Wellington, is perfectly placed as the Startup Capital of New Zealand, thanks to its scale, culture, peop

1. Wellington:
New Zealand’s
Startup Capital
Dave Moskovitz
@davemosk
Startup NZ
April 2014
Flickr: filssphil

2. About Me
Founded first company age 18
Wellingtonian since 1982
Hacker, lexicographer by trade
Professional director and investor
“Godfather of Wellington startups”

3. Why Wellington?
Scale
Social
Smart / Creative
Startups
Culture
Coffee1.5 km
(20 min)

4. Why Wellington?
“Wellington weather still best in
class if you like working and being
inside.”
@samfromwgtn 8 Aug 2012
DomPost

5. Rich Ecosystem
Organisms, environment interacting
Chaotic and dynamic
Increasingly antifragile
Players in it for the long haul
 Accelerators and incubators
 Investors
 Support organisations
 Tertriary institutions
 “Big” Tech
 Events
WikiMedia

6. Accelerators, Incubators
Lightning Lab
CreativeHQ
Enspiral
Hikurangi
… more coming …
Stuff

7. Investors
AngelHQ
MOVAC
Kiwi Connect
Pledgeme Crowdfunding
Independent HNWs
Pearse Trust

8. Support Organisations
Summer of Tech
BizDojo
Chiasma
Viclink
Free Range Farm
Wellington City Council
Grow Wellington
Jonnyopinion.wordpress.com

9. Tertiary institutions
Victoria University
Massey University
Open Polytechnic
WelTec
UCOL
Whitireia Polytechnic
Te Wananga o Aotearoa
Youbee School of Design
… and scores of PTE’s …
fastcompany

10. “Big” Tech
Xero
TradeMe
Weta
Pikpok
IT Services companies
Financial institutions, Goverment
BTW Have you heard of:
 Partstrader, Starnow,
iWantMyName, CricHQ ?
Flickr: 19787482@N04

11. Events
Startup Weekends
Meetups
Startup Sessions
Webstock
AnimFX
EdTech4Export
Festival of the future
Innovation Week (2015)
Wellington.startupweekend.org

13. Trends: Gov’t “gets” it
Innovation support is excellent
 NZVIF, Callaghan, NZTE
Customer centricity
 MBIE, IRD, DIA, ACC
Everything is Open
 Open Data, Open Access
Only in NZ!
3news

14. Trends: Recycling
Talent
Capital
Ideas
Expertise
Cio.co.nz

15. Trends: Attraction
The brain gain
Incoming capital
The flight of head offices
Network effects
We’re reaching critical mass
Google Earth

16. Trends: More, Better
More experienced people
Investment: quantum, valuation
Hyperlocal collaboration
Civic transformation
Time.com

17. The Future Is Awesome
We’ve put in the hard yards
We’re smarter than we used to be
We’re connected to the world
Economic tailwind
NZ is hot, and Wellington is the
“coolest little capital in the world”
He tangata, he tangata, he tangata
Flickr: dailycuntpunch (with apologies)