NEW ZEALAND’S E-MAG FOR ENTREPRENEURS AND BUSINESS OWNERS

August 2014

Page Thirty

www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz

+

Nourishing a Thriving Startup Ecosystem in NZ

IP in ActionTrade Secrets and Patents

StoryparkTaking the Plunge

Latest news from Young Enterprise Trust

Brent Spicer

We interview

of Collect Rewards

2 • www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz

iP is about igniting passionGreat ideas shape our world if they are harnessed

and protected in the right way. At AJ Park, we work

with you to understand your business and where you

want to take it. Our experts specialise in helping you

identify, protect, commercialise, and manage your

intellectual property. If you’re looking for clear IP

advice, call us today.

0800 257 275 I www.ajpark.com I New Zealand + Australia

AJ Park is about iP • intellectual property • igniting passion • ideas pervading

www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz • 3

CONTENTS

ABOUT / Short and sharp, New

Zealand Entrepreneur is a free

e-magazine delivering thought

provoking and enlightening articles,

industry news and information to

forward-thinking entrepreneurs.

EDITOR / Nick Harley

ART DIRECTOR / Jodi Olsson

GROUP EDITOR / Jennifer Liew

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER /

Alastair Noble

CONTENT ENQUIRIES /

Phone Nick on 021 052 9770 or

email nick@nzentrepreneur.co.nz

ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES /

Phone Jennifer on (09) 522 7257 or

email jenniferl@espiremedia.com

WEBSITE / nzentrepreneur.co.nz

ISSN 2253-5683

NZ Entrepreneur is a GREEN MAG created and distributed without the use

of paper so it’s environmentally friendly. Please think before you print. Thank you!

iP is about igniting passionGreat ideas shape our world if they are harnessed

and protected in the right way. At AJ Park, we work

with you to understand your business and where you

want to take it. Our experts specialise in helping you

identify, protect, commercialise, and manage your

intellectual property. If you’re looking for clear IP

advice, call us today.

0800 257 275 I www.ajpark.com I New Zealand + Australia

AJ Park is about iP • intellectual property • igniting passion • ideas pervading

4 From the Editor

6 Nourishing a Thriving Startup Ecosystem in NZ

12 Interview: Brent Spicer of Collect Rewards

18 Trade Secrets and Patents can Complement Each Other in a Good IP Strategy

20 Young Enterprise Trust

24 Getting the Best from your Board

26 Taking the plunge: Jamie MacDonald & Peter Dixon of Storypark 29 Parting Shot

4 • www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz

EDITORIAL

NZ ENTREPRENEUR IS PROUDLY BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

Someone asked me recently “How do I become an entrepreneur?” To be honest, I didn’t have a straight answer.

Is it as simple as starting a business, selling something and making a profit, or would having a degree in entrepreneurship qualify you for the role?

At what point do you cross that imaginary line and suddenly become able to call yourself an ‘entrepreneur’?

To me the word gives meaning to a mentality rather than anything actually measurable.

Do you walk down the street and see opportunities to make money? Do you buy something in a shop and ponder what

margin they are making on that? Do you view your career with an open ceiling rather than a way to reach a certain level or salary in the company?

Being entrepreneurial takes many shapes and forms, but what does set successful entrepreneurs apart is their ability to act on an opportunity, not settle, or be confined by what society would call ‘normal’ boundaries. Thing is, there really are no boundaries at all: the only ones that exist are the ones in your head.

So, how do you become an entrepreneur? Well, that’s up to YOU.

✉

Nick

www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz • 5

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6 • www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz

BUSINESS LESSONS

IT’S GRASS ROOTS that supply food for many of our farms, and it is grassroots communities that will carry our startups and established organisations forward.

A country-side of lush pasture made the primary sector New Zealand’s GDP

darling for decades, and the pasture of the future needs to be just as lush. We just need the seed being sown in our communities and universities to now be around skills and capability, startup innovation and world-leading entrepreneurship.

Moving from a primary sector, commodity-reliant economy to an innovation-fuelled growth economy isn’t going to happen quickly. However, the drivers behind the two seemingly polar economic foundations are actually not that far apart.By Stefan Korn

Nourishing a Thriving Startup Ecosystem in NZ

www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz • 7

A new generation of entrepreneurs are coming through. Some call them digital natives, some call them Generation X. They are the farmers of the future.

They will farm data, they will harvest insight, and they will export solutions to an information-hungry world.

But we have to grow them. We have the chance to build a vibrant economy fuelled by successful high-growth, high-tech ventures that operate internationally and contribute back to New Zealand’s long term wealth. We are on the verge of either embracing this vision or failing it.

Relying on the next Xero, IceBreaker or Weta Digital to appear on its own is not enough. These international success stories are too few and far between to significantly complement overseas revenues generated by our primary sector. We have to work hard to create an environment where a thousand high growth startups – the likes of Starnow, Silverstripe or Vend – can emerge and earn overseas revenues for New Zealand.

The critical pathway here is to nurture those grassroots, to find the promise in the undergrowth, and to coax it to grow through a blend of care and attention, fertiliser, and an upward vision. New Zealand’s biggest potential for a strong economy is in developing the large pool of highly talented entrepreneurs who don’t realise their lifestyle business could be an international success. The Rod Drury’s of this world will always do what they are good at. It’s the latent entrepreneurs that we need to help become successful.

8 • www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz

We have challenges that call the future of our ecosystem into question: the lack of high risk early stage funding, coupled with a lack of local startup acquisitions.

This requires a group effort. Starting with our schools, we need to expand the excellent work the Young Enterprise Trust has done with initiatives like Venture Up – the first accelerator programme for high school kids and undergraduates. It requires new initiatives at our tertiary institutions, such as the recently announced ICT Grad School, with its focus on entrepreneurial skills in addition to core ICT skills.

Finally, it requires input from our established organisations, who need to team with startups to significantly increase the level of product and service innovation.

SO WHAT ARE THE ATTITUDES AND APPROACHES WE CAN USE TO MAKE THIS WORK?

Pay it forward: Those that make it to the top support those new to the bottom. We reinvest in our own, and double down to make sure those we inspire are also those we support. We must look to universities and work with them to enable and create the next generation. These students must understand that entrepreneurship can be a vocation.

Be accepting of failure: Entrepreneurs learn more from projects that fail than ventures that succeed. Fast fails also enable entrepreneurs to explore new ideas, share lessons or join another growing team. Accept failure as a way to shorten the distance to success.

Entrepreneurs learn more from projects that fail than ventures that succeed.

www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz • 9

Be collaborative: We must share knowledge, connections and resources much more readily. Rather than competing small-mindedly between New Zealand’s regions, we need to pool resources across the country to focus on the opportunities beyond our borders.

Develop individuals: Startup success is not just about creating useful products or services. We need to invest in our human capital in addition to companies. We need to turn founders into great business leaders, arming them with the skills they need to succeed internationally.

Establish a strong mentor network: Entrepreneurial development is only as strong as those supporting it. By enlisting experienced business leaders to mentor our entrepreneurs, we are setting up a bright future for the next generation of entrepreneurial talent. These mentors add value through participation in structured incubation and acceleration programmes.

10 • www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz

Embrace global expansion support: To fast-track the development of our startups, we need to borrow international expertise. There simply aren’t enough Kiwis business leaders who can dedicate substantial amounts of time to mentoring entrepreneurs. New Zealand is an extremely attractive country for many global business leaders. Let’s bring them here through straight-forward immigration policies, like investor or entrepreneur visas, and tap into their expertise.

Stefan Korn is an investor, entrepreneur and CEO of Creative HQ, Wellington’s startup base. Prior to Creative HQ, Stefan founded private incubator WebFund in 2007 to help web-based Kiwi start-ups conquer the world. Stefan has a PhD in Artificial Intelligence, an MBA in international business and an Honours Degree in Computer Engineering. www.creativehq.co.nz

New Zealand’s high growth business community is vibrant and exciting. But it is still very small. Let’s boost this incredibly important sector of our economy so the rest of the world will have to take notice, and see the razor sharp edge on those grassroots taking on the world from the bottom up.•

New Zealand’s high growth business community is vibrant and exciting. But it is still very small. Let’s boost this incredibly important sector of our economy so the rest of the world will have to take notice

www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz • 11

Talk to one of our Business Consultants today and we’ll help drive your business forward.Call 0800 022 249 or visit 2degreesmobile.co.nz/businessMC

2527

A

NEW ZEALAND’S SMARTEST BUSINESS PEOPLE ARE SWITCHING TO 2DEGREES.

MIKI SZIKSZAI CEO, SNAPPER

“We were saving between 35% and 40% off our telecommunications bill right off the bat. It also has opened up the opportunity for us to potentially reduce our reliance on landline phones in the office, which we’re now exploring. And again, that will probably take another 20% to 30% off our comms bill.”

To see the full story about Snapper, and hear about other companies who have made the move to 2degrees Business, visit: 2degreesmobile.co.nz/business.

MC2527A NZ Entrepreneur e-mag A4V V3.indd 1 11/08/14 1:25 pm

12 • www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz

INTERVIEW

10 Questions Brent Spicerwith

of Collect RewardsWhen you see people operating successful businesses you might well say that they’re ‘lucky’ to be in such a position, but each business story started out as a simple idea inside a person’s head. A lot of hard work and sacrifice is needed to build a business, but each month we talk to an inspiring entrepreneur to show you that really, anything is possible.

www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz • 13

TELL US ABOUT COLLECT REWARDS, WHAT IS IT THAT YOU DO? Collect is the world’s first real-time mobile loyalty solution for retail and ecommerce stores. We call it “smart loyalty for smart stores”. Collect enables retailers to retain and grow their loyal customer base in a way that hasn’t been possible before. By deeply integrating with the retailer’s Point of Sale (POS), Collect makes it easy for retailers to create great customer experiences, to encourage loyalty, and grow their business.

For consumers, Collect rewards them instantly for shopping at the places they love and helps them discover new places. They can check their point balances, unlock rewards, and receive exclusive offers in-store, online and through the mobile app and email.

WHAT’S THE STORY BEHIND THE BUSINESS? HOW DID IT GET STARTED AND WHY? HOW DID THE FOUNDERS MEET? I was introduced to my now business partners and co-founders Matt and Brady by local incubator CreativeHQ when they were building a product looking to digitise The Entertainment Book. I was asked to help them with strategy and planning.

HOW DID YOU SURVIVE THOSE EARLY DAYS? HOW DID YOU PAY THE BILLS AND KEEP GROWING YOUR BUSINESS? We consider that the original business, rewardjunkie! became a real business on the 1st of October 2012, as that was the day we first paid wages. To do that, we did a fundraising round for seed capital. Then we got our first grant from Callaghan Innovation as well to top that up.

Before that Brady worked full time so Matt could work on the business – working out of Creative HQ – and then they’d collaborate in the evenings. They actually shared a room, and didn’t eat particularly well, to keep their costs down. I was just helping out in an unpaid advisory capacity at that time.

14 • www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz

HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED ANY BAD TIMES? WHAT WAS THE MOST PAINFUL LESSON YOU’VE HAD TO LEARN IN BUSINESS? Some bad times, but many more good times. In business it’s always about the people. If you’re a tech startup like we are, it’s really important that you work with people who get what being a startup means, and are prepared for working in a high risk, fast paced environment where you need to roll up your sleeves, get stuff done quickly, and usually with very little money. A good attitude only gets you so far. You need to be a high

capacity, very versatile person who can prioritise and work with very little supervision. Working with the wrong people can be fatal.

DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS TO EXPAND OVERSEAS? WHAT FACTORS INFLUENCE YOUR DECISION WHEN EXPANDING TO NEW AREAS? We already have customers in 20 countries around the world. The Cloud has no borders, so any customer in any country can sign up and start using Collect without any involvement from us in a lot of cases. We don’t dictate from which countries customers can buy from us.

www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz • 15

Having said that, North America is always going to be a big market for us, so we have chosen to appoint a person there specifically to concentrate on that part of the world: not only to get customers, but manage local partnerships, VCs and PR.

We’ve been really lucky to secure a guy, Kyle Enright, who is an ex-Google executive, and highly networked in Silicon Valley. We also have a great master- distributor in Australia, SMB Consultants, and that’s actually our biggest market at the moment thanks to that relationship.

DO ENTREPRENEURS NEED LOTS OF MONEY OR EXTERNAL FUNDING TO BUILD A BIG BUSINESS? ANY ADVICE FOR OTHERS LOOKING TO RAISE FUNDING? You can build a business by boot strapping but I think it’s really difficult to build a big business quickly. You need cash. We’ve raised $1.4 million so far and had several grants from Callaghan Innovation, and we’re looking to raise more at the end of this year. Funding a high growth, international business out of revenue isn’t really an option if you want to maximise growth.

My number one piece of fundraising advice is to always be selling. We have secured most of our funding so far from demonstrating our product, and people have said surprisingly often: “Wow, that’s really cool. Can I invest in your company?”

16 • www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz

WHAT ARE THE THREE MOST IMPORTANT BUSINESS SKILLS YOU WOULD ADVISE UP AND COMING ENTREPRENEURS TO DEVELOP? I don’t know how easy it is to learn these things, but to me the three key skills for an entrepreneur are:

• The ability to sell and do deals. Be it with customers, partners or investors: if you can’t do deals you can’t do business.

• Strategy and long term planning. If you can’t plan for the future you’re driving blind.

• Numeracy. You have to understand the numbers and be confident in presenting them to others.

All these need to wrapped up with leadership though. At some stage you’re going to need to lead people and get the best out of them.

HAVE YOU IMPLEMENTED A FORMAL BOARD? WHAT VALUE DO YOU FEEL A BOARD DELIVERS TO YOUR BUSINESS? Yes, we did that from the start, as I think it’s a necessity when you’re raising money to show investors that you have a level of governance within the business.

However, we’ve changed the board since we first started. Our Chairman is Peter Biggs, who’s a marketing agency legend here and in Australia and is my primary personal support.

We’ve also appointed Paula Jackson, who was the original General Manager of Marketing at Xero. She really gets The Cloud and her lessons learnt from early Xero days up until the organisational it is today are invaluable for us.

www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz • 17

WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE THE THINGS NEW ZEALAND NEEDS TO IMPROVE UPON WHEN IT COMES TO CREATING MORE SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSES? I think a lot of potential business success is stymied by our mind-sets. In other parts of the world, the US for example, people are far more positive about their prospects, and set out to be a big business from day one and do it quickly.

A mentor of mine, Wayne Norrie, once said to me that NZ businesses tend to go on a hike. They start off slow, try a few things, stop for a feed – ie some funding – and then continue the cycle.

By the time they get where they’re going, someone else has already sprinted there and the race is lost. Companies like Xero have shown that by having big ambitions from day one, a New Zealand company can achieve big things on a world stage.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU? WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF AND THE BUSINESS IN FIVE YEARS’ TIME? What we’re trying to create at Collect is a team of startup people that are high capacity, versatile achievers who work well together.

I can see in five years’ time the same team of people working together, but on another business – which will grow faster and be better funded from the start, based on what we’ve learned from Collect.•

What we’re trying to create

at Collect is a team of startup people that are high capacity,

versatile achievers who

work well together.

IP IN ACTION

18 • www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz

Trade Secrets and Patents can

Complement Each Other in a

Good IP StrategyBy Jo Shaw, a senior associate at AJ Park

TRADE SECRETS AND PATENTS: these forms of intellectual property (IP) form the backbone of many IP strategies. For a startup or small business launching a new product or invention, trying to determine which to include in your strategy can be difficult. Often they are treated as mutually exclusive rivals, rather than the complementary tools they really are. Perhaps the misconception arises because these forms of IP are usually discussed by comparing them to each other.

For example, a patent on your product or process will give you 20 years of monopoly protection, while a trade secret lasts indefinitely (provided it remains secret). In consideration for the monopoly right conferred by a patent, you must fully disclose your invention

and the best way of carrying it out. But nobody outside your organisation needs to know your trade secret.

A patent can cost you a lot of money upfront. You will need a patent attorney to draft the specification defining your monopoly rights, and official fees will be levied at depressingly frequent intervals. In contrast, a trade secret can be maintained at the cost of implementing a few basic procedures in your business.

But trade-secret protection won’t protect you from independent discovery of your invention. Once disclosed, even innocently, anyone is free to use it. Many IP strategies begin with deciding whether an innovation should be patented or kept as a trade secret. But

www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz • 19

even when one form of IP protection is selected, there are opportunities to make use of the other.

For example, imagine you have devised a product that meets the criteria for patentability: it’s ‘new’ and ‘inventive’. You are concerned that your competitors could figure out the basic process by which you make it, so you decide to patent the product.

During the patent process you must disclose what you understand at the time of filing to be the best method of making the product. No secrets anymore then. But wait! The information in the patent specification reflects only what was known at the time of filing. This is likely to be based on pilot experiments. Once your product goes into production, you may discover all sorts of minor variations, preferences and tricks that give a superior product.

Let’s say your patent specification directs the reader to heat ingredients at 80 to 100°C for 30 to 60 minutes, then cool to room temperature. Once in production, you

discover that the perfect product is actually obtained if you heat at 100°C for 30 minutes (and that heating at a lower temperature for longer causes quality control problems). This sort of know-how is valuable IP that could be kept as a trade secret.

While your patent specification may have told your competitors the basics of how to make your product, it does not reflect your subsequent understanding and refining of the process.

Think of it this way: filing a patent is like putting your gold in a vault. Everyone knows it’s there, but they can’t get to it easily. Keeping new developments as trade secrets is like putting the gold into a particular safe deposit box. It may not stop your competitors finding it – if they manage to breach the vault – but it will slow them down because they’ll have to investigate all of the safe deposit boxes.

So patents and trade secrets are not really rivals. A good IP strategy can use each form of IP to complement the other to the advantage of your business. •

Jo Shaw is a senior associate at AJ Park, an intellectual property law firm. Jo specialises in patents for the chemical, pharmaceutical, biotechnological, food and natural products industries. Contact her on jo.shaw@ajpark.com

20 • www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz

Terry Shubkin, CEO Young Enterprise Trust

TOMORROW’S ENTREPRENEURS Young Enterprise Trust

YOUNG ENTERPRISE TRUST is well known for the work we do with school students of all ages giving them immersive business experience, increasing their financial literacy and boosting their soft-skills such as public speaking and team work. But

a lesser known fact is that we created the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame back in 1994 and proudly host the gala dinner each year.

This event celebrates the best of the New Zealand business world. Each year a small number of illustrious Laureates

www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz • 21

Young Enterprise Trust

are inducted in front of an audience of some of the most prominent members of the New Zealand business world.

This wonderful evening is an opportunity not only to celebrate role models of the New Zealand business world but also to state to our students: “This could be

you!” We set the bar very high for the students we nurture through our various programmes and we want this event to showcase what they could themselves achieve if they continue to show the dedication, enthusiasm and imagination that makes us so proud of them every day. •

Would you like to mentor a student company in 2015? Please contact Young Enterprise Trust on 04 570 0452 or email support@youngenterprise.org.nz to volunteer.

This wonderful evening is an opportunity not only to celebrate role models of the New Zealand business world but also to state to our students: “This could be you!”

22 • www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz

ON THE 7TH August Young Enterprise Trust hosted prominent members of the New Zealand business world at this year’s New Zealand Business Hall of Fame. This gala event celebrates the outstanding achievements and contributions of a few prominent members of the business community.

This year’s laureates were:

• Sir Graeme Avery, Publishing, Food and Wine, Sport

• Jules Fulton (1901-1973) And Bob Hogan (1900-1992), Roading and Infrastructure

• Sir David Henry (1888-1963), Forestry and Wood Processing

• James McAlpine (1908-1961), Refrigeration

• Sir Ralph Norris, Leadership and Governance

• Don Rowlands, Leadership and Governance

• Adrienne, Lady Stewart, Leadership and Governance

2014 Laureates inducted into the Hall of Fame

Over the course of the evening and in between three delicious courses at The Langham Auckland, these illustrious Laureates were inducted by Prime Minister John Key.

TV3’s Mike McRoberts and Fairfax Media’s Fiona Rotherham were the MCs and did a stellar job of interviewing the Laureates and their families. Each Laureate was formally introduced by their student escort who gave the audience a brief summary of their background and business-journey.

One of the highlights of the evening is always the closing speech from the Student Ambassador, this year Roncalli College’s Tom Anderson. Tom spoke about entering the business world after growing up in a small town:

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“Our school is fairly modest. We don’t have laptops for every student and state of the art equipment isn’t always available. Because of our size, many of our students are obliged to take correspondence or on-line courses. I am the only Year 13 studying Accounting this year, a subject that I am teaching to myself.

But none of that is a deterrent, because at Roncalli College we are taught not to make excuses. If we are underdogs in some way, shape or form, then we accept that challenge and never, ever give up. That’s an ethos that is well suited to

the business world.”

More than 130 laureates have been inducted since Young Enterprise Trust started the awards in 1994 and every year the accomplishments of these few men and women are staggering.

The event is a truly inspirational evening and serves to show, in particular to the students taking part in The Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme, what can be achieved with the qualities of imagination, drive and dedication: qualities which Young Enterprise Trust works tirelessly to help instil in its students. •

24 • www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz

Getting the Best from your Board

Determine the Purpose of your Business

1 ASSESS THE OPPORTUNITY FOR THE BUSINESS

Make an honest assessment of what is best (and hopefully unique) in your business; test the sustainable competitive advantage you have with trusted partners. Determine the size of the market and your optimal position within the value chain, and reflect on what further work will be required to break down the barriers that could impede success.

BUSINESS LESSONS

Determining the purpose of the

business and where specifically the

greatest value may be added is fundamental to achieving success.

Too often, insufficient time is dedicated to

this priority. Here are some steps that can

help business owners move forward to

get the appropriate support in place.

By Brian Steele

www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz • 25

2CONFIRM YOUR SKILLS AND AMBITION

Assess the existing team’s skills and ambitions in fulfilling the opportunity. What resources will be required to supplement the team? What may need to change, and are you prepared to change it? What risk-tolerance are you prepared to accept, and what level of direction will you willingly take on board?

3CALIBRATE APPROPRIATE PURPOSE

Reconcile your skills and ambition to the business opportunity. Focus on the area/s where independent advice will add the most value. If this is quite specific, ie entering a new market, it may suggest an advisory board. If capital is also needed to be raised this may recommend a full board. If earlier stage advice is helpful to just determine much of the above, a mentor may be appropriate.

TAKE AWAY POINTS

• Assess the greatest opportunities for the business

• Concentrate where those skills do not exist in the team

• Ensure you are open to advice

• Select the most appropriate structure to receive the advice

This is the first article in a three part NZ Entrepreneur series by Brian Steele. Over the next two editions we’ll also be giving you tips for selection of the most appropriate Candidate/s, and drafting a workable Board agreement.•

Brian Steele is the Executive Director of Shoreline Partners Limited. He is an experienced SME mentor, advisory board member and director. Contact Brian by visiting www.shorelinepartners.co.nz

What we’re trying to create at Collect is a team of startup people that are high capacity, versatile achievers who work well together.

26 • www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz

BRIEFLY TELL US ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS. HOW DID YOU FIRST COME UP WITH THE IDEA? Jamie is Storypark’s Product Manager and Founder. His Mum Lynda owns and runs an early learning centre in Gore. She wanted to involve parents and families more actively in their children’s learning, so asked Jamie to make her a website. What started as

a simple way of sharing the learning outcomes from a child’s day has grown into Storypark.

Now, over 24,000 people in 84 countries use Storypark: to improve children’s learning, observe progression, be more involved, responsive, and include family members in private online communities around a child.

TAKING THE PLUNGE

You’ll never create a successful business unless you get out there and give it a go. Each month we talk to inspiring entrepreneurs who have done just that.

Jamie MacDonald & Peter Dixon

www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz • 27

Storypark is helping teachers throughout New Zealand and internationally to strengthen their planning, streamline reporting and documentation, save time, and save money.

We’ve grown with the support of a wise group of educators (which include our Mums), our customers, and our friends at the NZ Childcare Association and NZ Kindergartens Inc.

WHAT IS THE BIG GOAL FOR YOUR BUSINESS? We aim to ensure children all over the world have the opportunity to fulfil their unique potential by connecting and empowering the communities around them

Jamie MacDonald & Peter Dixon

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO TAKE THE PLUNGE? The main inspiration came from seeing the impact that the initial Beta version made at Jamie's Mum’s centre. Also, the skills and ideas of a smart group of people and the support from our families have really helped us.

WHAT HAVE YOU FOUND TO BE THE MOST CHALLENGING ASPECT OF BUILDING YOUR BUSINESS SO FAR? The seed capital phase was tricky: figuring out how much to ask for, our valuation and business plan, in the midst of delivery, sales, and the twists and turns of life.

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To find out more visit www.storypark.com

If you’d like to feature your story and business idea in this e-magazine, contact the editor at nick@nzentrepreneur.co.nz

WHAT KEEPS YOU GOING WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE GIVING UP? We’ve got an awesome team who support each other well. Plus, we often get comments like this one from a teacher:

“Before we started using Storypark, we struggled to share with and engage some families in their children’s learning. We have a family at our kindergarten with two children who both have significant learning delays.

Dad speaks English, however works full time and is not often able to drop off or pick up the children. Mum spends a lot of time at kindergarten; however, her English is very limited which made communicating with her very difficult.

With both children needing significant support to overcome their delays, and

several outside agencies involved in supporting their development, communicating with the parents has been an extremely important (but at times difficult) aspect of our work.

Storypark has enabled us to work more effectively with this family, and gain better outcomes for both of the children. It really has made such a difference in what we are able to achieve for them.”

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO ANY PEOPLE READING THIS WHO ARE THINKING OF STARTING A BUSINESS? Do your homework. Test the market. Make sure your business plan is viable. Test it again, and then stay focused on why you’re in business. What difference are you here to make? •

www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz • 29

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant.”

PARTING SHOT

Robert Louis Stevenson