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Entrepreneur Vanessa Wilson will head one of eight women-led teams at the 2016 Lightning Lab XX programme, which is New Zealand’s first ever female-founder focused business accelerator.
“Totally surreal” is how Vanessa explains the feeling of being invited to the intensive programme. “The selection process is really competitive, you have to be very focussed and driven to get recognised”. Vanessa’s start-up company, ‘Nearby’ is about connecting everyday people by listing and fulfilling local jobs instantly. “It delivers a new way to obtain financial independence through community engagement.”
Vanessa knows however, that the hard work really starts now. The three-month long Lightning Lab XX programme started in Wellington this week. As part of the programme each team receives $20,000 of seed funding while in the programme, as well as over NZ$800,000 worth of benefits from partners and sponsors. It provides the opportunity to work full time to accelerate the start-up, gain access to a pool of world-class mentors and ultimately pitch to a packed room of investors at the final ‘Demo Day’ event.
Vanessa was assisted in becoming business ready through the Regional Business Partnership (RBP) programme, jointly run by the Northland Chamber of Commerce and Northland Inc.
Northland Inc General Manager Business Innovation and Growth, Joseph Stuart says Vanessa has plenty to feel proud of. She leads the first Whangarei-based start-up to be accepted to the national programme and he’s positive her success will inspire other female entrepreneurs.
The RBP programme provided her with the tools to get her across the starting line. “The mentoring and advice offered was all about preparing for Lightning Lab XX and how it will help in the next stage of her business growth” Joseph explains. “From market validation and business planning, through to preparing for shareholders and managing human resourcing.”
Vanessa’s journey is an excellent example of how Northland Inc can support growing companies with information and advice to grow. As an RBP we have specialist business advisors available to help business owners and key managers grow their business. The RBP provides advice, information, referrals and connections to businesses seeking support to strengthen their growth journey.
Reproduced from Northland Inc.
Whangarei entrepreneur Vanessa Wilson will head one of nine women-led teams at the 2016 Lightning Lab XX programme in Wellington, New Zealand’s first ever female-founder focused business accelerator.
Slightly more than 140 teams applied for the programme and Ms Wilson says the standard was high. “The selection process is really competitive, you have to be very focused and driven to get recognised.”
The programme finishes at the end of June with a Demo Day during which her team will make a pitch to a room of investors.
As part of the programme Ms Wilson’s four-woman team receives $20,000 of seed funding while in the programme, as well as more than $800,000 worth of benefits from partners and sponsors. It provides the opportunity to work full time to accelerate the start-up, gain access to a pool of world-class mentors, including Slingshot co-founder Annette Presley and Webstock co-founder Natasha Lampard.
She previously set up superCUTE.co.nz, a babyware retailer and PrincessandthePirate.co.nz, a party programme for children. She sold both businesses but retains DeloraineCattery.com.
Vanessa was helped in becoming business ready through the Regional Business Partnership programme, jointly run by the Northland Chamber of Commerce and Northland Inc.
Reproduced from Northern Advocate, written by Mike Regan.
Hive is about connecting people nearby to help each other out
What is Hive?
Hive is about community. It’s about working together to solve each others problems. Sometimes, we just don’t have the skills or time to do odd jobs and we could do with an extra hand. We have money to pay. But the work doesn’t require or warrant a professional in most cases, such as changing a washer on a leaky tap, or we don’t have a ladder to get up high and change that chirping smoke alarm.
Who are these people who can help me in my community?
That’s where everyday people in your own community come in. These are often people who have the time and are looking for a flexible way to work to supplement their household income. They could be a stay at home parent who has free-time while their children are at school. They could be students themselves trying to juggle study and earning money to afford more than baked beans. Or they could be someone in their 50’s nearing retirement or recently retired. They have lot’s of value and know-how they can offer. They want the freedom to enjoy life, but still feel they have much to offer. But these aren’t the only people.
You yourself may identify with one of these groups or you could be a person looking for a new way to work, do more of what you love, escape the big city, follow your passions and most importantly you want the flexibility to earn money where ever you are with whatever skills or know how you possess, be it baking a cake, mowing a lawn or repairing a gate.
Now Hive bridges this gap. It creates a place for people to come together to solve each others problems. But it’s more that exchanging time and money. It’s empowering people to live the life they love.
Standing on stage at the Embassy Theatre in Wellington
What an exciting day of nerves and build up.
This is what we’d been working the last 3 months for. The build up to pitch our business in front of a room of 800 people made up of investors and the Wellington business community. I was standing on the very stage, Peter Jackson petitioned to save and screened the world premier of Lord of the Rings in New Zealand. The tension and excitement built as eight women and one man waited nervously off-stage in the “green room” for our turn to share our 3-month journey.
For me, this was the moment to share why I was so passionate about Hive and connecting people who need a hand with those who have the time and skills to help. But it’s more than exchanging time and money. It’s empowering people to live the life they deserve.
Women Who Get Shit Done unconference
You can’t say Shit!
But that’s exactly what this 150 group of women from different sectors, backgrounds, ages and from different regions of New Zealand do. They Get Shit Done. Whether it is providing mentorship opportunities for Youth to working with young Maori mothers in the Bay of Plenty to reach their potential. They all get shit done. We all stand unitied in the change we wish to see in the world.
One interesting discussion that came out of the weekend was in the development of a Kakapo perfume. No Kakapo’s will be harmed in its making. Kakapo only breed at a certain time of the year, when all the right flowers are in bloom - the orchid, rimu and rata to name a few. It’s a beautiful scent and one that could be bottled to raise awareness of New Zealand’s only native parrot and inject much needed financial resources into perserving Kakapo’s environment.
A united and bi-lingal New Zealand
Many discussions and journey’s were shared each displaying our passions for our chosen areas. What was really exciting to hear, was all these amazing group of women calling for a united bi-lingal New Zealand, celebrating our cultural heritage and uniqueness. This was championed by the non-Maori women. Very suprising considering I’m Maori and want this too, but didn’t want to be seen as biased. As one Italian women said “New Zealand and it’s native people, stories and unique community should be celebrated; and something we should all be proud of”.
What’s an unconference?
An unconference, is the opposite to a conference. It is unstructured, in that, we the attendees decide what topics we want to discuss and we lead those discussions. On the Friday night, we were given post it notes and left to discuss with others and place our post it notes in the relevant timeslot over the next two days. You could choose which discussions you wanted to attend, and if it wasn’t working for you, you were free to get up and move to another. Topics ranged from “Who stole my kidney” to “How to implement gamification in your business”. These discussions could be structured in a way that works for us. Whether it was “writing a letter to your future self” to sharing our “imposter syndrome” experiences.
I’d strongly recommend everyone become involved in an unconference. You get to a deeper level really fast, and this only gets deeper as the conversation progresses.
The Hillary problem
Repurposed from Oren Klaff - Pitch Anything BlogDo people call you “The Most Interesting Man in the World” (like the beer commercial guy?)
No? Me either, probably because I’m a clean-shaven crossfit tech guy who works in finance and drives an Audi R8.
Sometimes though, a kindly old blind woman will say to me, “you look a little-bit like Tom Cruise.” While true, I don’t let these compliments go to my head.
But think about that guy for a moment, the Most Interesting Man.
How did he get so damn “likeable?” And can we copy anything he’s doing to improve the way we present to audiences and hold their attention?
Oh, I believe you are already plenty likeable … in some situations. And there IS a version of you that’s wildly interesting, laugh-out-loud funny, wise and worldly, sexy, human, colorful and completely in-the-moment.
This version of “you” will say wise and admirable things like, “… in my travels I learned that a foolish ruler, and a person mad after riches, desire that which can not be procured.,” or “… you’ve just got to play the hand your dealt.”
Unfortunately, this “you” tends to show up at about 9pm on Friday night when you’re out having a beer.
Only then are you able to look people square in the eye, furrow your brow knowingly, smile and make powerful statements that stop others in mid-sentence and have strangers listening in, for example you might say “Mosquito repellants don’t actually repel anything, they are a chemical agent that hide you by blocking the insects sensors, really they are more of a cloacking device from Star Trek than an actual repellent.”
Boom. It is then you are smart. Worldly. Delightful.
But where is THAT GUY when it’s time to pitch a deal and win a million dollar account?
M.I.A.
Because that’s different, right?
In front of buyers, you’re not among friends. And the stakes are way too high to be messing around.
The Most Interesting Man inside you is gone, along with all his warmth and intellect …
– and in his place is CAPTAIN OBVIOUS.
NOW that you’re in front of the The Big Client, you regurgitate facts, talk in clichés, make generic statements and slowly lull the audience to sleep.
You’re not alone. If I’m not prepared properly, I will give a presentation so relaxing and uninteresting … it sounds like a stop-smoking “hypnosis” tape.
But hey, it’s a catch-22, I mean, how are we going to show our warmth and intellect when we have give the buyer:
- product specifications,
- key features,
- service levels,
- ROI analysis,
- stuff that is inherently boring.
This is why it just makes sense that during any given presentation, we all have a likeability problem.
For example, Hillary Clinton, has been accused repeatedly of having a "likability problem.” While Clinton generally has little problem demonstrating her intellect, skill, and experience, she’s had a considerably harder time conveying being interesting, funny and colorful, the things necessity to win over voters.
She is largely perceived as competent … but not warm.
She is largely perceived as knowledgeable … but not fun.
She is known as compassionate … but not interesting
Let’s call this the “Hillary-problem” and recognize it is common among the rest of us who are executives, entrepreneurs and salespeople. Let’s admit, we can be a little too intense, too focused, too technical.
Is there a way to strike a more perfect balance between warmth and intellect?
Yes.
First, step away from reliance on all those features, facts, numbers, customer logos and percentages.
Next, stop talking about you, your company, your customers, your resume, etc.
Start talking about The Big Idea.
What kind of hard problems there are in the industry today, and why most companies can’t solve them. Talk about what’s changing, and how leading companies are going to adapt. Re-frame the competition as “good, but soft.”
Everyday Kiwi’s can own a part of Hive
The Lightning Lab XX Female Founders Programme is about to come to an end. It’s been my home away from home for three months. I’ve poured my heart and soul into the dream I’ve been building here. It’s called Hive. And now Hive can only succeed if I find people who believe in what I’ve been doing - enough to invest.
But I’m not asking for a donation. You can own a part of what I’ve been building.
I created Hive because of my passion for connecting community. New Zealanders are losing touch with their neighbours, and it’s affecting our wellbeing. A new survey, Sovereign Wellbeing Index 2015 shows only 4% of Kiwis agreed they felt close to people in their local area. Can you believe that? New Zealand ranked last compared to 29 European countries.
It doesn’t have to be this way. I have proof that people want to connect.
People want to get stuff done, feel valued and get paid. Time and money, as we know, are two of the world’s most valuable resources. We can bring communities back together by offering them a chance for more time and money, by connecting people so they can help one another. It might be helping someone mow the lawns, pick up someone’s kids after school or mending the gate for a grandmother who lives alone.
We have plenty of underemployed people in New Zealand. According to the stats I studied, there are 1 million: students, over 50s, stay at home parents who need flexible work or those who haven’t had work for years.
I know Hive can help them. We started a Facebook group first in Whangarei, where 5% of the population signed up in the first month. Then when we kicked off in Wellington, 1000 people signed up within the first few hours.
We then trialled a pay-to-play private group to test out the idea of a subscription based model, building on trust currency - where people were vetted. We see people connecting on average 5x a week, for jobs totalling $150.
The next logical step was to build a local app, mobile-enabled, that integrates with Facebook. We built a Y-frame app and signed up beta testers. Now we want to make it faster, easier and add premium services like police, address and skills checks, as well as shout-outs and job tips.
Getting the backing to build out this app would make Hive what I originally envisioned: not just get your to do list done but do social good too.
My vision is to empower people to be the best version of themselves.
I certainly do. And I know you do too. That’s why right now I’m offering everyday Kiwis to buy $100, and own 100 shares. And you can share in the knowledge that you’ve helped create a community where good people are doing good things. Helping one another, creating relationships. It’s the Kiwi way.
I have two children, a very patient husband and a cattery I cannot wait to return to in Whangarei. But I want to return knowing that all of my hard work in Wellington actually accomplished something. Help me help Hive succeed as a sustainable business and a community where no strangers exist. Where we see people purely as people and provide flexible jobs for everyday people.
Please share this post and register your interest in our PledgeMe equity crowdfunding campaign
Hive is a buzz
Hive is the dream that Vanessa Wilson has for bringing New Zealanders together.
The serial entrepreneur is convinced there’s a market for connecting people who have valuable skills to share and she’s creating Hive to realise that belief.
Hive is the next evolution of her OddJobs business that put busy people in touch with locals able to do odd jobs around the house.
Hive is one of eight teams that make up business accelerator Lightning Labs first ever XX programme for female-led startups.
Together with co-founders Charlie Coppinger and Jacqui Hastie, Wilson envisages a community of people who recognise and value each other's’ skills.
“We believe that people want to help each other out, from helping someone in their garden to teaching piano to driving someone to their Doctor’s appointment, we all have some skills or know-how that we can share”
The problem is it’s too hard to find these people.If your family aren’t close by, who can you call on?
Hive is a platform to connect opportunities - we want to help people find a market for their own skills, or find the help they need from others.”
“At the heart of Hive is the idea that trust is valuable, that communities can build trust, and that Hive can make it really easy to find a trustworthy person who’ll do a great job for you.”
Wilson admits it was a big call to move away from a vertical market, like house cleaning or gardening, and instead focus on a horizontal slice. “Our customers want to be part of a community - where you put the kettle on for the cleaner when you leave. And the person doing the work is the sort of person people who goes the extra mile - they care about the work and they care about building a relationship.”
It almost sounds like Hive is helping put people into work while promoting community happiness. “You could say that,” agrees Wilson. “Why shouldn’t you be able to use the skills you have, for someone who values them, in a community that cares, and get paid?. It’s the dream isn’t it?”
Wilson and her team are finding the Lightning Lab XX programme incredibly motivating. The combination of expert advice, working with like minded people, and a dedicated space have helped them move far faster than Wilson thought possible and they’re optimistic about the momentum the Lab is helping them build towards their demo day in mid May.
To join the Hive buzz email hello@hiveapp.co.nz
The story behind Nearby
That sense of satisfaction, the sense that you’ve helped make someone’s day - that is what Nearby is all about.
When I first started the Facebook group Odd Jobb, I never expected it to become a ‘thing’. I was running three businesses from home, caring for two children and trying to keep on top of my housework. Weeding the garden was last on my list of priorities. I could have gone and employed a gardener but I didn’t want someone regular, I just wanted someone to come in while I had a lot on my plate and help me out.
So I posted an advertisement on Facebook and, as cliché as it sounds- the rest is history. Odd Jobb quickly grew into a 3000-strong community.
The feedback was phenomenal. Hearing stories like ‘I was able to use the money to feed my kids that night’, or ‘being in a clean house just gave me the boost I needed to get out of bed for the day,’ really gave me an insight into what I wanted this business to be. To me, Nearby had to be more than just exchanging money for services. As one member put it, ‘it’s like you’re bringing communities back to what they used to be’.
That really spoke to me. When I applied for Lightning Lab (a prestigious business accelerator programme specifically for women), I knew that this was something that our community needed. This was something that was so much more than just a Facebook group.
To say it wasn’t easy is an understatement. I had to leave my husband, daughters and business in Whangarei to spend four months in Wellington. But I have a belief that when you reach a state of financial independence, or find yourself in place of authority- you have an opportunity to serve others, not have others serve you.
This was my chance to serve others. Nearby was a platform I could create to help our community become a better place. Sacrificing my time was the least I could do.