NZ software companies should start in the US
There are a lot of great things about NZ; our relatively small population is one of them. But if we want to be a major player in the global software industry, we need to be where the people are: the US. That's according to Nick Lissette, founder and chief executive of NZX-listed Blackpearl Group, …
Media isn't dying, it's catching up / Apple AI is here(ish)
News of the news media has been pretty grim throughout 2024, with cutbacks and closures dominating the headlines. To many, this is a sign that the writing is on the wall for an industry that's been struggling since the heady paper-based days of the 1990s. But Xavier English says those people are …
Stories of NZ's tech excellence and science hopes
As budget anxiety spreads across the nation, we're spending this week looking back at the good news in the tech industry in the last couple of weeks. We're joined by David Downs - NZ's own tech industry cheerleader, relentless optimist and genetically modified organism - to discuss the NZ Hi-Tech …
MFAT bungles IT project / Building NZ's digital twin
The ministry of foreign affairs and trade (Mfat) mishandled millions of dollars in an attempt to shift its IT systems to the cloud and roll out Microsoft Office. BusinessDesk's Dileepa Fonseka, who broke the story, walks us through what he learned in his reporting. Then, there's huge potential fo…
2degrees' CEO Mark Callander on keeping telco competitive - sponsored episode
Mark Callander, CEO of our flagship sponsor 2degrees and Kiwi telco stalwart, joins us to talk all things telco. He shares where 2degrees is up to in the Great Brand Merge, rolling out satellite to mobile connectivity, integrating AI into its business, challenging the electricity market, and more.…
Irish lessons - tech's place in NZ's economic future
After spending time in Ireland, Simon Walker was amazed at how Ireland, especially Dublin, had pulled itself out of the doldrums of the 80s to become a world-class tech hub. The CEO and founder of tech-focused marketing company Proposition brought those thoughts back to Aotearoa with him and, alth…
Women are (still!) missing out on senior tech roles
While the number of women in tech is increasing, senior technical roles are still too often locked away behind a glass ceiling. On her way to becoming a senior platform engineer, Meena Satishkumar faced an array of challenges that almost drove her off the path she wanted to follow. In response, s…
The vision behind Callaghan Innovation's reset
What is the purpose of the Callaghan Innovation? In the wake of the mandate to reduce headcount by about 7%, this was the question that Stefan Korn had to answer. To answer it, he returned to the organisation's founding documents, looked at similar organisations overseas, and considered the unique…
The art of startup valuation and equity allocation
Aotearoa New Zealand's startup and VC scene has a bit of a problem with some investors taking too much equity for their money, leaving founders with little incentive to put in the effort it takes to grow their businesses. On top of that, using equity to attract talent is near-impossible when it j…
The future of computers, Apple's Vision Pro and Beyond
Apple’s efforts to redefine the world of augmented reality with its Vision Pro have been slowly creeping across the globe. In February, the device landed in the hands of the developers at Kiwi virtual reality games studio Beyond who developed Runaways, one of the first ever games for the ‘spatial …