Xero boss keen on Kiwi firms’ cool stuff
A group of entrepreneurs are putting their heads together to create a forum and voice for New Zealand company founders.
Next month Xero founder Rod Drury will host the FounderCon NZ conference in Wellington, where busy founders will take time out to share ideas, network and voice issues.
Drury is working with MarieClaire Andrews from ShowGizmo and technology lawyer Andrew Simmonds. He said a lot of organisations were operating in the collaboration space but no dedicated forum existed for New Zealand’s business founders.
‘‘Our businesses are all growing so quickly and we are learning so much, so it is a good opportunity to share that experience and network. Sharing that experience is incredibly high value.’’
The forum will be an opportunity for founders to talk about how they deal with bigger issues such as funding, investors and employing talent, he said.
‘‘At Xero, we are learning a lot of lessons about keeping the startup culture as we scale.’’
Drury hoped insights gained at FounderCon NZ and connections with government and investors would allow businesses to create more jobs and get more capital.
‘‘It’s all about working together and making sure we have a healthy ecosystem and we are creating great opportunities.’’
Drury is also interested in seeing what ‘‘cool stuff’’ other businesses are up to.
Founders had to work together to ensure they were presenting New Zealand as a great place to bring talent, he said.
‘‘I don’t like doing events unless there is a clear outcome. I’d like to see a lot more co-ordination of presenting New Zealand as an employment brand. Our number one issue is working together to create that employment brand.’’
To build world-class businesses of scale on a global platform, businesses needed to attract Kiwis returning from from the United Kingdom and Australia, as well as new people, he said.
The first FounderCon NZ will be a mini event on November 23 to find out the top 10 issues facing founders, hear from keynote speakers and leave attendees inspired, Simmonds said.
The organisers will then build up to FounderCon 2017 – a full conference with supporting workshops to be held in Wellington.