Sunday, 26 April 2009

Welcome to Grim

Actually, it's not grim at all. The daffodils are out and the weather is pleasant. And Blackpool FC secured a draw yesterday guaranteeing another year of Championship football.

The UK newspapers paint a different picture though. By the time I had finished reading the Saturday edition of the Daily Telegraph, I was ready to head back to Heathrow and fly back home. I will not be alone. According to today's Sunday Times, a number of leading business figures are planning to depart these shores.

The headlines say it all:

Blair's despair over 50% tax rate
Big Brother (the Government) will monitor every email, call and text
Middle-class jobless crisis grows
Darling forecast hammered by GDP fall
UK faces a decade of severe austerity


Welcome then to 'Grim'.

I have a heavy schedule of meetings across the UK over the next two weeks. Against this backdrop of economic 'doom & gloom', I have to find evidence of green shoots. Certainly, this is nothing like the more composed response to the global 'crisis' I have experienced in NZ, and more recently HK. It is going to be an interesting fortnight.

Friday, 24 April 2009

Hong Kong Science Parks, Shatun

I am spending today at the Hong Kong Science Parks in Shatun.

This is a cluster of 200 technology companies based in 20 state of the art buildings. A total of HK 12 billion (US$ 1.5 billion) has been allocated to the HKSP Project in 3 Phases. That's some Government investment.

The mix of on site services appear to be more extensive than I have experienced before. The availability of a number of Technology Support Laboratories would certainly help start up and early stage companies. A series of incubation programmes for technology and design start-ups exist. There are a range of funding packages available to incubatees. Oh, for some of this in Tauranga!

Tonight, it's back to Hong Kong International and a 13 hour flight to London. More time to reflect. What is clear from even such a short visit is the scale of potential.....and the dangers of risk. Finding the right partners and networks is key to launching successfully in North Asia.

I will be back.

Thursday, 23 April 2009

Landed in HK


I've just checked into the hotel. I would like to say that the image above was one I had just shot. Unfortunately, it is cloudy and drizzling outside so I can only just see across the street.

It is not the only issue I have just faced. When I went to Blogger, everything had defaulted to Chinese. It does mean though that I have definitely arrived. And the early hotel check in means I can prepare properly for the two meetings listed in the last blog.

12 hours on an Air New Zealand flight does give you time to think. I wrote down all the Hong Kong / Chinese connections I have and I was surprised. It almost makes a network. So added impetus for the two meetings today. And good preparation for the crispy duck tonight.....

Tuesday, 21 April 2009

Hong Kong Bound

This time tomorrow, I will be heading for Auckland to catch a flight to Hong Kong.

It's almost a year since I was last there and some serious catch-up time is necessary. I am meeting up with both NZTE and InvestHK on the ground.

The Chinese market is in some ways the most interesting, but challenging one that we face. To ensure we have an appropriate market entry strategy in place, it is important that Pingar commissions some locally-generated market research. That I hope is the key outcome from this trip.

I hope to post an update from Kowloon....Before catching the next leg of this offshore trip to Heathrow.

Friday, 17 April 2009

Xero to 1.38

It's been quite a few days for Wellington-based Xero.

A highly successful funding round, improving customer sign-ups and great PR. It also demonstrates that despite the times we are in, SaaS is perhaps finally being recognised for what it is - an amazing opportunity for NZ businesses to compete on equal terms globally.

There are several other great NZ start-ups engaged in this space. If government and investors are looking at one specific sector with potential, then this is surely it.

And the Winner was........

I can't actually say right now. I believe JML Communications will be press releasing that information later today.

What I can say is that the judging experience at the 2009 Technium Challenge demonstrated the depth of amazing technology and innovation that is coming out of New Zealand's brightest companies. There were six finalists. They represented different sectors, but the one thing they all had in common was an intense desire to grow - and global development was at the core of their strategy.

In my view, there were six winners on Wednesday. They did themselves and this country proud.

Tuesday, 14 April 2009

The Long Weekend

Jazz, wine, chocolate Easter eggs...... and GST returns.

It was a great break, of sorts. Today, it's back to work with a trip to Auckland, an audience at JML and then dinner with Gareth Davies of IBW.

And then tomorrow I am judging the New Zealand segment of the Technium Challenge International 2009. This is both an honour and apt.

Next week sees me heading off to Hong Kong (more about that trip later) and then onwards to the UK and Wales. A key focus of the UK / Wales visit is to manage Pingar's own presence at the Technium in Swansea. There is much to do and therefore tomorrow's judging will be a reminder of what Wales is all about.

Tuesday, 7 April 2009

No Twitter

The battle lines are drawn.

On one side is Twitter. On the other is 'my life'. In the never ending conflict between real and virtual worlds, I hope my real one comes out on top.

So I have resolved not to twitter. Ever.

There....I feel better already.

Monday, 6 April 2009

Daylight Saving

Well that's the end of summer then.

Daylight saving finished yesterday and we are now in what I guess is the non-daylight saving season. For most Kiwis it means lighter mornings and darker evenings. For me, it has a rather more significant meaning.

The time difference between the UK and NZ has now shrunk twice in two weeks. The thirteen hour time difference has become eleven. That impacts on the timing of conference calls. It means more early evening calls and fewer early morning ones. That's not great. I am an early morning person.

The same reasoning applies to HBI Software in Bangalore. Skype calls there will become late afternoon. That is good. Unlike the cricket. As I type this post, India have NZ on the ropes in the Wellington Test Match. It will take more than non-daylight saving to rescue the Black Caps.

Autumn in Tauranga (for that is the season) though is different from London. Today, I had lunch on the deck with the shades up. It is still that warm. In three weeks, I will be in the UK for the start of their Spring; with winter clothing at the ready.

Some things never change.

Friday, 3 April 2009

Google Settle

A interesting article in this morning's National Business Review.

Google has finalised an out-of-court $US125 million settlement with book publishers for scanning their titles without permission, and the NZ Copyright Council has begun taking local claims on the cash.

Copyright Licensing Ltd, the vehicle set up by the Book Publishers Association of NZ for dispersing copyright fees, has just opened its website for New Zealand publishers to make claims under a $US125 million worldwide settlement reached between publishers and Google.


An interesting glimpse into a key difference between the Google and the Pingar business models. Pingar will only search data which is owned by content owners who are contracted to Pingar. Period.

Quality data. Quality returns. And happy content owners....

Thursday, 2 April 2009

SharePoint Update

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a note about hoping to go to the 2009 Microsoft SharePoint Conference in Las Vegas in October.

Well, we've gone one better.

Pingar has taken a stand, so it's four days of leather wear (that's standing on my feet) at the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Convention Center. Before then, the challenge is working out all the issues relating to the stand equipment, collateral, presentation materials etc. And shipping it half way around the world. Lovely!

Closer to home, I have also registered for the two-day New Zealand Community SharePoint Conference 2009 in Wellington in July. It appears to have an excellent panel of speakers. It will be good to mix with some of NZ's leading SharePoint community members.

Before then, I am meeting up with some developers in Hong Kong who are working on part of our SharePoint solution. So right now, SharePoint is up there on my application roadmap. Together with Microsoft Server 2008,Visual Studio, .Net Framework..........

Wednesday, 1 April 2009

I'm Free!

And that's not an April Fool......

The financial year end has passed. Not only are we still here, but we are bursting with ideas and plans for 2009 - 2010. What recession?

It's time to dust off the passport again as I prepare to take in Hong Kong, the UK and Redmond, USA for 3 weeks later this month. I will blog daily (well, almost) as we start the commercialisation process and sign up key partners.

Today, really does mark a new beginning. The structure and product are in place. Time for the team to make good on the Pingar road map we have set.