Company achieves global goals from Nelson
A startup company based in Nelson is proving that rubbing shoulders with Facebook and BMW can be done from anywhere in the world.
Shuttlerock was formed seven years ago from offices in Christchurch and Rangiora, before founder and CEO Jonny Hendriksen moved to Nelson with his family a few years ago for the lifestyle.
Hendriksen said that in this day and age, there was no reason why a company couldn’t operate from a small location ‘‘then take that global’’.
‘‘In theory, with all the amazing network tools, software and video conferencing . . . why isn’t everyone doing it?’’ he said.
Shuttlerock helps brands and agencies build advertising creative for mobile, and particularly for vertical video. It can take a still image and turn it into a 15-second video, creating different formats, in different languages, for platforms including Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
The Nelson office, operating from the Nelson Evening Mail building on Bridge St, has nearly 30 staff. Other offices are in the United States, Tokyo, Singapore and Berlin, with one opening in Paris next month.
Hendriksen said there were ‘‘1000 different reasons’’ why having Shuttlerock based in Nelson made ‘‘a huge amount of sense’’.
‘‘The younger generation, for them to live in a central city is going to cost them a lot of money, so they’re going to have to be outside of the city, which means your commute every day is one to two hours.’’ This already diminished any innovation, because employees were tired when they got to the office.
‘‘There’s not a huge amount of advantages having a startup in a large city.’’ There would be a bigger talent pool in main centres, he said, ‘‘but why wouldn’t you want to live in Nelson?’’
The Nelson staff includes people who have relocated from Auckland, NMIT graduates, and someone who came all the way from London.
‘‘We’ve got young staff from Victoria University – within a couple of years, one of them has bought a house in Richmond. Try to do that in Auckland,’’ Hendriksen said.
Overseas markets make up 98 per cent of Shuttlerock’s revenue, despite the company being a world away from its clients.
Hendriksen said customers didn’t expect face-to-face contact any more. It was less common in the business world ‘‘to go and actually meet someone’’.
That doesn’t mean he and his team are rooted to the sunshine capital. He was at Facebook’s headquarters in California earlier this month, and described the biggest single building on the planet as ‘‘amazing’’.
Always having high aspirations to be a global company, he said, ‘‘it just goes to show, it can be done’’.
‘‘Kiwis have always been amazing at creativity. What makes a good New Zealand company is you’re forced to think global from day one.’’