If you missed her pitch on Tuesday see it HERE!

Thank you, Olivia, David, and KPMG for hosting our pitch nights, rain or shine!

Happy 10th aniversary, Island Aviation!

Thank you so much, Katheren and Debra, for checking this newsletter for appropriate language and grammar every Friday morning.

Tue 21 Nov 18:30 18 Viaduct Harbour Ave KPMG

2 new pitches, 1 company update, and, of course, the mistery wife and husband team will be revealed on Tuesday night.

Angels check you inbox next Monday to sit at the table!

Bootstrapping is a virtue that commands respect from angel investors. But it's not easy and GridAKL gives a little hand with this breakfast meetup. Give it a boot!

Next Week = Global Entrepreneurship Week! GridAKL is kicking off with a Grand Open Day, next Wednesday.Join us! Angels, Founders & Others!!!  More here!

Why cat herding? Angels are like cats, you can't tell them, have to find other ways.

PwC, AANZ and NZGCP have just published the Spring 2023 stats for the Kiwi startup investment scene. Not surprisingly, the Kiwi landscape looks much like the rest of the world, FLAT. Get it all!

49% funding went into Deep Tech. Is that NZGCP's Aspire distorting the market?

Shocking behaviour! Beware of who you invest in and thus become associated with! Founder Sam Joel resigns from GiveTree following sexist comments to women on LinkedIn. More like he was fired! 

Ever wondered if there is a connection between founder skills and cucumbers? Well there isn't! But this Endeavor research tells us more about where unicorn founders come from and this opinon draws some lessons for Kiwi founders.

Hear from expert panellists who will share their export stories, “warts and all”. Thursday 16 November 2023, 12:00-14:30, more here!

David knows a thing or two about growing a beard but this event is all about 'growing your cucumber' into offshore markets!

The Netflix Effect! Diversify! Adapt or Die! Keep innovating!!!

Sarah gave a passionate pitch to FKA in 2021. However, we declined to invest due to the cumulative capital requirement over time.

The writing was on the wall in May of this year. Then, in October the company is insolvent, the directors step down and leave the founder to carry the can at a very stressful time! Yeah, nah! Ben and Hadleigh.

This here is an interesting reflection on the David vs Goliath constellation in this case, and others in the tech startup world in NZ and globally.

Failure is tough, judging the reasons from the outside is easy. Strangely, when things go wrong most everyone likes to think they know why. But when we see great success we look to the founder for deep insights. Yet success in business is often an inexplicable combination of hard graft and fortuitous circumstances.

 "Hey at this other firm young people are going on boards, can I be on a board?, I say you haven’t earned the right...just because you got an MBA and joined a venture firm doesn’t mean you’re qualified to advise an entrepreneur.” More here!

Hear from expert panellists who will share their export stories, “warts and all”. Thursday 16 November 2023, 12:00-14:30, more here!

NZ winemaker Invivio partnered with Graham Norton and Sarah Jessica Parker to sell wine and is now raising on Snowball. A little more here.

The old adage SEX SELLS still holds!

Reader Recommendation: Listen to this podcast! All about zero-dollar-marketing and leveraging network effects. Thanks Steve Hockey.

Having launched multiple businesses throughout my 19 year journey so far, I would say... read on!