When it comes to scaling high‑growth tech companies, AJ Tills has been in the engine room. 

As one of Uber’s earliest hires in New Zealand, he helped the ride‑hailing giant push through regulatory resistance and turn the controversial startup into a default verb for getting around town, briefly serving as Uber’s US and Canada marketing chief of staff in New York. 

Later, as chief marketing officer at Jamie Beaton’s startup Crimson Education, he helped the Kiwi‑founded edtech unicorn build a virtual high school and launchpad for students seeking entrance to top universities. He then went on to lead international growth for the world’s largest online wedding marketplace, The Knot Worldwide, spanning over a dozen countries

Now Tills is back in New Zealand and backing a very different kind of disruption – this time in the unsexy but critical world of data storage.

On the latest episode of The Business of Tech podcast, Tills tells me about his new role leading the customer push at Exaba. This Hamilton‑based startup wants to change how enterprises store and protect their data. Exaba has raised almost $12 million in seeding funding – one of the largest in New Zealand – to deepen its local footprint and expand into Australia and the US.

Rising from the ashes of Nyriad

The company was founded by Dr. Stuart Inglis and Peter Boyle, former executives of Nyriad, which developed ultrafast, GPU-accelerated data storage technology, but was wound down in 2024 after failing to gain sufficient market traction. Tech entrepreneur Guy Haddleton, who had backed Nyriad, bought some of the company’s assets and doubled down on his support for Inglis and Boyle to create a company with a slightly different proposition.

Exaba aims to exploit the data centre boom and shifting sentiment towards the dominant hyperscale public cloud providers. For the past two decades, the default move has been to throw everything into the big public clouds, from AWS to Azure and Google Cloud. That brought convenience and scale, but it also introduced spiralling storage costs, punishing egress fees, and growing unease about data sovereignty and security.

Exaba is building a cheaper, local alternative. Its software runs on standard, commodity hardware and turns managed service providers into “local scalers” who can offer their own on‑premise or locally hosted storage to customers. The company claims it can be up to ten times cheaper than the hyperscalers for storage, with predictable pricing instead of nasty surprises when you try to get your data back out.

Tills, who joined Exaba six months ago and serves as its chief customer officer and US president, goes into why data residency and sovereignty are suddenly board‑level issues, and how Exaba is building post‑quantum‑secure storage for a world where attackers can “harvest now, decrypt later”. 

We also explore how Tills is applying Uber‑era playbooks to win over managed service providers in the US and future‑proof their business models in the age of AI.

Listen to the discussion in its entirety on iHeartRadio, Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. 

When it comes to scaling high‑growth tech companies, AJ Tills has been in the engine room.&nbsp;
As one of Uber&rsquo;s earliest hires in New Zealand, he helped the ride‑hailing giant push through regulatory resistance and turn the controversial startup into a default verb for getting around town, briefly serving as Uber&rsquo;s US and Canada marketing chief of staff in New York.&nbsp;
Later, as chief marketing officer at Jamie Beaton&rsquo;s startup Crimson Education, he helped the Kiwi‑founded edtech unicorn build a virtual high school and launchpad for students seeking entrance to top universities. He then went on to lead international growth for the world&rsquo;s largest online wedding marketplace, The Knot Worldwide, spanning over a dozen countries
Now Tills is back in New Zealand and backing a very different kind of disruption &ndash; this time in the unsexy but critical world of data storage.
On the latest episode of The Business of Tech podcast, Tills tells me about his new role leading the customer push at Exaba. This Hamilton‑based startup wants to change how enterprises store and protect their data. Exaba has raised almost $12 million in seeding funding &ndash; one of the largest in New Zealand &ndash; to deepen its local footprint and expand into Australia and the US.
Rising from the ashes of Nyriad
The company was founded by Dr. Stuart Inglis and Peter Boyle, former executives of Nyriad, which developed ultrafast, GPU-accelerated data storage technology, but was wound down in 2024 after failing to gain sufficient market traction. Tech entrepreneur Guy Haddleton, who had backed Nyriad, bought some of the company&rsquo;s assets and doubled down on his support for Inglis and Boyle to create a company with a slightly different proposition.
Exaba aims to exploit the data centre boom and shifting sentiment towards the dominant hyperscale public cloud providers. For the past two decades, the default move has been to throw everything into the big public clouds, from AWS to Azure and Google Cloud. That brought convenience and scale, but it also introduced spiralling storage costs, punishing egress fees, and growing unease about data sovereignty and security.
Exaba is building a cheaper, local alternative. Its software runs on standard, commodity hardware and turns managed service providers into &ldquo;local scalers&rdquo; who can offer their own on‑premise or locally hosted storage to customers. The company claims it can be up to ten times cheaper than the hyperscalers for storage, with predictable pricing instead of nasty surprises when you try to get your data back out.
Tills, who joined Exaba six months ago and serves as its chief customer officer and US president, goes into why data residency and sovereignty are suddenly board‑level issues, and how Exaba is building post‑quantum‑secure storage for a world where attackers can &ldquo;harvest now, decrypt later&rdquo;.&nbsp;
We also explore how Tills is applying Uber‑era playbooks to win over managed service providers in the US and future‑proof their business models in the age of AI.
Listen to the discussion in its entirety on iHeartRadio, Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.&nbsp;

The Business of Tech, hosted by leading tech journalist Peter Griffin. Every week they take a deep dive into emerging technology and news from the sector to help guide the important decisions all Business leaders make.

Issues such as cybersecurity, retaining trust after a cyberattack, business IT needs, purchasing SaaS tools and more.

New Episodes out every Thursday. Follow or subscribe to get it delivered straight to your favourite podcatcher.

@petergnz

@businessdesk_nz

Proudly sponsored by 2degrees Business!

 

The Business of Tech, hosted by leading tech journalist Peter Griffin. Every week they take a deep dive into emerging technology and news from the sector to help guide the important decisions all Business leaders make.
Issues such as cybersecurity, retaining trust after a cyberattack, business IT needs, purchasing SaaS tools and more.
New Episodes out every Thursday. Follow or subscribe to get it delivered straight to your favourite podcatcher.
@petergnz
@businessdesk_nz
Proudly sponsored by 2degrees Business!
&nbsp;

The Business of Tech

From Uber to Exaba: AJ Tills takes on Big Tech storage

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