NZ Entrepreneur - Issue 33

NEW ZEALAND’S E-MAG FOR ENTREPRENEURS AND BUSINESS OWNERS

August 2015

10

QUESTIONS with Guy Ryan

2015 Young New Zealander of the Year & Founder of Inspiring Stories

Business Legends Inducted into Hall of Fame 2015 Winners of Young Innovator Awards 2015 7 Steps for Entrepreneurs on How to Move from ‘Not Failing’ to Succeeding www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz

ABOUT / Short and sharp, New Zealand Entrepreneur is a free e-magazine delivering thought

CONTENTS

provoking and enlightening articles, industry news and information to forward-thinking entrepreneurs.

EDITOR / Jennifer Liew ART DIRECTOR / Jodi Olsson GROUP EDITOR / Colin Kennedy

4

From the Editor

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER /

6

‘Not failing’ and Succeeding are Not the Same Things

CONTENT ENQUIRIES /

10 10 Questions with Guy Ryan 18

It’s Not About You! Common Content Mistakes

24

Never Trust a Silent Customer

30

Entrepreneurial Intelligence

Alastair Noble

Phone Jennifer on 0274 398 100 or email jennifer@nzentrepreneur.co.nz ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES / Phone Jennifer on 0274 398 100 or email jenniferl@espiremedia.com WEBSITE / nzentrepreneur.co.nz

32 Equity Crowdfunding An Evolving Market 44

Young Innovator Awards 2015 Winners

ISSN 2253-5683 NZ Entrepreneur is a GREEN MAG created and distributed without the use of paper so it’s environmentally friendly.

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2 • www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz

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www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz • 3

EDITORIAL

THIS ISSUE IS a real celebration of entrepreneurship and the innovation of our youth. It’s such a pleasure to see so much encouragement and growing support here in New Zealand of entrepreneurship and seeing it fostered at such a young age by the likes of organisations such as Young Enterprise Trust, Young Innovators Awards and Guy Ryan’s Inspiring Stories, Guy’s story is an inspiration itself. What we do need

4 • www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz

though is for more corporate organisations and investors to provide more by way of sponsorship and funding to help these organisations continue to do the amazing work they do.

For those of you out there considering supporting these organisations please do, investing in young entrepreneurs is a sure way to better New Zealand’s economy and our future as a whole.

Jennifer Liew

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ENTREPRENEURSHIP

‘Not failing’ and Succeeding are Not the Same Things

Who wants to work 24/7 for themselves for less than they’d earn in a job forever? Sandy Geyer shares some home truths and 7 steps on how to move from ‘not failing’ to succeeding as an entrepreneur.

6 • www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz

“

But being in a position where we are working 24/7 for very often less than we would earn working for someone else while carrying all the responsibility is not an entrepreneurial success at all.

“

I TALK TO MANY entrepreneurs, across many industries, genders and cultures and there is a common ‘type’ of entrepreneur that I see most often. This is the entrepreneur who has ‘not failed’. Roughly translated that means he or she has a business that on the surface appears to function adequately, but finances are tight, time is stretched and stress levels are extreme. Does this sound familiar? If so, don’t feel alone as over 80% of business owners, worldwide, find themselves in this space.

Despite the obvious struggles within such a space, these business owners comfort themselves with the fact that they have not failed.

Being in a position where we are working 24/7 for very often less than we would earn working for someone else while carrying all the responsibility is not an entrepreneurial success at all.

Succeeding means we:

• Lead our business to the stage where we can place qualified people in behind us and give them the space to prove and earn their value

• Have sufficient income from a primary business to fund additional ventures that allow us to multiply our income streams, invest and grow our expertise and experience • Declare the same profit daily whether we are present in the office or not • Are intimately in touch with every influence on our bottom line at all times through open and accurate information systems

www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz • 7

In his new book, Amplifiers (which I highly recommend to all business leaders) Matt Church points out that it is sequence that is critical in leadership.

He suggests that leadership innovations are often deployed out of sequence and suggests the following for effective leadership: 1. Believe that great things are going to happen 2. Get the group productive 3. Focus on team engagement

1 2

Sandy Geyer is an entrepreneur and mentor and teaches the principles of entrepreneurial intelligence (EnQ), to entrepreneurs in New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. You can visit Sandy’s website at www.enqpractice.com

8 • www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz

Get clear on our purpose – why are we doing this?

3

Understand our value to the organisation that we are building and leverage that value through stakeholders and systems.

4

Fill the gap between what we can offer and what the organisation needs that we can’t or don’t want to offer, through stakeholders and systems.

5

Drive the sales function of the business personally. Please do not rely on or hide behind marketing and social media initiatives. These are best in support and not as the drivers to effectively communicating our value and relevance to our market.

6

Set up a system that renders us the closest that we can be to proactive, which is ‘instantly reactive’. Reading this system accurately tells us what (and who) is working and what isn’t.

4. Obsess about innovation As the building process relies heavily on the direction we provide as the entrepreneur, I think we need to give some thought to getting the sequence right too. Borrowing from Matt’s thinking about sequencing, I would suggest the following for effective entrepreneurial leadership:

Believe that great things can happen.

7

Place qualified and trusted people in behind us to do the tasks so we can clear our head space for innovation, diversification or additional business initiatives.

The sequence of these seven steps matters to those wanting to move from ‘not failing’ to succeeding. ■

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THE-ENTOURAGE.COM.AU/NZENTREPRENEUR www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz • 9

INTERVIEW

10

QUESTIONS with Guy Ryan 10 • www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz

Festival for the Future attendees.

Guy founded Inspiring Stories in 2011 with the vision to see every young New Zealander unleash their potential to change the world. Everything he’s done since has been with a view to making that vision increasingly more real and more possible...

Tell us more about Inspiring Stories. How did you get started and why?

At university, I started learning about the converging crises that our generation faces – social, environmental, economic. We’ve been dealt a rough hand, and I wanted to do something to change that, and to help others change it.

I founded Inspiring Stories as a registered charity in 2011, and since then we’ve worked with 5,000 young New Zealanders.

What or who inspired your vision to see every young New Zealander unleash their potential to change the world?

There’s a beautiful quote from the founder of Ashoka, Bill Drayton, that says something like, “The single most important thing we can do right now is increase the proportion of people who know that they can create change.” Change is inevitable; the only constant in our world.

New Zealand is an incredible country, and pushing boundaries is in our DNA. I believe we have a unique opportunity to grow an entire generation who have the capability, confidence and support to change our world for the better. Imagine!

www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz • 11

Festival for the Future scholarship recipients

Guy speaking at CEO Summit 2015 with one of our alumni Bonnie Howland

You were recently invited to attend the Social Enterprise World Forum in Milan as a guest speaker; what was the number one takeaway for you from the experience?

Guy speaking at SEWF - Professor Muhammad Yunus far left

Could you give us your take on what Social Entrepreneurship is all about and why it’s so important for our future?

At the end of the day, all entrepreneurship is about the ability to put ideas into action.

How we choose to spend our time and energy is important, especially in the context of the issues the planet faces.

We need to be growing ideas that make a tangible difference and create better outcomes for society and the environment. Our future depends on it.

12 • www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz

One thing that struck me was the extent to which social enterprise has been developed and nurtured in many countries as an important way of both contributing to the economy and solving problems.

I’m worried New Zealand’s behind the eight ball on that.

In Taiwan, Russia, the UK, it’s seen as a priority; social enterprise provides jobs and contributes to GDP as well as having a social impact.

I came home really galvanised to push for recognition and backing of social entrepreneurship in New Zealand.

Guy teaches participants about social enterprise at Live the Dream

Inspiring Stories provides some ways our youth can get involved and get the support they need to help them on their journey, can you share briefly how youth interested in participating can go about getting involved?

We’ve got different programmes for young people at different stages on their journey from inspiration to action. From September 4-6, we’re running our annual national event, Festival for the Future, to empower and celebrate young Kiwis, who want to change the world. 500 people, mostly aged 18-30, are attending - it’s sold out, and there’s a waiting list for tickets. There’s real demand for this stuff.

We also run the ten week social entrepreneurship accelerator programme ‘Live the Dream’ over summer.

Young people get to develop their ideas for a better New Zealand, supported by some of the best minds and mentors the nation has to offer.

Applications for this summer are open now.

Entries are also open for our annual film competition, ‘Making a Difference’, which calls for people to make a short film about a young Kiwi doing something awesome.

We’re currently launching an endowment fund that will underpin all of that work, and make it more accessible to more young people in future.

www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz • 13

You’ve accomplished so much in your time and no doubt you’ve had some challenges along the way. What’s your advice to entrepreneurs on how to overcome tough obstacles?

Being able to talk honestly about the challenges you’ve faced is essential. I’ve been very honest about the fact that while this year has been an incredible high, a year ago we had our toughest quarter on record. Some things didn’t

14 • www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz

line up for us, and we weren’t sure if Inspiring Stories could continue.

Most people would’ve walked away, and it was only due to the generosity of our friends and supporters that we made it. The learning from that is that if you have a vision and a purpose bigger than yourself, as well as the drive to get things done, you’re best placed to weather the inevitable challenges that come with entrepreneurship.

Guy with Inspiring Stories board trustees at NZer of the Year Awards

Inspiring Stories runs film workshops for young people to tell good stories

Opening night of Festival for the Future

You won the Young New Zealander of the Year Award this year and deservedly so, has this helped Inspiring Stories in any way?

Mural painting at Festival for the Future

What is the most important piece of advice you’d give up and coming entrepreneurs?

Find a cause that’s bigger than you. Dream big. Start somewhere. Anywhere. Be a sponge, and surround yourself with people who challenge and inspire you.

Remember everyone who supported you, and extend that generosity to others.

Definitely - it’s opened a number of doors for us to speak to various influential New Zealanders about how we’re going to back young Kiwis as a nation and how they might be able to get involved. All of these captains of enterprise and industry understand that backing New Zealand’s future will mean supporting our young people to create change.

www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz • 15

This year you were awarded $500k in new funding from Ministry for Youth Development to scale up your programmes through to 2017 and you’re poised to launch a million-dollar fundraising campaign for an endowment fund that will back young social entrepreneurs in New Zealand. Do you have any tips for young entrepreneurs trying to raise funds?

We saw a serious need for something like our new Future Fund because of the lack of opportunities for young New Zealanders with social impact ventures to get investment or backing from conventional channels. At the moment, crowdfunding is the main route open to young social entrepreneurs - and success in

16 • www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz

that can be variable.

So we thought: what would it take to back every young New Zealander to unleash their potential to change the world? The Future Fund is a professionally managed endowment, and one of the opportunities it’ll provide is seed grants and funding to back young social entrepreneurs, to help them get ventures off the ground.

There’s nothing like that here already; we’re looking to the Foundation for Young Australians’ $50-million endowment as an example.

We’re raising a million dollars to kickstart the Future Fund during September, and we’ll go from there!

Taylor Finderup speaks about shark finning at Festival for the Future

Workshops at Festival for the Future

“Find a cause that’s bigger than you. Dream big. Start somewhere.

Anywhere.

Be a sponge, and surround yourself with people who challenge and inspire you.”

What do you enjoy most about being an entrepreneur in New Zealand?

To live such in an incredible country with so many great people and places is a huge privilege. I also love the fact that we’re now living in an age where we can connect and collaborate with people anywhere on the planet.■

Guy Ryan is the 2015 Young New Zealander of the Year, and founder and CEO of the charity Inspiring Stories.

More about Inspiring Stories’ endowment fund can be found at thefuturefund.org.nz

www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz • 17

MARKETING

It’s Not About You! COMMON CONTENT MISTAKES Your expertise is not the customer’s problem

BY COLIN KENNEDY

A COMMON CONTENT marketing mistake – and I have been guilty of this myself, often – is writing about what you do. For example, copywriters are particularly guilty of writing about how to write better – why on earth?

Using the copywriting example again; the kind of client I wish to secure (successful, can afford to pay for my services and understands the value of good marketing and compelling copy) is not particularly interested in ‘how to write a I suppose the common aim is to good landing page’.

He or she is far too busy demonstrate your knowledge focusing on his or her core and experience, but it’s bad business, and would rather content marketing – unless pay a professional to do you’re a copywriter who a professional job. They markets to other copywriters do not want to learn how – because it ignores the to do your job better, or commercial imperatives for creating that piece of content in they wouldn’t be looking to hire your services. the first place.

18 • www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz

SO WHAT TOPICS SHOULD YOUR CONTENT ADDRESS? It’s the old ‘hole in the wall’ analogy all over again.

An elderly man walks into a hardware store to buy a power drill because he wants to make a hole. The first thing the salesman asks him is a feature-based question, for example: “What surface do you wish to drill? Concrete?

Wood? Tin? Polymer?”

For example, if somebody is searching for a copywriter to write the content for their website, he or she may be doing so because: • They do not have the time to do it themselves (productivity, leverage); • They want to increase their online conversions (website usability, opt-in strategies, integrated channel development);

The proper thing to do would be to ask him why he wants to drill a hole. In which case the salesman may discover that the old gentleman wants to hang a picture frame of his grandchildren on the wall. In other words, a hook and a hammer would do the job.

• They want somebody they can trust to do a good job (case studies and success stories that also communicate good strategies they could potentially apply themselves).

Ask yourself, what is the real reason for your potential client researching your services or products in the first place? Understanding the real reason is the key to creating content that adds some value to your audience.

The job of good content marketing is not so much to demonstrate that you know your stuff (then it becomes ‘still all about you’), but to understand and respond to your customer’s real needs, questions and problems. ■

Colin Kennedy, Head of Content from Espire Media is a thought leader in content marketing strategy and communications in New Zealand. www.espiremedia.com

www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz • 19

Tomorrow’s Entrepreneurs

*

Business Legends Inducted into Hall of Fame Eight amazing Kiwis were inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame last month. The event was packed with some of the nation’s top businesspeople, who turned out to recognise our inductees.

THE EIGHT LAUREATES inducted were: • Dame Alison Paterson DNZM • Neville Crichton CNZM

and H.R.L Morrison & CoCEO Marko Bogoievski spoke on behalf of Lloyd Morrison’s family and described what Lloyd would have said was his top business achievement:

• Chris Mace CNZM • • • •

“He would never describe himself as a visionary. He Lloyd Morrison CNZM didn’t paint pictures; he got Annie Millar things done. He was driven Sir Russell Pettigrew ultimately by the potential of William & George Winstone his people.”

Each Laureate was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Governor-General and then shared stories about their careers in an on-stage interview. Wellington business legend Lloyd Morison was inducted posthumously. Infratil

20 • www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz

Dame Alison Paterson gave some sage advice for people considering a future in governance: “I have lots of cups of coffee with aspiring directors – my first question is, why do you want to do it? There are easier

Lloyd Morrison’s wife Julie Nevett with their five children accept Lloyd’s citation from the Governor-General, Patron of Young Enterprise.

ways to earn a living. It’s not always well paid, and it’s not necessarily a very secure way of earning a living. Do you understand the fundamental responsibility of a director?

Which is to be a good steward of the stakeholders’ assets, to identify risk and mitigate it, to grow value, and to return a dividend stream. And the third thing I would say to aspiring directors is can you articulate what value you will add if you’re appointed to the board?”

Each Laureate (or their descendants) was accompanied by a secondary student who played a part in each induction. The audience also heard from Hon. Steven Joyce, who said he was inspired not only by the Laureates but also the students and their potential. “If we focus on building the brightest young minds that are open to the world, but also that reach their potential at school, in the vocational sector, in the academic sector, then we will truly secure our place as one of the most prosperous small

www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz • 21

Dame Alison Paterson was escorted by her great-nephew William Glennie from Taumarunui High School.

countries in the world.”

encouraged. It may seem The closing speech at the Hall daunting, but it all starts with individuals like me and you of Fame is traditionally given by a student, who is chosen by changing the way we perceive the world. Let’s help this Young Enterprise Trust. country move away from the Wendy Lee from Macleans mindset that a new enterprise College was named the is automatically ridiculous, Young Enterprise Student Ambassador for 2015, and she overdone, or bound to fail and let’s adopt a culture of gave an inspiring speech: ‘congratulations’, because every “I think the key to promoting single starry-eyed entrepreneur youth entrepreneurship lies deserves to hear that. in changing New Zealand’s Congratulations for putting cultural attitude. We have yourself out there, I cannot to work towards building guarantee that you will a national dialogue where succeed, but the act of trying risk-taking and confidence is honourable in itself.” aren’t just accepted, but

22 • www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz

2015 Young Enterprise Student Ambassador Wendy Lee was the final speaker at the 2015 NZ Business Hall of Fame.

More than 450 guests attended the 2015 NZ Business Hall of Fame

Full footage of the Laureates’ inductions and interviews are available online at www.businesshalloffame.co.nz Who should be inducted into the NZ Business Hall of Fame in 2016? The New Zealand Business Hall of Fame recognises and celebrates individuals who have made a significant contribution to the economic and social development of New Zealand.

You can submit nominations for 2016 via the website, www.businesshalloffame. co.nz/about/selectionprocess/. Nominations close on 1 October each year." ■ Young Enterprise Trust’s vision is to grow a more prosperous New Zealand through enterprise. Our aim is to ensure all New Zealand students participate in experiential enterprise education and financial literacy programmes. http://yetrust.co.nz/

www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz • 23

SALES

Never Trust a Silent Customer Ever lost a client and have no idea why? Make complaining clients one of your biggest assets, find out how.

BY Sean D’Souza

DO YOU HAVE customers that leave suddenly? You were doing an outstanding job for them, lavishing them with truckloads of service and yet they disappeared without a word.

The key operating factor here is ‘without a word.’ That’s the scary part! The silent ones are always the most dangerous. If you would like to learn how to keep your customers, you’ve first got to keep them noisy.

Read this marketing article to find out just how you can make complaining clients one of your biggest assets.

24 • www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz

Imagine you run a pizza parlour. You have all these neighbourhood families that pop in at least once a week for some pizza, garlic bread and Coke. On an average, one customer spends about $30 per week. But let’s assume they spend just $20. Imagine you did something that bugged this customer, but he or she never told you about it.

What would you stand to lose if they left?

It’s simple math: You lose $20 x 50 weeks. That’s equivalent to $1000 a year.

If you lost just ten such customers per month, you’d lose about 100 clients a year.

That’s $100,000 that could be in your back pocket if you were a little complaint-conscious.

That doesn’t happen in our business: The Denial Syndrome.

Overtly it won’t. In a Bain & Company survey of major corporations, they found that on average, U.S. Corporations lose half their customers in five years. Notice, it wasn’t ‘one year’ or ‘suddenly’.

Clients have a tipping point.

They get unhappy bit by bit and then its camel-backbreaking time. So, if you think that all your customers are happy with you, they aren’t.

It’s a basic fact of life.

What’s really weird is that you can’t measure how much business you’re losing. A study was done on a bank, they found they had as many accounts as they had a year ago. What they failed to measure was how most of the people had ‘silently’ transferred the money out into other banks, and the closure of the account was a last measure, somewhere down the line.

The same thing applies to your customer.

Like a patient Buddha, they will seemingly appear to put up with everything, till suddenly you find they don’t use you anymore. This is a classic flight of business.

You hear nothing of it, till it’s almost gone, and it takes a mammoth effort just to hold on to the business.

If you look at it from another perspective, you might even be getting equal to or slightly less business from your customer. Naturally this doesn’t ring any alarm bells. However, if you’ve been watching carefully, your customer has probably grown bigger and richer in the past few months or years. If your business with them has not grown exponentially, you are LOSING OUT. No matter how successful your business, you will always have scope for improvement.

Best of all, you will always have complaining customers.

Don’t deny the fact. Accept it and then do something about it.

www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz • 25

Now, why would I bother to go through all that trouble?

It’s easier never to go back. All that money that KFC spends trying to get new customers is going down the drain and out the back door because they don’t have a complaint line.

THE REAL REASON YOU LOSE CUSTOMERS Last month we went to KFC to pick up some chicken and chips for dinner. On the way home, we discovered that the chicken and the chips were soggy and tasted terrible.

How would most customers react? It would depend on their history with the product, but most people would grumble and simply not go back. We complained. We picked up the phone and called the toll free line at KFC. They asked us to place our order.

We said we didn’t want to place an order; we just wanted to complain. They said, “We don’t take complaints on this line. You’ll have to call the manager at the branch where you bought it and talk to him.”

26 • www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz

Most companies act precisely in the same manner. For one, they have no real complaint department. If clients are unhappy, they feel embarrassed to complain and because no route has been cleared to vent their feelings, they avoid it completely.

Then they leave.

Obviously, you can’t wait for something to go wrong. Your job is to find ways to get the client to complain. If they complain, you are getting feedback that is extremely valuable and is probably relevant for all your other clients as well.

Best of all, empowered with a complaint channel, a welltrained client will complain at every juncture giving you the opportunity to fix the problem and regain their trust.

“

“

Obviously, you can’t wait for something to go wrong. Your job is to find ways to get the client to complain. If they complain, you are getting feedback that is extremely valuable and is probably relevant for all your other clients as well.

HOW COMPANIES REACT TO COMPLAINTS

when dealing with complaints is that they fix it.

Virgin Airlines CEO, Richard Branson, sometimes makes an appearance at the gates when a flight is late, apologising profusely to all passengers as they check out. How mad would you continue to be if you ran into a situation like this?

Yeah, Right!

Yet most companies detest complaints. Living in their ivory towers, they refuse to believe that any of their clients would leave. So they never ask for feedback. On the rare occasion that clients get mad enough to put it in words, it’s too late.

Even then, a complaint is treated with nuisance value.

Because of their crummy service, the plane took off without you, you missed your meeting and lost more than just your temper. Do you think, just replacing something is going to erase all that trouble? It’s going to take much, much more.

A simple replacement is never the answer. It has to be a heck lot more than just a numb ‘sorry’. You’ve got to woo the customer back like you would with the girl that you had your eye on.

Going down on your knees The first step a company takes and begging for forgiveness

www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz • 27

“

Lots of companies ran themselves into the ground trying to achieve zero defect. In an unpredictable world like ours, that goal is unreal.

“

is a start. Then you’ve got to lay it on thick and the thicker, the better.

The problem with zero defect Lots of companies ran themselves into the ground trying to achieve zero defect.

In an unpredictable world like ours, that goal is unreal.

Even the best of intentions aren’t much use if you run into a flash flood. Clients recognise that. However, it’s up to you to have a disaster recovery plan in place.

When I say that, I don’t mean a grandiose ‘in case of a nuclear attack’ plan.

28 • www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz

At Nordstrom stores across the U.S., salespeople are empowered to do ‘whatever it takes’ to fix a problem, even if it means going to the store across the street and buying the product at a higher price.

It’s called the art of immediate recovery, and it assumes that something will go wrong and you will have a Plan B to fix it. The more you prepare yourself for this inevitable event, the less chance the client has to complain.

More often than not, a complaining client is complaining about everything but the product. Ever see people complaining about the food at a restaurant?

The principal purpose of the restaurant is food, yet people leave because of loud music, bad service and everything else. Your job is to assume you’re a restaurant and find out what your ‘everything else’ is.

GETTING COMPLAINTS IS LIKE WINNING LOTTO!

1

2

What you need to do to ensure a regular stream of complaints. Dump the feedback form and go out and ask your customer’s face to face. Do it regularly and have them know whom they can complain to, if anything goes wrong. There is no such thing as a silent customer.

3

They’re giving you free feedback that would cost a fortune at a research company, so reward them. They’ve been inconvenienced on top of getting a bad product or service. That inconvenience factor deserves payment in the form of a reward over and above just fixing the problem.

Customers who are brought back from the brink are extremely loyal and extremely ‘noisy.’ Treat them like the asset they are.

4

Complaining customers are always very precise. They eliminate the vagueness of feedback forms. Listen to them, act on their complaints.

It’s not that they want to leave.

They want to be wooed back.

Fix the problem and then let them know how you fixed it.

Remember, it costs eight times as much to get a new customer than it takes to keep an existing one. Keep them at all costs. Atone for your sins.

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Rule #1: The complaining customer is always right. Rule #2: When in doubt, refer to Rule #1. ■ ns. ■

Sean D’Souza is an Auckland based marketing strategist, speaker and author, and the principal of Psychotactics. To find out more visit www.psychotactics.com

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PERSONAL TRAINER

Entrepreneurial Intelligence

with SandyGeyer

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How do I make my business more profitable?

THAT ISN’T ONE question; it’s many questions shrewdly disguised as one to create the expectation that there is a simple answer!

strategy to your systems, staff, suppliers and taxation implications are involved in this question. But to make it as simple as possible, ‘more profitable’ needs to be defined There is one, and that simple to a specific dollar amount answer would be “increase that you want your business your revenue and decrease to clear. That amount then your costs” but I doubt that needs to become the focused answer would help you. In fact, endpoint towards which all it’s much like an overweight your activities lead. Your results person asking “how do I lose are simply the consequences weight?” The simple answer of your input and you need would be eat less”, but if the to have a sound measuring solution were that simple to system to alert you to which follow everyone would be thin. activities are working and which Essentially, every aspect of your need to be adapted, revised or business from your marketing completely discarded. ■ In each issue, Sandy will be answering commonly asked questions from new entrepreneurs. If you have a question for Sandy to do with entrepreneurship, building successful businesses or the challenges and difficulties faced by entrepreneurs, email the editor at jennifer@nzentrepreneur.co.nz Sandy Geyer is an entrepreneur and mentor and teaches the principles of entrepreneurial intelligence (EnQ), to entrepreneurs in New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. You can visit Sandy’s website at www.enqpractice.com

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Investment Corner

Equity Crowdfunding AnEvolvingMarket The Crowdfunding Chronicle

BY WILL MAHON-HEAP

TRADITIONAL EQUITY CROWDFUNDING Crowdfunding is evolving and demonstrating that it is here to stay. Since inception, equity crowdfunding has predominantly focused on early and mid-stage companies, those previously excluded from raising equity finance due to cost barriers. Its benefits are now being recognized by more established companies.

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EQUITY CROWDFUNDING’S EVOLVING ROLE Governments all over the world are legislating to allow equity crowdfunding to operate, recognising the benefits of having readily accessible equity finance for SMEs. Small business drives economic activity, growth and employment, and with 97% of New Zealand enterprises being small businesses, the importance

of this sector and the demand for crowdfunded capital is vast.

Although the focus on SMEs continues, we are noticing a trend of larger, more established companies wanting to take advantage of equity crowdfunding’s time and cost efficiencies, as well as the marketing and product validation that results.

ESTABLISHED COMPANIES? Last year Chapel Down, the British winemaker, became the first ever listed company to use equity crowdfunding to raise capital. Chapel Down took advantage of the brand exposure equity crowd funding affords. The investment process provided a marketing platform for the winemaker to expand its customer base. Equity crowdfunding is an extremely effective tool for companies with consumer facing brands.

This month, a crowdfunding round was launched for the Chinese agricultural firm, Dongfang Modern.

Unlike earlier campaigns, this was done in tandem with the company’s initial public offering (IPO) on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). A specific portion of the total A$50 million raised in the IPO was crowdfunded, but what for?

Seeking investment from ‘the crowd’ allows listing companies to achieve the minimum number of shareholders required by exchanges such as the ASX. It also allows companies to benefit from the press that such an offer generates.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR NEW ZEALAND ENTREPRENEURS? We’re excited to see this development for equity crowdfunding globally and in New Zealand. We are highlighting it in this Crowdfunding Chronicle to demonstrate the power and diversity of equity crowdfunding. It gives entrepreneurs access to a broad base of consumers and investors, as well as being an effective marketing tool.■

Will Mahon-Heap from Equitise. Crowdfund enthusiast, alternative finance follower, big data reader, internet of things watcher, escaped corporate lawyer. www.equitise.co.nz

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Ecosystem

Young Innovator Awards 2015 Winners

Plenty of Innovation from The Bay’s Most Innovative Minds THE BEST OF THE Bay of Plenty’s up-and-coming innovative minds were celebrated in Tauranga in the month of August for the Young Innovator Awards. In front of a crowd of 300 people at the ASB Arena the young people presented their amazing business ideas from an offshore rescue craft to a spring-back road marker and gel handles for crutches Stacey Jones, YIA Project

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Manager said, “We were thrilled to receive over 150 entries for this year’s Young Innovator Awards. It was an incredible year with some hugely innovative creations from an offshore rescue craft to a mobile application to protect children and a true testament to the creative minds within the Bay of Plenty. A couple of the projects have piqued interest from potential investors to progress the idea further which is hugely exciting for the entrants.”

This year’s judges included some of New Zealand’s most respected innovators from the fields of marine, technology, communications, construction, music and more. They included Barry Vercoe, one of the founding fathers of digital music technology and Professor Simon Fraser, who established Industrial Design at Victoria University, Wellington.

The annual awards are a collaboration between Priority One’s Instep programme, Locus Research and Woods, the Creative Agency. Lyn Parlane from Priority One said the awards provided a platform for the community to build an innovative culture.

“For our sub-region to compete within a rapidly changing global economy,

employers will increasingly require employees to have the confidence and ability to think creatively and outside the box,” she said.

Next year will see a new award category sponsored by the Waikato Management School.

The Innovation In Business Award will offer a scholarship for a postgraduate diploma in Management Studies, to the value of $8000.

Colleen Rigby of Waikato Management School said, “We’re really excited to become part of the Young Innovator Awards and be able to able to offer this new category the Innovation in Business Award. The Waikato Management School is in the top 1% of management schools in the world with triple crown accreditation.”

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SPOTLIGHT ON THE WINNERS: Supreme Award & Over 18s Award Kyle Brown, Offshore Rescue Craft (O.R.C.A) The Supreme Award went to Kyle Brown for his offshore rescue craft designed for remote coastal waters. Mr Brown also took out the title in the over-18 section.

Kyle said, “I am over the moon to be taking out the Supreme Awards. When someone is in trouble in the water, you have very little time to reach them.

The vessels that exist currently are not designed for this purpose like jet skis which led me to the idea of the Offshore Rescue Craft (O.R.C.A) which is specifically built for sea rescues off the rough coastal waters of New Zealand. The response to the idea has been fantastic and I am hoping to develop the idea further.”

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Senior Award Joint First Hannah Payne (Tauranga Girls’ College) for Charlie’s Handgels Hannah Payne from Tauranga Girls’ College won the Senior Award as well as the Internship Award, securing a two-week work experience placement with Locus Research & Woods Creative. She designed gel cushion handles for crutches to prevent pain and bruising to the hands of those using them.

Jaysha Tippins (Tauranga Girls’ College) for Spring back Road Marker The creator behind Spring Back Road Marker, Jaysha Tippins, recognised that the existing post edge makers that are used to create visibility at night are often snapped making it dangerous for motorists. She came up with a unique and eco-friendly design that springs back into place if hit by a car.

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People’s Choice Award Briar Patel, Water Play Activity Acquinas College student Briar Patel took out the People’s Choice Award. With the self-imposed objective of designing an activity for students of Kaka Street Special School, Miss Patel decided to create an activity to help educate students in crossing the road safely.

The training assisted senior students in becoming self-sufficient and better equipped to cope with independent living. Briar Patel said, “Technology is a subject dominated by males – I was the only girl in my class last year and I want to help try and change that trend. Technology is a growing subject and girls have so much creativity and innovation to give. I want to encourage the uptake of the study of technology and how it can help us all as much as possible.”

Junior Award Fergus Lellman and Lucy Maher (Aquinas College) for Kids Safe.

Fergus Lellman and Lucy Maher came up with the idea of Kidsafe, a mobile application that protects children from the perils of the internet by allowing the user to set their phone up in two different modes - parent or child to reveal different interfaces.

The judges were extremely impressed by the maturity of the idea and the level of thought the students had put into it. ■

The Young Innovator Award’s purpose is to develop a culture of innovation in the Western Bay of Plenty region through inspiring and encouraging young people to become true creative innovators. http://www.yia.co.nz/

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PARTING SHOT

“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games.

26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game’s winning shot and missed.

I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.”

- Michael Jordan, NBA Hall of Famer

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