When I was young I thought it was normal that my grandparents’ (Edna and Grev Wiggs) house looked like ours. They had a few interesting items scattered about, but otherwise all the equipment and so forth was up to date. As I grew older I increasingly understood that this was not normal. That Japanese doll-set …
Category Archives: NZ Business
The standard you walk past is the standard you accept
From Z Energy’s investment statement and prospectus: As part of Z’s commitment to the “Zero Harm Workplaces” programme I have pledged to take personal responsibility for health and safety as a vital part of my business. That’s Z Energy Chief Executive Mike Bennetts. This stuff really does start at the top, and from that statement …
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Building up Auckland
A few years ago Auckland City was, to me and many others, a completely unliveable place. However over the last few years a critical mass of development, helped by a critical mass of people living downtown, has transformed the place. It’s now a fantastic place to live, and so I do so. I walk everywhere, …
A new power company? No.
Out of the blue comes Budgie Power – a new power company with a clever “we’ll match the cheapest price in your region for a year” campaign. Shame about the ever-churning home page though. I wondered who this upstart was – so I clicked the “Meet Budgie” menu item, which really didn’t help: On the …
Trade Me’s $30 Billion classified businesses
Over at Fairfax columnist and mate Mod O’Donnell* writes that last year there were 782,000 changes of registration for cars, and that 58% were private to private sales. If you are going to buy a car privately these days, there is really only one place to shop: Trade Me Motors. (Please let me know if I am …
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Goodbye to the flower
A few years ago I met a bunch of revolutionaries who were working on a new way to sell power – a marketplace to sell electricity called Powershop. Ari and the team were about to launch their shop to the public, but I noted that they had no independent power retailer, and needed someone …
The end of TV as we know it – and good
Many of us are already there – living in a world without Sky TV or terrestrial broadcasts, as well as abandoning newspapers, books and magazines. My own setup is all- Apple, using iPads small and large to read books, an Apple TV to watch movies and programs and phones, computers and iPads to browse the …
Survival Rates are high – so why not start something?
We hear a lot of numbers about survival rates, so it’s gratifying to see some quality statistics from Statistics NZ, via this MBIE infographic. It measures 3 year survival rates, and to me three years is about the time it takes to figure out whether a business is going to enjoy sustainable growth or not. …
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On the growth curve – from Timely to Trade Me
Ryan Baker and Andrew Schofield have done it before, building BookIt and then selling it to Trade Me in 2010. It’s 2013, and the pair were still spending time at Trade Me up until a few months ago, but were also working on a new company – Timely. Timely is an online service for companies …
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Ten things we know, and we assume you know
I’m struck that there are some basic things that those of us from the Internet sector just take for granted, and yet sometimes appear to be new ideas to those used to other sectors. We learn these basics by being founders, being embedded in the start-up and growth ecosystem, taking part in events like Webstock …
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Standing again for InternetNZ Council
After much agonising I’ve decided to stand again for the InternetNZ council. It’s an important organisation, and we have seen excellent results over the last three years. While the demands on my time have sometimes been very high, the cause is worthy, and it has been rewarding to meet and work with a wide range …
The non-visible community
Today we saw an announcement that Optimizer HQ has raised $4 million from local and offshore investors. They are apparently considering an IPO, but needed cash to tide them over for the next few months. For me Optimizer HQ, who have 60 staff here and offshore, comes out of nowhere, from the non-aligned community or …
Favorite posts – reboot
I’ve just re-compiled the Posts I like page. That meant trawling through three years of posts. I’ve typically avoided highlighting the ones about businesses, but a few are in there. Three that were older favorites: Blame directors for failure, CEOs for success – because I really do believe this is the case. Xero’s second round – because …
Lingopal on iTunes
It always amazes me to see just how many apps that Lingopal has on iTunes. There is a similar number on the Android Play store. We launched a couple of apps recently (Maid and Handyman) and have more coming over the next few weeks and months.
Much ado about strawberry jam: End Users please Air New Zealand
I’ve written at LWCM about focussing on the end users, not the customers. While customers may be good for short term cash, lasting value comes from making end users happy through delivering to them valuable services and products. In turn, companies that create a culture of over-delivering to end user needs, who execute well, and …
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Lance Wiggs 