2012-05-22 13:54:54 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
Got a fantastic business idea? Want to turn your startup into a successful enterprise? Have a business with great growth potential?
2012-05-09 14:32:25 // Esther Goh
// Idealog #39: now
| 4 comments
Up-and-coming company goodnature is revolutionising the way we kill pests to make the process better for animals, the environment and, in the long run, our wallets.
2012-05-08 10:00:17 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
Auckland Startup Weekend is back for a third year and it's slated to be hosted at the ecentre on the North Shore from June 15-17.
2012-05-04 12:19:22 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Graeme Fielder is mixing science and business nous in his new startup, an online market for used lab and technical equipment.
2012-05-03 14:47:33 // Vaughn Davis
// Idealog #39: now
Auckland's second best-known goat farming aeroplane flying ad agency owner Vaughn Davis drops into the new but definitely not ostentatious offices of newborn events company Celery Productions.
2012-05-03 09:41:05 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Theo Paphitis has lost count of all the businesses he’s invested in, and his criteria for picking companies to bet on has changed over the years, but he says ultimately success all comes down to the people factor. It doesn’t matter how great a business idea is – without a good person behind it, it won’t fly.
2012-04-26 14:38:09 // Idealog
Microsoft New Zealand is offering Kiwi startups free cloud computing services through a new partnership with business incubators The Icehouse and Creative HQ as part of the BizSpark Plus programme.
2012-04-20 15:43:46 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
Ever had one of those lightbulb moments – that split second where you're convinced your brainwave could make you a fortune?
2012-04-18 12:16:02 // Hazel Phillips
// Idealog #39: now
| 3 comments
New Auckland-loving website gather & hunt is all about the love – and has design at the forefront of its mission
2012-04-10 10:02:49 // Idealog
| 1 comment
Wellington's MiniMonos, which is close to reaching one million players, has raised €1 million (NZ$1.6m) in a round led by the former head of EMI.
2012-04-05 13:52:34 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
Creative collective Draw Inc claimed the top prize at last week's Innes 48-hour startup competition.
2012-04-03 14:37:42 // Simon Pound
// Idealog #38: now
| 1 comment
Dion Nash, founder of the just-launched skincare company Triumph & Disaster, tells Simon Pound how metrosexuality translates to a hot new brand.
2012-04-03 09:29:23 // Jil O'Brien
// The Idealog Blog
| 4 comments
How to manage the conflicting needs of family and business? Take a serious look at the way you work and where you're spending your time.
2012-03-29 13:39:34 // Hilary Jackson
// The Idealog Blog
Rush Digital Interactive is doing big things. What can we expect next from them – and what advice have they got for fellow game developers?
2012-03-28 07:50:46 // Idealog
There's $10 million up for grabs for startups over the next five years, thanks to a renewed partnership between Ice Angels and NZVIF.
2012-03-27 08:01:47 // Idealog
Auckland angel and venture investment group Sparkbox Ventures is looking to give tech startups a leg up by offering a range of advisory services to assist young companies eager to expand.
2012-03-22 21:41:59 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
Kiwi tech companies will be first in line to benefit from Facebook investor Peter Thiel and the NZVIF teaming up to form a $40 million New Zealand-based venture capital fund.
2012-03-12 09:13:48 // Simon Pound
// Idealog #38: features
| 2 comments
It's a classic Kiwi story of little guy made good. And after being pitted against dairy giant Fonterra over perceived product similarities, the two blokes behind brand Nice Blocks are hanging off the back end of a tiger.
2012-03-08 09:37:32 // Esther Goh
// Idealog #38: workshop
| 7 comments
Geo-tagging, photosharing app Snapr is well placed to carve out a niche in this burgeoning space.
2012-03-06 15:02:37 // Jil O'Brien
// The Idealog Blog
| 8 comments
All over the country, new mums are shunning an early return to their corporate roots in favour of developing their entrepreneurial dreams.
2012-03-06 14:54:55 // Idealog
Angel are investing smaller amounts in each deal as they focus on supporting existing companies rather than investing in new businesses, according to the latest Young Company Finance Index.
2012-03-02 15:35:56 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
| 3 comments
There were no surprises in the release of Cleantech Group and WWF's clean energy index this week.
2012-02-28 12:16:32 // Esther Goh
// Idealog #38: now
Incubator Creative HQ has pushed the go button on its inaugural gaming bootcamp. Thumbs at the ready...
2012-02-27 15:31:45 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
A fresh new Kiwi startup is out to help the local food movement by taking admin hassles out of the equation so farmers can spend more time growing their tomatoes and less time sorting out receipts.
2012-02-17 10:31:34 // Esther Goh
Wellington's Go Vocab, a language learning business that's barely a year old, has taken out the inaugural BNZ Startup Alley competition at Webstock.
2012-02-16 14:50:22 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Angel investment groups, it seems, still think women are only suited to being Charlie's Angels.
2012-01-27 10:54:32 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
Wellington company Educa is one of the new wave of startups out to shake up education by improving communication between early childhood providers and parents.
2012-01-25 09:52:02 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
Startup Weekend chief executive Marc Nager talks innovation, bootstrapping and community-building.
2012-01-20 13:57:02 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
Six finalists are in the running to win $10,000 as part of BNZ’s Start-Up Alley, recognising new and innovative web ventures in New Zealand.
2011-12-19 10:51:52 // Ben Kepes
// The Idealog Blog
| 5 comments
For every crash and burn, it’ll be the Ma and Pa business that saves this country’s bacon.
2011-12-16 10:08:51 // Idealog
| 1 comment
After a hard-fought race, FaceMe has been crowned the winner of the BNZ Presents: The Virgin Business Challenge, after being judged best by some of New Zealand’s top entrepreneurial and business minds.
2011-12-15 14:37:30 // Esther Goh
// Idealog #37: now
You know you've made it when you're a 17-year-old managing director and Helen Clark comes to your product launch.
2011-12-13 09:03:38 // Esther Goh
The government must give the New Zealand Venture Investment Fund room to grow if it is to survive, says the head of the national venture capital association.
2011-12-08 09:24:04 // Hazel Phillips
// Idealog #36: now
| 3 comments
Professional skier Hamish Acland has turned his hand from shredding on the slopes to sewing together a merino brand that's plugging the gaps others aren't.
2011-12-08 09:14:14 // Idealog
Ten finalists have been announced in the BNZ Presents: The Virgin Business Challenge, a competition to find New Zealand’s best start-up talent.
2011-11-29 12:09:53 // Idealog
When Sir Richard Branson put out a challenge to New Zealand businesses last month, they responded in force. A total of 263, in fact, which have now been whittled down to 15 finalists.
2011-11-28 14:07:03 // Sarah Robson
// Idealog #36: interact
Eleven years after Sam Minnee co-founded SilverStripe as a 17-year-old, he's taken the reins of the 40-strong business as chief executive.
2011-11-24 15:48:45 // Peter Kerr
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
One of the little secrets of the venture capital world, is, generally speaking, it ain’t doing that well from a returns point of view.
2011-11-21 09:49:45 // Vincent Heeringa
// The Idealog Blog
Israel's got a water problem: it has none to speak off. For sixty years it threw state money at the problem, but now it's out-sourcing the solution to a new generation of entrepreneurs
2011-11-18 10:23:35 // Vincent Heeringa
// The Idealog Blog
Ensuring the right people are incentivised to do the right thing has earned Israel a well deserved reputation as the startup nation.
2011-11-17 10:15:32 // Vincent Heeringa
// The Idealog Blog
| 4 comments
As governments worldwide search for that elusive economic growth, some eyes are turning to Israel, the self-styled 'Startup Nation'.
2011-11-07 13:33:20 // Nick Churchouse
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
Local startup uSnap.us, which provides a mobile and web application for guest-sourcing wedding photos, has been crowned winner at Startup Weekend Wellington.
2011-11-03 10:39:32 // Michael Elwood-Smith
// The Idealog Blog
The best teams are lovingly nurturing, brutally honest (or honestly brutal) and devastatingly effective together.
2011-11-02 19:00:18 // Esther Goh
| 2 comments
The Kiwi-invented Greenkeeper – a system that helps companies reduce their carbon footprint, not a golf maintenance pro – has walked away from the Bright Ideas Challenge with a cool $25,000 to accelerate its growth.
2011-11-01 15:21:25 // Dave Allison
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Why your nugget of brilliance needs to be shunted into the light of day and beaten to a pulp by everyone you know.
2011-10-27 12:24:50 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
The 2011 University of Auckland Business School Entrepreneurs’ Challenge has come to to a close – and the four winners hail from financial services, pet food manufacturing, tourism and photographic design.
2011-10-21 12:34:43 // Idealog
| 1 comment
Sir Richard Branson has issued a challenge to New Zealand businesses: Prove you have the mettle to go global.
2011-10-13 11:03:11 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
DesignCrowd, an online marketplace providing logo, website, print and graphic design services through freelancers from around the world, has just launched its New Zealand chapter. And to mark the occasion, it's compiled a roundup of 20 'hot startups' from down under.
2011-10-11 13:48:26 // Idealog
| 2 comments
Waikato business incubator SODA has joined forces with NZTE to increase the number of high growth startups in the region.
2011-10-03 11:15:42 // Sam Eichblatt
// Idealog #35: now
| 1 comment
New Zealand transport is charging ahead in the wireless realm – and an Auckland company is in the driver’s seat.
2011-10-03 08:32:48 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
A young New Zealand entrepreneur has taken out the top prize in the 2011 AUT Venture Fund with his concept for a tablet app that enables children to create their own picture books.
2011-09-28 10:18:52 // Esther Goh
New Zealand entrepreneur Michael Green is heading to Chile in November after his goal-setting social network, Day Zero Project, was selected to take part in a government-supported initiative intended to grow the country's startup ecosystem.
2011-09-20 12:36:36 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
A maturing startup scene and the recent success of several Kiwi software businesses are paving the way for local tech companies to go global, the head of Massey University’s business innovation centre says.
2011-09-07 10:05:25 // Esther Goh
Angel investors are increasingly adopting a portfolio approach to their investments, diversifying risk by putting smaller amounts into a wide range of companies.
2011-08-23 11:35:05 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
It was a dream prize for any tech startup, but ultimately there could only be one winner of BoosterSeat2011 – and that's IntuitionHQ, soon to be taking a free trip to San Francisco thanks to a group of Kiwi entrepreneurs paying it forward on the back of their own Silicon Valley success story.
2011-08-23 11:00:42 // Mark Tomlinson
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
What's social media got to offer a budding entrepreneur? Mark Tomlinson blogs from the eSprint programme.
2011-07-27 09:50:19 // Esther Goh
A Masterton man’s plan to sell his patented steel-mesh safety goggles worldwide has been awarded a $60,000 prize package to further expand his business.
2011-07-22 17:48:17 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
Wellington freelancers, contracts and entrepreneurs now have access to to a collaborative workspace with the launch of BizDojo
2011-07-14 09:00:05 // Idealog
Wellington investment firm MOVAC has raised a fresh $30 million growth capital fund to invest in young New Zealand companies set to expand.
2011-07-13 11:15:28 // Vanessa Ellingham
The Kiwi Innovation Network will help homegrown projects "excite and harness investor appetite", according to one of its founding members.
2011-07-11 10:39:51 // Idealog
The Icehouse strikes again, this time with a “KICK ASS” initiative with a vision of 3000 internationally competitive kiwi companies by 2020.
2011-05-17 08:51:39 // Rowan Simpson
// The Idealog Blog
These days most of the people I talk to think just their idea alone is worth more like a million dollars. This is crazy.
2011-05-06 09:49:12 // Rowan Simpson
// Idealog #33: features
| 1 comment
An online idea that’s snapped up for squillions—it’s the modern fairytale, but tech startups don’t always have a happy ending. Rowan Simpson has been a key part of startups-done-right Trade Me and Xero, and as a tech investor he’s been pitched some great ideas and some real dogs. Along the way, he’s learned a few things about building teams, raising cash, learning from mistakes and getting customers who pay.
2011-05-06 09:47:51 // Rowan Simpson
// The Idealog Blog Idealog #33 includes an essay by Rowan Simpson on ‘the mythical startup’. He introduces a series of blog posts expanding on his essay.
2010-10-19 17:28:08 // Vincent Heeringa
// Idealog #29: now
This year, US angel investor Bill Payne spent five months touring New Zealand, dishing out wisdom about early-stage companies. The engineer, recovering entrepreneur and active investor reflects on his stay downunder.
2010-10-15 10:42:43 // Mitchell Hall
// Idealog #29: features
| 1 comment
Derek and Geoff Handley created The Hyperfactory, a high-tech Kiwi business that competes with the world’s best, and in July they sold it for megamillions. Mitchell Hall asks what they’ve learned about entrepreneurship and dreaming big—and why New Zealand needs more like them. Plus: An investor speaks.
2010-04-23 11:48:21 // Matt Cooney
// Idealog #27: interact
Eric Ries has watched promising companies burn, accidental ideas succeed and bad products turn good. Working out why has led him to his own methodology, the Lean Startup. But will Silicon Valley’s rules work in Enzed?
2010-03-18 11:10:00 // Vincent Heeringa
// The Idealog Blog Idealog presents a rare opportunity to meet angel investors and mentors—for free. But hurry, we're only taking 80 people.
2010-03-17 12:49:00 // Vincent Heeringa
// Idealog #26: interact
Bill Payne, one of America’s leading angel investors, is in New Zealand for three months to share his 25 years’ experience with angels and entrepreneurs—and you can meet him for free.
2009-09-07 15:59:37 // Frances Chan
// Idealog #23: interact
Whatever your Big Idea is, pitch it to the Icehouse and you could win $15,000 worth of prizes, including three months in the Icehouse business incubator to develop your product and offer to investors.
2009-08-13 14:47:39 // Deirdre Robert
// Idealog TV
Walking through the supermarket with wires running through your cheek and a camera in your mouth may sound odd to most, but for AUT Colab resident Matt Kenyon, it's all in a day's work. Seeking to challenge the 'powers that be' through the appropriation of popular culture, Kenyon not only challenges it, he throws it on its head and turns it inside out.
2009-07-27 09:00:00 // Deirdre Robert & Vincent Heeringa
// Idealog TV
Todd Wackrow spent just 3 months at the Icehouse and now look, he's really tall. Idealog asks why.
2009-07-21 15:17:41 // Deirdre Robert & Vincent Heeringa
// Idealog TV
James Madelin had an idea. Now it's a global business. Vincent Heeringa meets the man from Orbis.
2009-07-17 12:27:49 // Deirdre Robert & Vincent Heeringa
// Idealog TV
The Icehouse Business Growth Centre is opening its doors to all tyre-kickers and wannabe billionaires at an Open Day on July 29. Idealog asks startup director Ken Erskine what it takes to become the next Sammy Morgan.
2009-06-26 13:50:15 // Lauren Bartlett
// Idealog #21: features
Some people will go a long way for a decent coffee. The quest has taken Geoff Marsland and Tim Rose around the world, mingling with Cuban spies, tagged as terrorists and welcomed by Havana’s Communist elite. Lauren Bartlett meets the proprietors of Wellington’s Havana Coffee Works
2009-05-23 16:56:52 // Simon Young
// The Idealog Blog
| 7 comments
17 bold entrepreneurial projects are now years closer to success than a day ago, thanks to what has happened here today.
2009-05-23 13:46:42 // Jason Kemp
// The Idealog Blog
| 4 comments
Very few of the ideas at the Entrepreneurial Summit seemed that interesting at all to me. Perhaps its the different tech focused world that I live in but I did think asking the "usual suspects" for surprises was a tough thing to do.
Open Table is a start-up that raised US$70m earlier this week by fulfilling the simple task of making restaurant bookings easy to do. I couldn't help thinking that NZ could do plenty of projects like this.
2009-03-05 09:41:51 // Peter Griffin
// Idealog #20: features
It’s a decade since Kiwis could pick their power provider—and yet reading your power bill is an exercise in frustration. What if you could buy your power from anybody—the cheapest, the greenest, or the most socially involved—and never receive a ‘bill shock’ again? That’s the promise of a new Kiwi startup—and it will even let you launch your own power company. Peter Griffin meets the bright sparks behind Powershop
2009-02-20 11:45:25 // Ben Kepes
// The Idealog Blog
Annalee is editor of science/fiction blog i09.com and a former policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. She asks what today’s science fiction telling us about where our technology will go tomorrow?
2009-02-19 15:04:57 // Ben Kepes
// The Idealog Blog
Adrian is a journalist (ahhh—that’s a good thing—a dying breed) and a developer of web apps for washingtonpost.com, lawrence.com and LJWorld.com. If that wasn’t enough he also co-created Django, the open-source development framework.
2009-02-19 10:36:32 // Ben Kepes
// The Idealog Blog
Home-town hero Nat Torkington, ex (and sometimes current) alumni of O’Reilly media is always a good choice for an entertaining show, he didn’t disappoint this time!
2008-11-14 12:05:23 // Lauren Bartlett
// Idealog #18: features
A chance meeting in the depths of the Pureora forest between a Dutch traveller and a Fijian brewer could make a decent a-man-walked-into-a-bar joke. Instead, the meeting led to a business exporting a uniquely New Zealand beer. Lauren Bartlett reports
2008-10-03 13:17:21 // Karryn Cartelle
// Idealog #17: features
Terrie Lloyd couldn’t speak a word of Japanese when he arrived in Tokyo, so he started a translation company. Now he’s at the head of a multimillion-dollar publishing and technology empire. Karryn Cartelle meets the Kiwis running Japan Inc
2008-08-08 11:57:01 // Peter Griffin
// Idealog #16: features
| 2 comments
Nigel Stanford tried his hand at music and design but made his fortune on the web, creating social sites and running Trade Me when Sam Morgan left town. Now he’s moving into movies with his own studio. Peter Griffin tracks his strange journey. Plus Trade Me’s fab four and trading places
2008-07-18 12:15:32 // Amanda Cropp
// Idealog #16: features
Amie Nilsson’s Merino Kids business is growing faster than her own brood. She tells Amanda Cropp about ambition, innovation, sleepless nights and the cut-throat world of design for the under-fives
2008-07-09 11:18:19 // Amanda Cropp
// Idealog #16: now
A Canterbury marketer goes back to the farm to brew cordial from the weedy nuisance of elderflowers
2008-06-13 11:53:50 // Gena Tuffery & Kris Herbert
// Idealog #15: features
The line between creativity and commerce is more blurred than any time since Coca-Cola discovered Santa Claus. Idealog profiles two endeavours in the fastest-blurring industry of all: music.
2008-04-04 14:11:28 // Lauren Bartlett
// Idealog #14: features
| 1 comment
Forget cast-offs, hand-me-downs and the fashions of yesteryear, ‘re-designers’ are turning forgotten gems into something new and desirable. Lauren Bartlett meets the Kiwis creating born-again-ware
2008-03-28 15:14:43 // Peter Griffin
// Idealog #14: features
| 2 comments
If you can draw your idea, Wellington startup Ponoko can probably make it—and find buyers for it too. Idealog meets the New Zealanders at the forefront of the handmade revolution
2007-10-25 14:48:32 // Matt Cooney
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
The deal values Facebook at US$15 billion. Makes me wonder just who would profit from another dot-com debacle?
2006-12-14 01:00:00 // Matt Cooney
// Idealog #7: features
| 4 comments
Josef Roberts turned Red Bull, a little-known energy drink with legal problems, into a pop phenomenon in New Zealand and Australia—and made millions in the process. He talks exclusively to Idealog about guerilla marketing, taking on the big boys, life after the Big Deal, and the down-home Kiwi company he plans to build into a global superbrand. By Matt Cooney
2006-12-13 01:00:00 // Matt Cooney
// Idealog #7: now
| 5 comments
Rod Drury just doesn’t know when to stop. This year he sold his email management company, AfterMail, to US-based Quest Software for US$45 million, and in November he won the Entrepreneur of the Year title at the 2006 Hi-Tech Awards. Time to relax? No way—Drury is investing in a string of local IT startups and blogging up a storm too. Just what is it that he wants to prove?
