30 Apr
Posted by kari.petroschmidt
At the launch event we featured a number of speakers who are heavy on sales. Scott Cardwell (pictured above) naturally placed a lot of emphasis on this in his role as the Marketing Manager for Language Perfect. So too, Julian Van Mellearts and Sheryl McPhearson essentially sell products in their wasabi vodka spirit and clothing boutique, respectively. There is ostensibly a lot of ‘flashiness’ and marketing inherent in these start-ups which begs the question, is there a place for longer-term start-ups in Audacious?
The short answer is, yes. Most definitely. In fact some of the winners from last year working on start-ups related to IT were fundamentally different from the alcoholic beverages and cardboard headgear of other starters. Sure, there were still a lot of ‘sales’-type start-ups. But this in no way precluded an IT-oriented or development based start-up from being involved and successful in Audacious.
Alex Dong, for instance, developed Trunkly, an online bookmarking service which was eventually bought out by the founders of youtube. As you can see in his profile, Rimu Boddy started developing FN Tech, a computer service designed to make it easier to communicate with boats at sea. Both were runners-up in Audacious in 2011. Other examples included Mike Murchison’s WeVesting (an online investment platform designed to make investing accessible and easy to the average individual) and Campbell Pritchard’s iphone ap to connect others with personal trainers (both in the top 40).
So too is there room for social entrepreneurship in Audacious. Businesses whose primary motive is making the world a better place, rather than making profit. Again, many of the start-ups from last year had a sustainability focus. Arjun Haszard’s Quick Brown Fox, for instance, as well as Rimu’s FN Tech. Sharon Cunningham’s board game, Cheeky Moo, was aimed at raising the EQ of children around New Zealand, thereby attempting to curb our high rates of domestic violence. Both made it into the top 40 with QBF also winning $2000. The judging criteria this year is also set to specifically address the question of social change.
So what kind of start-up is an Audacious start-up? In short, it’s anything you want it to be.
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30 – Apr – 2012 |