I retired from personal blogging in July 2008.
But you can find me over at http://blog.xero.com.
Another good night at Hi-Tech Awards last night. Thanks PWC for your ongoing support. Great to catch up with so many friends and colleagues.
Endace were the worthy winners of the premier award. What they have been achieving around the world over the last year is fantastic. New Zealand hero’s. Endace listed on the AIM a couple of years ago so are a few years ahead of us but give us some great experiences to follow.
Endace-d it with NZ Hi Tech award win
Great to see Caroline from Fronde recognized for their mobile banking security product. She has been working in that space for many years and it’s now really paying off.
The Energy Mad guys were great. We’ll watch them with interest.
Our team at Xero had a good night. Craig won the Young Achiever and Kate picked up the PR and Marketing gong for the work in our IPO. I’ve been working with Craig for many years and he is one of the hardest working and tech smart guys around. He can get in front of customers too so will be a tech player in the years to come. I’m really proud of Kate winning the PR prize as well. She has a big part in balancing getting enough buzz to get the IPO across the line without over hyping us which was a real risk. We set that award as a goal after last years ceremony so I was rapt we achieved that.
I was stoked to jointly win the Entrepreneur award again this year. It’s a really useful thing to have when you’re selling overseas so I was keen to have it again. Darrin Grafton from Serko was the other joint winner. Those guys are a lot further along than us and earning lots of export revenue so I’m glad that he was recognized. The whole point of the awards is to encourage others so that was a good result.
Last years awards in Auckland were bigger. They normally are. But looking around the room I felt a bit disappointed by the lack of depth in the industry. While there are parts booming the IT sector doesn’t feel as vibrant as it did a few years ago. There are some notable exceptions but really there are few companies doing it. The global tech space is so exciting right now and I think we’re missing the opportunity.
There were whole sectors of the community not there last night. I saw some great stories and innovation at the Open Source awards a few weeks ago and many of those people weren’t there. Perhaps we need an OSS section next year.
It may also be there are just too many awards right now. There is talk of a bit more consolidation which I’ll be pushing for.
For early stage companies like ours awards are a big part of our early marketing strategy. They are great for brand awareness and validation for customers, partners and investors. So we should see more companies doing the small investment to get organized and entered.
But for our industry it is vital that we celebrate success and tell our stories so that we get more investment and have a bigger voice in setting policies like the treatment of R&D expenditure. I assume it’s Christchurch’s turn next year. All Tech companies should be thinking now about next years awards. Set yourself a goal now like we did last year. Which one do you really want to win?
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Well done guys…
Yes, well done guys! But Rod, what do you mean by “lack of depth in the industry”? Which bits were under represented? And any idea as to why? Whats changed in a few years?
Well done again Rod for achieving what others only dream of, you’re an inspiration and an Icon to the ICT industry.
Exciting to stand with you at the Hi-Tech awards.
Well done Rod and to your team at Xero, for a very successful awards night.
Congratulations Rod, yet again - and to your team also…