Celebrating 2 years @ Kiwi Landing Pad — go forth and grow New Zealand.
On September 16th, I celebrated two years working at the Kiwi Landing Pad as the Global Community Manager for a phenomenal group of entrepreneurs and investors who have a great vision for what long-term contribution they want to make to the New Zealand technology & innovation ecosystem. It has honestly been a joy to work with these people and learn from them; what is important about being an entrepreneur, how can you make a meaningful difference and how do you add actual value to companies as a business supporter.
In reflection, the Kiwi Landing Pad is a place where I have learnt so much about myself. What it means to be a Kiwi and from New Zealand. When you meet with 1,000’s of people a year from all areas of an ecosystem (startups, students, government, corporates, professionals, investors, etc.), what sort of observations and themes you can take away.
On September 15th I presented at the Canterbury Annual Tech Summit, an epic event that sees the coming together of over 650 technologists from all over the south island to speak about the 4th industrial revolution and what the Future of work is going.
It has been exciting watching the New Zealand ecosystem grow over the last five years when you sit outside of New Zealand looking back at you notice much more of the changes, challenges and opportunities without getting bogged down in the details of things that don’t seem to matter long term.
I think it’s important to share some of these learnings (and opinions):
Our ecosystem is young, we have a lot of the elements & variables for a well rounded and thriving ecosystem, I just believe that we need more time in addition to all the variables: pour fuel on the fire and watch it burn. We need to look at what it means to build a sustainable ecosystem and develop programs, networks and supporters that are going to be invested in this journey for the long term, with an outlook as far as 20 years away like the Kiwi Landing Pad maintain in their long term vision.
Startups don’t need new shiny things every six months; they need long term relationships who invest in their growth and available to help when they need it in particular areas of expertise. Everyone can have a meaningful place in the ecosystem if this is how we choose to build it out.
It’s important to note, as with all communities and disruptions, there is always going to be a changing of the guard. Which is a good thing over time as long as the lessons, learnings and community of these people and companies continue to breathe life into the ecosystem — instead of being locked behind closed doors or forgotten.
It’s important that we work with existing players instead of recreating the wheel. At the Kiwi Landing Pad, we have had a lot of success with bringing relevant conversations, knowledge and connections back to New Zealand to close the knowledge gap by teaming up with the local community influencers on the ground who build these communities day in and day out. Enabling the community to stay together instead of being diluted by too many interests and allows us to help the ecosystem level up on a global stage. Ultimately supporting these communities to build better companies that can grow faster with more access, information and networks.
There has been a lot of chatter in the last year, mainly that we need to tell our story better. I think the best way to frame this is that it’s one thing to be world famous in New Zealand (thanks, L&P), but that doesn’t mean anything to people outside of New Zealand. We need to put ourselves on the map as more than just a primary industry and tourism destination. We need to have a WHY and technology could very much be this why. Let’s start telling that story outside of New Zealand specifically. That could be as simple as our entire community telling ten people every time they travel that New Zealand is ideal for building technology companies. If we can do what 100% Pure and Tourism NZ did for our tourism industry but with our technology industry looking outward, we’d slowly go from being world famous in New Zealand to just being World Famous. A shift I’m dying to see. We are so much more than Lord of The Rings, Flight of the Concords, Tourism and Sheep land.
For startups tackling the US market, think about why you are coming to the US in the first place and remember that there are other markets. The US is intensely competitive make sure you are ready for it. We would encourage your first trip to be at least two weeks to get the ‘lay of the land.’ Get out here and talk to people in your industry, talk about your ideas, test the market, do some research. Change your perspective from going to find investors to just getting more understanding of what you are walking into — it is that different. If you have significant traction, and customers in the US this will probably look a little different for you — the message here is — make sure you have the right expectations of why and where you are visiting in the first place.
One of the biggest differences and core learnings we have seen lately is this focus on language and vernacular. There is a fundamentally different language set in the US, even state by state. Resulting in an impact on sales, conversion rates and base understanding of your product. We need to learn how to localise: this will come from speaking to people in market and again getting that lay of the land piece. A few examples of this is proofing versus reviewing or even the sheer scale of the market. Medium sized in New Zealand is 40; Medium sized in the US is 500.
In New Zealand, you can tackle the entire market because it is so small. In the US you need to address by state or coasts instead and all the intricacies that go with it.
There is an element of preparation and specifics that we need to level up on when looking toward to US market and even just growing your business. We meet with so many companies who can’t tell us what their total market size is, let alone their total addressable market. You should know these numbers off the top of your head, if you don’t, will have a tough time getting investment, it makes it seem like haven’t thought out your business as clearly as you should have. Not to get academic, but you should understand your business model canvas. What is it that you are trying to do, who do you need to know to make it happen and what do you need to learn to grow at various stages. The more prepared and specific you are about your mission and message the faster you will succeed. Be one of those companies that are easy to help as a result of spending considerable time on what it is you need to get to that next stage of growth (can apply to humans as well).
I’m immensely proud of what we have been able to achieve at the Kiwi Landing Pad in the last two years. We’ve meet with 1,000’s of entrepreneurs and businesses, held over 100 events, connected with as many of the key influencers in New Zealand right from schools, government, supporter business networks, corporates, media and startups throughout the country focusing particular attention on some of the regions which are growing.
We’ve also done the inverse where our global community of talented professionals and high net worth individuals creating a reverse funnel of expertise which not only wants to help New Zealand succeed, but are invested in their growth and willing to visit; ultimately paying it forward.
We’ve developed new programs that are having a measurable and meaningful impact on the community, from companies getting acquired, getting accepted into globally re-known startup accelerators and getting world class connections to people who can truly accelerate their businesses. It feels good to have programs and events which are experiencing steady growth and will continue for the foreseeable future. The Kiwi Landing Pad is staying true to its mission of making a meaningful contribution to the NZ ecosystem that is sustainable.
The last part of this is that we’ve teamed up with some new and existing partners to deliver value to their customer base and community which contributes directly to the economic output of New Zealand and figured out how to work with existing partners much more efficiently and effectively. Collaboration has continued to be our middle name and is a win-win for us all.
Firstly of worthy mention a special thank you to our founding sponsors Jasmine Investments, K1W1, Movac, Evander, Powerband. Secondly, our public partner — NZTE. And lastly, our corporate sponsors new and old BNZ, Air New Zealand & Vodafone. Thanks for your support thus far, you’ve made a difference to our growth and success.
We are excited to see this ecosystem continue to grow and will continue to support it in the best ways that we know how along with our influence, brand, connections, voice and family of partners and supporters that we actively collaborate with.
Go forth and conquer New Zealand, you’re on a roll.
