Thursday, 31 January 2008

Tauranga Landing


Today's forecast: 28C and a BBQ

Jacqui and I have finally arrived back in Tauranga. It feels good to be back.

Being away for seven weeks is the longest offshore market visit since we first arrived in NZ in 2003. And after seven weeks, a lot has happened. The heat has decimated the garden, an algae in the pond has killed the three resident fish and the post box is bursting. So plenty to keep us busy over the next few days.

On the work-front, it is also a marginally hectic period ahead. I have drawn up the list of meetings required and it looks like most major centres over North Island will be visited in the next two weeks. After the UK visit though, one thing has changed. There is going to be significantly more direct engagement with partners in the UK. These 'partners' cover the whole gamut of Pingar's UK presence: Management, platform development, marketing, sales and finance. Syncing and coordinating activities in the UK, Bangalore and NZ has never been more important. A busy schedule ahead then. And a trip to the pet shop to replace those deceased fish.

Tuesday, 29 January 2008

Sleepless in LA


Yesterday was a long day.

It began with the 3.00am alarm call in Kimpton, Hertfordshire. It ended 28 hours later when the lights went out in Los Angeles. I could not sleep.

Partly jet lag (8 timezones in one go is definitely beginning to get too much) and still on a reasonable high following the UK trip, my mind was focused on what had to be done in New Zealand over the next couple of weeks.

And it is to NZ, that Jacqui and I leave for today. Another 12 hour flight and another 4 timezones, plus the Dateline to cross. It all means we depart the USA on Monday evening and arrive NZ on Wednesday morning. So what happened to Tuesday? And who said flying was fun?

Saturday, 26 January 2008

LAX in View


Because of the delayed return to New Zealand, Jacqui and I had to re-organise our return dates. Despite the best endeavours of our excellent Tauranga-based travel agent, we were unable to return via our preferred Hong Kong route. There are simply no seats available on the HK – Auckland leg.

That is actually quite scary. It was a similar story on the Singapore – Auckland and KL – Auckland routes. Apparently, it is down partly due to the influx of Asian students returning to NZ for the start of the new academic year. Good news of course for the airlines, but for business, New Zealand is actually cut off at the knees. Business people simply cannot find easy flights home at this time of the year.

So LAX it is. With Iris checks, finger dabs and a welcome from Mickey Mouse.

Final UK Visit Review


I had a number of milestones set when I arrived in London 6 weeks ago. Yes, it was that long ago!

I leave happy that most have been met. A number of significant initiatives have been ignited which will move the Pingar commercialisation process to a new level. Over the next few weeks, I guess these will become more evident and more public.

It was Rod Drury who said in a recent blog that for NZ ICT businesses to engage globally, it was necessary to spend time in your target offshore markets. Absolutely true.

So I look forward to returning to the UK to close down some of those initiatives in the relatively near future. More about that when I can.

Thursday, 24 January 2008

Cambridge Visit


I had the chance to visit Cambridge again yesterday. Meeting with Jan Andrews at East of England International provided more insight to the type of support Pingar can expect both from the region and the organisation.

If you are looking to locate outside London, you should visit the East of England site here.

Monday, 21 January 2008

NDA Galore


Is that Steve?

There is soooooo much I want to say after last week's meetings, but I am so NDA'd, I would have to shoot myself if I did.

We are now at the 'business end' of this UK visit. I say 'this', because I can already sense a return visit happening anytime soon. That is the way my meetings in London are turning out.

I guess it is all about 'opportunity'. I have discussed this before in previous postings, but there are opportunities I can identify here that do not exist in New Zealand. It is both a number's game and a legacy one. There is a scale here that would simply not justify similar investment in time, resource and cost back home.

I had hoped to catch up with a number of in-bound NZ companies this coming week. Unfortunately however, the planned UK Market Visit for the $NZ6 Million Investment Challenge, organised by UK Trade & Invest and Unlimited Magazine was cancelled earlier last week.

No matter. This is the last week of this trip. A number of significant meetings are scheduled which will really determine where Pingar is headed over the next few months. Behind all this, Jacqui and I still need to firm up our route back home. Hong Kong or LAX? That is the question.

Friday, 18 January 2008

FAST + Microsoft = Yelp


I have just checked my own postings and cannot believe that I have not blogged about Microsoft's offer for FAST Search last week. It must be the cold.

For me, this has been a marriage waiting to happen. I know both companies pretty well and the synergies they offer each other are pretty clear. It is the implementation of the core technologies though that will really stir the enterprise market.

Right now, Microsoft's enterprise app of the moment is SharePoint Server. Licenses are flying out of the window by all accounts and it is establishing itself as a key enterprise platform. The integration of the FAST enterprise search platform into Sharepoint Server (if this is indeed what happens) will make Sharepoint Server, the killer enterprise app.

Microsoft's $US 1 billion+ offer is now going through a due diligence process and is not expected to be concluded until the second quarter 2008. Watch this space and see this acquisition shine. It really is that big.

Costa Wireless


I like coffee. But not this much....

Finding free wi-fi access in London has been a challenge. BT OpenWorld, The Cloud and T-Mobile seem to have tied up most of the major hotels and railway stations. And so charge. And Mayor Ken has not yet splashed out on a City-wide public wi-fi access network.

So I have had to take refuge is a select number of Costa Coffee joints around the City. Starbucks in London seem to be pretty much tied up with T-Mobile. Access costs 5 GBP (approx $NZ14 per hour or part thereof). Plus of course the coffee. Some branches of McDonald's seem to have signed up with The Cloud providing free access. The thought of a discarded Big Mac (2 for 1 at present!) finding its way into my keyboard is just too much however. So Costa it has been.

Great coffee and free wi-fi access at selected branches. Definitely worth visiting when you are in London. Just go easy on the lattes though.

Thursday, 17 January 2008

NZTE UK Beachhead - The Postscript


View of London from NZ House

On Tuesday, I presented Pingar to the NZTE Beachhead UK Advisory Board at NZ House, as planned. The presentation went well - I think - and the good news is that I am meeting up with individual Board members to discuss the opportunity before I leave these shores.

Note to Self: Speak to Lionel about the formal Beachheads Application Form!

It was good to meet Stuart Wilson of Modica who are based in Auckland. Modica Group's convergent media activities cover creative advertising, web development, mobile application development, mobile content, as well as a range of infrastructure services from ISP services and hosting, to mobile application hosting and gateway provisioning. Like me, Stuart was in the UK to look at opportunities for his business. The UK Beachhead Advisory Board is a great place to start. And a great way for NZ businesses to meet and share their experiences of this major offshore market.

Introduction to UK Banks


I received notification yesterday that Pingar had finally opened a corporate bank account in the UK. One milestone signed off then.

Opening a corporate bank account in the UK for an in-bound NZ business is not as simple as it sounds. Think LAX Transit Lounge, Think UK Banking: If you know what I mean.

Anti money laundering legislation means that banks here now impose significant stakeholder checks at the time of opening an account. If your NZ business has a Trust as a shareholder, be prepared to forward Trust documentation as well as details of trustees, beneficiaries etc. Whilst trusts are a common business vehicle in New Zealand, they appear to set off alarm bells in the UK.

Banking practice also differs in a number of other areas. Only this week, a major test case opens in the High Court in which The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is challenging seven leading retail banks and the Nationwide building society. The outcome could bring a fundamental change to UK High Street banking.

My advice to any NZ business looking to set up a base in the UK is to try and set up your UK account whilst in NZ. UK Trade & Investment in NZ should be able to help. It is unlikely that you will complete the process in a one or a two week market visit to the UK.

For Pingar, it is therefore hats off to NatWest, part of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group. It will be good to do business with you.

Monday, 14 January 2008

UK Week 5 - Preview


The Russians are coming.....

Jacqui and I prepared for the week ahead by travelling into Central London yesterday. In Trafalgar Square, thousands were celebrating the Russia Winter Festival. After a week in London, it all makes sense really.

This next week though IS an important few days. Apart from the upcoming presentation to the NZTE UK Beachhead Advisory Board on Tuesday, we have meetings with Microsoft UK and others best left un-named at present. It is one of those weeks.

It is a little obvious to say, but for many people in New Zealand, this is the first day back at work after the Christmas - New Year break. I guess that the Business Breakfast team at TVNZ are still…. well, still having breakfast. But for the rest of New Zealand, I hope the wheels of commerce have started turning once more by the time this blog is posted.

Direct engagement with NZ partners will be good. There is a lot to catch up on.

Saturday, 12 January 2008

Thinking Mobile



Yesterday, the week ended on a wireless note. I met up with my cousin Martin who is Head of Wireless Strategy at the Carphone Warehouse.

We had the type of conversation it is sometimes difficult to have in New Zealand. This is not down to the actual technology. It revolves more about the question of choice. In NZ, there are basically two large players: Telecom and Vodafone. The argument is that with a market of only 4+ million and a land mass slightly larger than the UK, the cost of building a third network would be too great. It is an argument I have had sympathy for. Until yesterday.

The Carphone Warehouse has built a mobile network across Greenland. Now Greenland is big...very big. And its population is measured in the hundreds of thousands, not the millions. It makes you think.

Friday, 11 January 2008

NZTE UK Beachhead Presentation


New Zealand House, Haymarket, London

One of the highlights of this UK visit will be the opportunity to formally introduce the Pingar platform to the NZTE UK Beachhead Advisory Board.

New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE)’s Beachheads Programme gives high-growth-potential companies faster access to better international networks.

The programme is designed around a unique partnership between NZTE and successful executives who are willing to share their experience, skills and business networks to help New Zealand businesses accelerate their market entry and growth in key export markets.

Over the past 12 months, I have conducted market visits to the UK, the USA, the UAE, Singapore and Hong Kong. I have blogged many times before about the support I have received from NZTE during these visits. This upcoming presentation though provides me with my first direct access to a Beachhead Advisory Board. For Pingar, the timing could not be better.

Innovation Centre in Tauranga?


A short stroll from the Strand

So the news that a new Innovation Park might be built as part of a redevelopment of the Sulphur Point site in Tauranga has finally become public.

The Bay of Plenty Times reported a couple of days ago that draft plans were to be submitted as part of the consent process to the relevant authorities. This is great news.

For some time, Priority One has been working with the developers to scope out a high tech centre at this location. It will provide a base for local software companies and hopefully attract more similar businesses from outside the Bay. Tauranga needs high quality and well connected office accommodation to build its 'weightless' economy base. From London, the timing of this announcement could not have been better.

Thursday, 10 January 2008

Engaging with Microsoft UK


Engagement is not for Xmas...it is for life

A really interesting meeting with Microsoft UK this afternoon.

Let's be blunt. John Beer and myself have been around the block a few times when it comes to 'technology engagements'. And Microsoft has always been pretty much at the forefront of these. So trying to find out exactly where we fit in the suitor's pack has always been a bit of a challenge. We do not exactly fit the boxes that Bill built.

Being labelled as a Microsoft Partner is not the end game in itself. Engaging with Microsoft is. So working out a joint road map becomes more important. The problem is, the box might not fit. I think we cleared that up this afternoon.

So memo to self: Beware the boxes......

Working with UK Trade and Investment



Pingar is recognised by the UK T&I Global Entrepreneur Program as a 'Technology of Enormous Potential'.

I had a meeting with them this morning.

The Global Entrepreneur Programme (GEP) was set up in 2003 by UK Trade & Investment. Their aim is to create high profit sustainable global companies from pioneering start-ups, using the UK as a strategic base for international expansion. GEP is essentially a business accelerator. So the meeting this morning had important long-term objectives for Pingar.

Most start-ups - and Pingar is most certainly one - do not perhaps engage enough with government and non-private sector organisations. Perhaps it is the inherent distrust many entrepreneurs have for all things 'government'. I cannot however think of a more appropriate way for a start-up to engage - particularly when entering a new offshore market.

Most inward-investment organisations want their own investment to provide a decent ROI. Helping their clients to succeed is the best and most effective way of ensuring this.

Investment Options


This week began with a couple of important meetings. One was with a Corporate Finance house and the other was with a Bank. Welcome to 2008!

Both related to the establishment and development of Pingar in the UK market and both reflected some of the 'opportunities' I identified in the previous blog. The timing is interesting.

I was reading Rod Drury's excellent blog from New Zealand a couple of days ago and he has written a series of 3 - 4 articles on establishing a successful IT business in NZ. He has chosen to identify some of the key issues particularly impacting on the funding of the said businesses.

Heresy I know at home, but with 12,000 miles between us, I can say that I do not agree with every point made, but Rod's post on the 5th January does make one sobering point.

'You only need to look at the very few angel or venture capital deals done in New Zealand during 2007........'

Being exposed to the angel and venture capital industry here in only a few short weeks has emphasised Rod's point. Whilst I have slightly taken his quote out of context, the limited number of deals closed in New Zealand says as much about the state of the 'risk-adverse' NZ capital markets as it does by the paucity of great investment opportunities in the country. Taking a global view of opportunity, I do sometimes wonder whether some of the limited NZ investment sources really do 'get it'.

I'm Back! And I'm Staying!


Not for good of course.......

Ever since I arrived in London back in mid-December, opportunities for Pingar have become ever more apparent. I don't know whether it is the weather (short days), the time of the year (everyone just says 'yes') or Mystic Meg, but feedback has been nothing short of amazing. But then so has the hospitality, the reconnection of old networks and the gathering of not so old friends.

So to cut to the chase. Jacqui and I are extending our visit to the UK for at least another two weeks. This is to enable us to take advantage of the opportunities we have discovered and to explore their long-term potential. More about that in upcoming blogs.