Where’s the Vision?

Posted on by
5

If there is a change of organisational leadership within a business, one of the first tasks of the new leader is to review what values the organisation stands for. New ventures must also begin with a vision as a foundational building block. So when a new government comes to power you would think that this would be a project of some urgency for politicians. But neither the National government nor its predecessor have ever made any attempt to articulate exactly what we stand for as a nation.

The net result of this lack of leadership has been that policy-making is driven by subjective advice at departmental level, but without any central overriding objective in mind. This environment is a fertile breeding ground for politically correct personal agendas and is the basis for much of what is wrong about our public service. And whilst it may be the case that public agencies retain the specialist expertise needed by Cabinet to make decisions, it is not their role to set aspirational goals for the nation as a whole. That is the role of our leadership in consultation with the wider community.

In a country such as ours endowed with considerable natural beauty and a rich diversity of culture it seems almost irresponsible not to have a clear vision on the way forward. Instead we are continually burdened by short term decision-making neccessitated by petty politics and regional self interest. The media circus in Mt. Albert and the lack of due process around the “super city” debate spring immediately to mind. In stark contrast, Pres. Obama seems to have taken the bull by the horns in terms of re-stating what America stands for in a global context. I hope Mr Key accepted some advice on the matter during their phone exchange last week.

What is your vision for New Zealand?

XMediaLab Sails Into Auckland

Posted on by
Reply

Speaking of the need for visionaries, the city of sails plays host to the XMediaLab event this year with a star studded lineup of speakers from the global digital innovation scene. The event comprises a day long conference on Friday focused on commercialising ideas and drawing upon a wealth of experience from entrepreneurs, technology investors and digital media commentators from around the world.

“If you are a digital media professional, media executive, producer, creator, technology wizard, entrepreneur, analyst or strategist of any kind, this is the one day you need to attend,” says event manager Megan Elliot. The conference is followed by a valuable networking event on Friday evening. During the weekend workshop, pre-selected projects will also receive advice and support from international mentors, including a number of the conference speakers. XML now also have a video channel so if you can’t make it to the event, check back later for short talks from previous event speakers.

I’m looking forward to a dose of inspiration – hope to see you there.

Seismic Survey Data Decision Rocks

Posted on by
5

In what amounts to the first substantial new investment by the government in economic development since last year’s election Minister Gerry Brownlee has announced a spend up of $20 million on the acquisition of geophysical data in New Zealand’s offshore petroleum bearing ocean basins.

With a government services spending drought firmly in place one has to admire whatever MED mandarin it was that managed to make the business case for the project. National are claiming it as an election promise delivered, but the reality is that it needed to happen no matter which government was in power and here’s why. In 2006 Crown Minerals went to Court to force petro-giant Exxon Mobil to hand over data that had been generated by the company and its partners but not exploited. About the same time the government began undertaking its own surveys. In 2007 there was another tender round for fresh exploration blocks but the response from major players was muted.

Notwithstanding that legal action by the Crown raises questions about ownership rights and foreign investment; by owning the survey data, the Crown has far greater influence over how it is used. It also mitigates the risk of any further expensive and wasteful Court actions by multi-nationals keen to defend their patch. Exploration companies build survey estimates into their financial reporting data, but will quite happily sit on this information until it suits them to act on it, possibly for decades. The Great South Basin is by far the most promising of New Zealand’s licence areas, but is also the most treacherous. At $55 per barrel small players could not possibly justify the several hundred million dollar invest required to bring a deep water well into production.

Offshore oil exploration is a dirty business and Exxon-Mobil in particular have an appalling environmental track record for which they make few apologies. So the government needs to be careful about how it spreads the financial and environmental risk associated with this game. On the upside, making the survey data available could potentially lead to a multi billion dollar exploration and production investment once the oil price rises again (which it no doubt will). Unfortunately because of the development timeframes involved, it is unlikely to contribute to the economic recovery in the short term.

Ten Ways to Bootstrap Your Tech Idea

Posted on by
Reply

Despite the economic climate, it seems like there’s never been a better time to be a technology entrepreneur in and be supported with mentorship, investment and advice. Below are 10 initiatives targetted at helping aspiring technopreneurs get up and running in New Zealand. Note that some of these close off shortly, so don’t delay.

1. Grow Wellington – Activate Business Pitch

GW are offering a $4,000 Activate Scholarship to the best business pitch, as judged by their expert panel. The Activate programme is for entrepreneurs from all kinds of business sectors and is an intense 16 week programme aimed to inform and inspire. Applicants must be based in the Greater Wellington region. Closes 10th May.

 2. IRL – What’s Your Problem?

Industrial Research and A J Park have up to $1 million in technology research and development services on offer with the aim of producing more high value goods for export by adding value through R&D. The programme is ideal for established firms wishing to extend their product development pipeline. IRL have particular research strengths in energy, materials and life sciences. Competition closes 24th May.

3. Icehouse – Kickstart

The Kickstart seminars are packed with tips from experts and other entrepreneurs and are brought to you by the highly successful Icehouse incubator. The seminars cover sales, I.P., financials, funding and much more.

4. University of Auckland – Spark

Closely allied to the Icehouse programme is Spark the University of Auckland Ideas Challenge. There is a seminar on 5th May and the deadline for the  ideas challenge is 13th May. Ideas are submitted in writing and everyone gets feedback. There is also the spark $100K Challenge which is a separate intiative offering seed capital and business incubation at the Icehouse.

5. Adept – Designs for Life Award

Adept has been at the forefront of plastic processing technology and new product development in New Zealand for 40 years and now they are offering $50,000 worth of their product development expertise to an inventor or entrepreneur with a manufactured product that improves quality of life for people in some way.

6. UpStart – Dunedin

The Dunedin based UpStart incubator holds regular free seminars for budding entrepreneurs. There is also The Distiller group made up of young entrepreneurs and who offer support to others who are starting up.

7. Unlimited Investment Challenge

Unlimited is perhaps NZ’s leading publication aimed at entrepreneurs and they back that up with an annual investment challenge project. The 2009 programme gets underway in May. Watch this space!

8. Focus on Health – Innovation Challenge

Raising the profile of New Zealand health technology in the United States market is the aim of this New Zealand Trade & Enterprise sponsored initiative. Mentoring, introductions to key influencers and a substantial pool of cash prizes are on offer. Launch workshops begin in June.

9.  XMedialab

Perhaps the most effective and affordable globally focussed event for businesses involved in the digital media innovation space. XML comprises a conference day plus a weekend workshop for selected project teams. There are also social events at which the organisers can facilitate introductions to potential partners, investors and international mentors. XML will be held in Auckland this year 22-24 May.

10. W2W

Unlimited Potential will be hosting a half day showcase event in Wellington during October aimed at technology entrepreneurs and investors. If you have a new venture that has the potential to scale up and go global we’d love to hear from you. The half day event features entrepreneur pitches, technology researcher presentations and an evening social event attended by angel investors. For progress reports or to get in touch, please follow on Twitter @geniusnet or @upnz.

I probably missed something, so please feel free to post any additions in the comments below.

The Apprentice

Posted on by
5

Almost one year into my “apprenticeship” as a technology start-up CEO I found it was time to take stock of achievements, critically reassess my position and then plan for the next phase of growth. Balancing the capital requirements of the business has proven to be the biggest challenge.

I read somewhere recently a suggestion that there is “an inverse relationship between the amount of capital available and the level of creativity in a start-up.” To some extent this is true. With too much capital in the bank there is a lot less urgency to get your product built and consequently innovation happens at a much slower pace. But when a company needs to find the cash to pay for rent and employees each month, building a brand and growing revenue certainly come into much sharper focus.  However, bringing in an investor should not be a priority at an early stage because it may result in divesting too much control at a very low price. If possible, put your assumptions to the test first.

On the other hand, running a capital starved business is like flying an aircraft without enough fuel in the tanks. You won’t make it to your destination and you may well end up wrecked in some farmer’s turnip field. Hence, we train pilots to load sufficient fuel for the planned flight plus an additional fixed margin for safety. Most experienced pilots add a little extra on top of this, especially if the weather is inclement. When the economic climate is adverse, it is not the time to be short on financial fuel.

We’ve made huge progress since we launched iWantMyName last December and I’m very proud of what the guys have already achieved. The good news for ideegeo is that the site has growing revenues and is only the first of several spin-off projects as we build and test our internal capability. The bad news is that we have entered a mature market in a highly competitive industry with this first project. That means we have no choice but to offer the best user experience and market our product powerfully.

Something else I read recently. “Overnight success” can take years, especially in the technology sector. That is why I realised that it was time to sit down, readjust my self-imposed frame of reference and plan for more growth (and more hard work). If consumers see value in the product, cash will continue to flow into the business; if not then it will soon become an expensive hobby. The key will be to add smart services that differentiate iWantMyName from other offerings in the market.

Innovation, Property Rights and the Political Economy

Posted on by
2

In recent months I have noticed an elevated volume of commentary relating to the overlap between economic development and the political expression of property ownership rights. Part of this debate has been driven by sea changes on the political landscape and new analysis of the role previous governments have played through intervening in markets. Last week’s OECD report card on New Zealand fanned the flames of this debate to a new level.

The report suggests that previous governments have consistently failed to address historically poor levels of productivity and innovation. In the face of a global economic emergency there is a strong call for urgent action to reconfigure policy on this front.

“New Zealand’s living standards remain well below the OECD average. This is entirely attributable to persistently low labour productivity, which in turn is related to economic geography as well as structural policy factors. The small size and remoteness of the economy diminish its access to world markets, the scale and efficiency of domestic businesses, the level of competition and proximity to the world’s technology frontier. This points to the need for a “New Zealand policy advantage”, that is, a set of structural policies attractive and welcoming enough to overcome the geographic handicap and attract the drivers of prosperity – investment, skills and ideas – to New Zealand.”

Innovation, property rights and the political economy are intertwined. For example without a robust framework for the protection of intellectual property there is little incentive to innovate and generate economic returns from new ideas. But implicit in the OECD calls for macroeconomic restructuring is the suggestion that Crown assets be sold to address fiscal debt. This remarkably unoriginal idea seems to mysteriously surface every time a National government is elected.

Some have argued that New Zealand’s historically interventionist approach has discouraged investment in innovation and critical infrastructure. However, hurried or ill considered sales of State assets (originally funded by taxpayers) in some respects seems contradictory to ongoing academic arguments that favour less intervention, more consistency and the protection of unalienable rights to property. How do we reconcile these positions? Should we be doing so? As was once proposed, would it not be better to leverage the capital invested in State owned enterprises to create new, high value spin-off ventures?

Of course the situation is complicated in New Zealand by the fact that Maori have strong views in terms of property rights, securing favourable State regulation and the connection this makes with their own economic development aspirations. But can we promote a free and unfettered market with strongly protected property rights on the one hand whilst at the same time contemplating separate justice and electoral systems and the wholesale transfers of property assets based on race? External investors no doubt also weigh these risks when considering New Zealand as a destination.

ION e-Letter March/April 2009

Posted on by
Reply

GeniusNet is proud to host the ION e-Letter. ION is New Zealand’s leading virtual community for innovators, entrepreneurs, mentors and investors.

 EGLRevera

XMediaLab Sails into Auckland

The wonderful XMediaLab returns to New Zealand with a three day event in Auckland this year. After last years tremendous success it is encouraging to see XMediaLab returning to host another event focussed on commercialisation of ideas. With the support of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, Friday 22nd May sees a full day seminar open to anyone interested in high tech entrepreneurship, followed by a weekend coaching session for selected start-up ventures. In terms of relationship building and knowledge sharing, quite possibly the most valuable annual event on the innovation and entrepreneurship seminar calendar.

Internet Must Encapsulate Social Values

Technology is not neutral and web designers cannot afford to sit on the fence when it comes to building socio-technical systems says Massey University researcher Brian Whitworth. Designers must “enable virtue” in a web context because the Internet relies on trust and technology devoid of values will otherwise run rampant. Dr Whitworth has published a handbook of social-technical design for web designers working in the area of social networking systems.

New .TEL Domains Perfect for Small Business

Thousands of small businesses are currently missing out on the benefits of an Internet presence because they don’t want the hassle and cost of developing and maintaining a website. But the new .TEL domains changes all that with a global virtual telephone book. Each of the new domains comes with a free and secure website upon which the domain owner can publish a short profile plus keep any contact information such as phone number, social networking pages and related links fully updated. Wellington based registrar iWantMyName is currently the only New Zealand provider of .TEL domains.

UP3D

Unlimited Potential, Wellington’s leading provider of networking events to the ICT community, is hosting UP3D on Friday 24th April. UP3D will feature Gavin Lennox, CEO of Nextspace and Dr Steven Mills from the Geospatial Research Centre who will show off some of their toys and talk about how they are engaging with the local technology industry to facilitate new ventures and collaborations. Please register for this event as places are limited.

Adept Offers Prize for Inventors

Auckland plastics and medical device manufacturer Adept has embraced crowd-sourcing of innovation and is offering its resources to the winner of a competition for a new humanitarian product. The winning idea will get $50,000 worth of help, including design, development and regulatory expertise. A medical and plastics-based product would best suit Adept’s expertise, says managing director Murray Fenton, but other products would be considered. Find out more on Bizchat.

[We also hear that a separate but major initiative is in the pipeline to support emerging technology businesses specifically involved in the health sector. Keep an eye on the GeniusNet blog for more details coming very soon.]

ION Spotlight – Learning Source

Petone based Learning Source is rapidly gaining attention as a provider of service management software for the training sector. The company provides the Software-as-a-Service application to trainers, industry bodies and other software companies. Microsoft were so impressed by the technology that they have included Learning Source in their BizSpark programme which assists developers to connect with customers and grow their market. Learning Source is embarking on a road tour around New Zealand to demo the application to potential users and connect with industry in general. More details can be found on the Learning Source blog.

Got an enterprising Kiwi tech story to share? I want your name! ION Spotlight is kindly supported by iWantMyName.

Hi-Tech Start-Ups Brewing at the Distiller

Dunedin’s tech network The Distiller has been named as a finalist in this year’s PWC Hitech Awards. Established by local tech entrepreneurs the Distiller was set up to bust the myth that failure is the quickest road to learning, says PocketSmith co-founder and Distiller advocate Francois Bondiguel. By providing a focus point it is hoped that tech company founders can share knowledge assist one another to overcome hurdles as they work towards launching their products on the world stage.

IONise Yourself

Don’t forget to check out the ION forum. Join the conversation on NZ’s original social network for innovators, entrepreneurs, mentors and investors.

The Dilemna of Online Identity

Posted on by
1

The vexatious issue of online identity becomes steadily more and more intractable with the staggering growth in the number of Internet and mobile users and the proliferation of web-based communities and online applications. But the problem of online identity goes well beyond simply finding a ubiquitous login profile for all your favourite websites. 

Technology now controls and mediates the permeable boundary between communities and a growing number of services.  Dealing with the technology around online identity involves addressing important issues such as verifiability, security and reputation. In difficult economic times the expression of our online identity holds considerable value, because it may affect our ability to find a job or win a contract. Centralising the protection and management of online identity then seems like a logical step towards solving some of these issues, but it also brings with it some philosophical problems.

If you entrust your personal data to a single organisation how can you be sure that it is secure? Is it better to have a multiple identities and logins? If your favourite social networking site went bust tomorrow you may lose some data but at least all your other identities remain intact. Could access to personal data be abused if it was located in a centralised repository? Would it mean more or less spam and invasion of personal privacy? What happens to your data in perpetuity? The reality is that we are already struggling with these issues. If you own a telephone, get a welfare benefit or operate a motor vehicle – your personal information already resides on numerous databases around the place. Almost certainly some of that information is incorrect and you don’t even know it. Recently I had to make two personal visits to my bank to make a simple address change happen!

Last week’s launch of the new .TEL domain was a positive step towards allowing Internet users to regain control over their online data. The launch of .TEL received little coverage in New Zealand,  despite the tremendous opportunity it represents. The new domain was set up by Telnic, a respected global domain registry. Each .TEL domain comes with it’s own free website that the owner can configure to display contact information. Here’s how the ideegeo .TEL site looks for example. You can also add active links such as phone numbers, email addresses, related websites, blogs and personal social network pages.

Over time .TEL will grow to become the equivalent of  the world’s virtual White Pages and no doubt a myriad of application offerings will spring from within it. It seems like the perfect way for small businesses to get listed on the web without the expense of developing and managing a full blown website. The domain owner has full control over the page content and level of access by other users (public or private). If there is any change of address or other contact details it is a simple matter to update the site. The .TEL sites are protected by high level encryption to keep spammers and cyber-criminals away.

The .TEL launch included a funny video that alludes to some light hearted social benefits from becoming a .TEL owner. We’ve been promoting the clip on our iWantMyName domain management site this week. Enjoy.

Rural Towns Left to Wither

Posted on by
Reply

I had occasion to head home to the provinces for a family visit last weekend. What always strikes me is the character of the little towns along the way. Some of them have been dying off for years, only kept alive of late by the fact that the surrounding rural economy has been booming. But with commodity prices plunging, the underlying support from dairy (and oil) is falling away.

If city dwellers are feeling the pinch now, spare a thought for the rural towns. For some, almost nothing has changed since the 1950s. Their central business districts generally comprise a petrol station, convenience store and a public bar. Now with falling trade even some of the pubs and petrol stations have passed on. Weeds creep insidiously through gaping holes in ramshackle corrugated iron fences that surround overflowing car wrecking yards and the odd farm machinery repair workshop. It’s not rustic or charming, it’s decay; and it’s a testament to how decades of questionable government economic policy has left such towns unimproved.

The one beacon of hope amongst this desolation is the local school. Tidy, manicured grounds surround the elderly buildings, replete in yet another coat of standard issue Ministry paint. The school is the last remaining focus point for the community. But even the school is at risk as roll numbers dwindle and the same Ministry casts its bureaucratic ruler over the books. Not even community pride in the school can prevent the young people from leaving town as soon as they are able – there is nothing to hold them.

Some of the troubles faced by rural towns are simply geographical. No amount of government intervention can compensate for poor soil, challenging climate or remoteness. For those towns that do not have viticulture or glaciers or fishing quota, the future looks rather bleak. On a broader front, the withering of our small towns is related to the fact that New Zealand in general continues to lag behind in GDP per capita. There is simply not enough cash to go around, largely because we have underinvested in innovation as a nation. Our small provincial towns are a metaphor for the wider economy.

I mentioned that education is a beacon of hope, there was also another glimmer of light on the horizon last week. McKinsey run an annual exercise involving mapping global innovation. Auckland was the only New Zealand city that was polled, but it showed up in the top left corner of the data as a “hot spring” of innovation. In other words we are registering more technology patents each year, but only in a small number of areas. Now, it turns out that bubbling hot springs generally host a thriving microcosm of life. On that basis investing in science and technology innovation as a means to generate economic wealth seems like a good idea. So why is the government heading in the opposite direction?

Is There Any Money In Social Media?

Posted on by
3

Last week I engaged in a blog discussion regarding how Twitter will monetise its service offering. It got me thinking about social media in general and about whether or not such products can ultimately generate value for their investors. I probably caused some mild offence by suggesting that social media sites need to think beyond the Google ads model as a revenue driver. Shouldn’t delivering value to the user be the prime motivation for site owners?

I find it quite bizarre that so many site owners are obsessed with driving traffic to their sites in order to squeeze out a few more cents of revenue, on the basis that a tiny percentage of users will click on some ugly random ad words placed strategically around the site. Oddly, nobody seems to question this model. At this point I should probably point out that I don’t own the ads you may have seen at the top of this page sometimes. In fact if I had my way I would gladly pay to keep them off site because of the devaluing effect they have on my own brand.

So notwithstanding the irony that paying to remove ads has now become a valid revenue model in itself, I reckon there are a lot more creative ways to make a social media site pay. The most obvious option is the multi-tiered subscription based approach whereby users can receive a basic level of service for free and choose to pay for additional services. Dating sites are probably the most popular example of this approach and my friends over at Smallworlds are taking this track too. The second approach is to sell something for which there is a demonstrable need and do it in a stylish way that carves out a niche. That’s what we are doing with iWantMyName. But how can sites like Twitter earn cash when they don’t appear to have anything tangible to sell apart from access to their network?

Twitter has so much cash to burn that there is no urgency to find a revenue model – yet. Building trust and growing the user community is far more important than spamming users with site ads at present. There have been quite a few ideas floating around about how Twitter will monetise but many of them are red herrings. I believe Twitter does have a plan and the key lies in the fact that the interface is so clean and simple at present. By offering only limited functionality now it creates a fertile ground to add revenue generating value drivers downstream.

I think contextual search will play a big role in the approach that Twitter ultimately adopts and other site developers should watch and learn as this evolution occurs. Twitter is ripe to move into an enterprise setting too, but it cannot do this until there is much better search functionality. Microblogging may not replace email entirely in the future, but it certainly will put a big dent in it. How long will it be before you can add images and document attachments directly to your Tweets?

What I love most of all about micro-blogging services is that I have complete control over who I subscribe to. That is a feature people will pay for and that is the one problem that regular email software can never properly address. On that basis alone I think micro-blogging services will eventually win as opposed to stepwise adaptation by the encumbent technologies.