We started with finance teams that needed to calculate, forecast, and accrue for these types of funds. Since then, we’ve expanded into commercial teams, where sellers and buyers use the platform to optimise their agreements.

We’re also incorporating AI to provide recommendations, showing users how they could buy or sell differently to get better returns, and how they could create better agreements going forward. Chris Titley: 06:04 And from inception to where you are now, you’ve raised capital. Can you tell us about the importance of that, your investors, and what you plan to do with the capital? Andrew Butt: 06:14 Sure, totally.

We bootstrapped the business to about 20 customers initially because we wanted to get the product right and ensure our first customers were live, getting value, and giving good feedback. At that point, we raised our first capital - a Series A led by Menlo Ventures. Since then, we’ve raised a Series B, C, and D. Norwest Venture Partners led the Series B, Insight Partners from New York led the Series C, and Lightspeed Venture Partners in Silicon Valley led the Series D.

The funds have been used primarily for R&D and sales and marketing, enabling us to make the product more valuable for customers and expand distribution to get the platform into more hands and provide the necessary support. Chris Titley: 07:15 When you started the business, did you think global from the outset, and how has that played out in terms of geographic expansion and dealing with multiple jurisdictions? Andrew Butt: 07:29 Yeah, I mean, I think when we started, it was exclusively in the UK, and that’s where the team was based.

But we were getting inquiries from all over the place, especially from Australia and the US. It didn’t take long to realise this was a global company with a huge global opportunity. So, we expanded into English-speaking countries first - Australia, the UK, Canada, and the US. Then we started entering other countries in Europe, making the product more international and multilingual.

Now, it’s really a 24/7 business with a “follow the sun” support model, so customers can get support around the clock. I often don’t even know what time zone I’m in, but there’s always activity happening. Chris Titley: 08:17 Andrew, I’m going to ask you a serious question: What time zone are you in right now, and where are you? Andrew Butt: 08:23 I’m in Pacific Time, currently in San Francisco.

Chris Titley: 08:26 Right, and you spend a fair bit of time in the US. Is home still in the UK? Andrew Butt: 08:32 I live in the US now. My wife and I moved here in 2020, but we spend a lot of time on the road.

I’ve just come back from Sydney and Melbourne recently, and I’ll be in Europe in a week or so. We also have a lot of employees in Canada, so I’m on the road a lot, but we currently call the US home. Chris Titley: 08:54 Andrew, if we were to repeat this podcast in 12 months, where would you like to see Enable? Obviously, AI is a big topic right now, and you mentioned it’s an opportunity rather than a threat.

What’s in store for the next 12 months? Andrew Butt: 09:11 Yeah, sure. We’re continuing to grow and mature as a company. AI has been very topical, but we’ve been cautious because the incentive agreements our customers have are highly confidential and sensitive - it’s how many of them make all of their profit.

So, we’re thinking carefully about private vs. public AI models and how to use them without divulging customer data. We’ve had some early customers working closely with us on applying AI to everything we do, and over the next 12 months, we’ll be rolling it out more broadly across our products. AI will underpin almost everything the product does, so that will be an important transition for us.

Chris Titley: 10:06 Absolutely. On a personal note, since you travel a lot, you must have racked up a few frequent flyer points. What’s your favourite airport or lounge? Andrew Butt: 10:13 Well, my classic answer would be the Concorde Lounge in London Heathrow’s Terminal 5, which is particularly nice.

That’s probably the best. But in the US, United is excellent, and SFO (San Francisco International Airport) is great. I can fly directly to Melbourne, Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and London from there, and it’s only a 20-minute drive from where I live, so it’s a good experience. Chris Titley: 10:53 And Andrew, what are your thoughts on Australia and your journey there?

Andrew Butt: 10:59 I love Australia. I’ve visited many cities multiple times, and we’ve grown our team there significantly. It’s probably our fastest-growing region. We opened our office there a couple of years ago, and we’ve grown from a couple of people to a team of about 40 in a short time.

One fun story: I’m interested in classic cars, and I purchased a classic car about eight years ago from a guy who had restored it in Sydney. It’s a British car that he had bought in South Africa, brought back to Sydney, and restored. I eventually bought it, and when I visited Sydney recently, we met up for the first time in years. He drove my wife and me around Sydney in his pre-war Bentley.

It was a fun Australia story. Chris Titley: 11:59 That’s great! I’m just thinking about the logistics of buying a car that’s been in South Africa, Sydney, and then taking it to the UK or San Francisco. Andrew Butt: 12:09 Yes, it was originally delivered to Edinburgh in 1935.

The guy I bought it from found it in South Africa, moved it to Sydney, then back to the UK. I then moved it to San Francisco a few years later. So, quite the journey! Chris Titley: 12:24 Now, for someone who doesn’t collect vintage cars, I’m wondering - is this an investment or a hobby, or a bit of both?

Andrew Butt: 12:34 Well, initially, it’s definitely a hobby, but it’s certainly not depreciating, which is nice. It’s one of those hobbies where insurance and tax are surprisingly inexpensive, so it’s actually a pretty affordable passion. Chris Titley: 12:52 And your favourite vintage car that you’ve driven is probably yours, but is there another favourite as well? Can you tell us about your car?

Andrew Butt: 12:59 Yeah, I like British cars, and Bentley and Rolls Royce are always fascinating to me. Those are my favourite brands when it comes to classic cars. Chris Titley: 13:11 Is there a website you frequently visit to check the market when you have some downtime? Andrew Butt: 13:19 Not so much recently.

A few years ago, maybe, but these days Enable is quite all-consuming. I’m in the Bentley Drivers Club in the UK, though I haven’t been active for a few years. I enjoy reading their magazine every couple of months. Chris Titley: 13:39 One final question about switching off and downtime.

You’ve mentioned vintage cars, but you’re also running a global workforce and business, with some of the world’s top investors on your register. Do you ever switch off, or do you manage to slow down and take a break? Andrew Butt: 14:01 I do enjoy travelling and seeing new places, which helps give me a fresh perspective. I always try to tag on a couple of days for sightseeing or hiking if I’m travelling for work - for example, if I go from San Francisco to Sydney, I’ll spend a couple of days hiking and getting fresh air.

But the reality is, I’m always on it - and that’s how I want it to be. I like being available and contactable to support my team. I haven’t really had downtime in the last few years, but I definitely find ways to recharge by travelling and exploring new environments. Chris Titley: 14:45 Andrew, I’ve got one final question.

You have some well-known VC investors, many of whom have invested in large technology companies. How do you manage their expectations, needs, and the different check sizes in terms of the cap table? Andrew Butt: 15:06 Yeah, and do you mean ongoing management of those relationships? Chris Titley: 15:09 Yes, in terms of reporting, transparency, and communication.

Andrew Butt: 15:13 Absolutely. We have some great investors, not just in terms of the firms and their reputations, but also the individuals themselves. I have four lead investors who all sit on our board, representing the firms I mentioned earlier. We work very closely - we’re on a texting basis with all of them.

Typically, there’s a call between each board meeting, just to catch up, but depending on the quarter, we might have a couple of calls a week. It depends on what’s happening and if I need advice or want to discuss something. I have a great relationship with all of them, and I’ve learned what they’re most interested in. Like any relationship, it’s about maintaining good communication and tailoring it to what each person is looking for.

Chris Titley: 16:21 Andrew, thank you so much for joining the FinTech Fun podcast today. As I said, it’s a little different since Enable isn’t an Australian-based FinTech, but you have a significant presence here. I’m looking forward to seeing you back in Australia and catching up in person. Andrew Butt: 16:37 Likewise, looking forward to it.

Thank you, Chris.