Businesses going global

Like many great companies Rugby Bricks started as a solution to a problem for founder Peter Breen. Pete was playing Rugby for Otago in the ITM cup and couldn’t find the right sort of tee to suit his kicking style, so set out to make his own. He soon realised that his solution could help others and so started his company ‘Rugby Bricks’ based on the idea that you build success brick by brick. 

As the company began to take off Pete realised he needed to bring in some help and so reached out to an old friend, Kale Panoho who was working in LA for a marketing agency he had co-founded. Kale says that initial meeting turned out to be the start of something bigger than he could have imagined.  

“Pete and I had gone to polytech together and played Rugby together so I was immediately interested in his company, not just the tees, but also the community he had built around the brand and the content he was producing helping teach players of all ages and stages the fundamentals of the game. I had some experience scaling e-commerce companies and so when he asked me to come on board in a co-founder role I said ‘sweet it can’t be that hard’ those turned out to be famous last words! It was really hard and it still is, but I am so privileged to be part of it and really stoked to see how we have grown over the past five years or so.”

Rugby Bricks has experienced year on year growth of around 80-100% and Kale says one of the proudest moments was seeing their product on show at this year’s Rugby World Cup in France with 24 international kickers using their tees. But he’s quick to stress that the success hasn’t been without hard work and a lot of challenges along the way. 

“I feel like no matter how many things we manage to achieve there is always a fire burning in the background somewhere. It’s been hard work, especially when you come up against an area you don’t have expertise in. Pete is a great product person and is great in front of the camera and our social media following is around 450,000 plus. I have a background in marketing and data so we tend to focus on those things, but when you are focused on that, then operations suffer, so it’s been a balancing act, trying to scale and grow and operate on a lean budget but still ensure parts of the company aren’t suffering because of it. We have focused on our strengths which is great, but because of that we have also uncovered some big weaknesses.”

One of the biggest challenges the company has faced is around their determination to keep their product manufactured in Dunedin while also meeting time constraints and demands of international buyers. 

“Our turnaround time in our supply chain is almost 20 weeks, to get the product made, manufactured and shipped, and that can be hard. We have been lucky to have high customer demand but when people have ordered a product from your website and then three months later they still don’t have the product you have a big problem. It also makes it quite hard to predict cash flow and manage orders.”

Despite the challenges Kale says moving the manufacturing to somewhere like China, which would be cheaper and faster to ship internationally is not an option. 

“We’re big on where we grew up and on representing Otago where we both played Rugby. Saying we love and care about our home is pretty important to us. I’m Maori and we’re a Kiwi company, we want to hire locally and create opportunities for rangatahi. We want to be able to manufacture our products here and give back to our economy, even though we have to take the hit on some things because of it. I don’t ever see that changing – if we had other smaller product lines in the future we may look at offshore manufacturing options but our primary product that generates the bulk of our revenue will always be New Zealand made. That’s something that’s really important to us.”

Kale says one of the best parts of the startup journey has been realising how many people are willing to support the Rugby Bricks vision and are prepared to share their advice and learnings in areas where himself and Pete have needed support. 

“Networks like Kea Connect and NZTE have been amazing, Kea connected us to Sean Fitzpatrick in the UK and Sean texted me when I was on a train in LA. I wanted to stand up and scream guess who just got in touch with me – an absolute legend of New Zealand Rugby, the only thing that stopped me was that no one on the train in LA would understand the significance of it. But that one connection from Kea literally opened five doors for me. Sean was amazing, he phoned me and then we were able to meet in London and his ideas and advice were so valuable. We were also connected to a number of other amazing Kiwi who have all been really helpful and have provided incredible advice for no other reason than their desire to support a Kiwi start up. It’s true what they say it’s not what you know it’s who you know and as a Kiwi startup your network really is your net worth.”

Rugby Bricks have a target of 150% growth year on year and Kale says the current focus of the company is looking at the role technology can play in their products. Despite the ups and downs he has no regrets about the journey and says his best advice to other founders is to expect problems from the very beginning. 

“When I started out I had this idea that things would go as planned, I don’t know why I just didn’t expect the constant challenges but actually it’s those challenges that create growth for you as a company, so my advice would be to expect problems and then surround yourself with good people who can help you solve those problems. To be able to reach out to people and say ‘Hey I can’t work this out can you help me’, is one of the best things you can do, and if you know things are going to be a bit crazy from the start then I think you are better prepared to tackle each challenge as it comes along.”

Tell us a bit about your career journey

My work has been spread across the financial services and technology sectors, with my focus over the last decade predominantly in the confluence of the two. My capabilities span a number of disciplines including stakeholder management at C- and senior levels, bridging the gap between industry and regulation, product/solution ideation, execution of go-to market commercialisation strategies as well as strategy execution and governance. I also gained a broad set of general management, business development and operational skills in my time as chief executive of a research and asset consulting business and steering its successful exit to a national stock exchange. I have excelled at influencing business and community wide changes working with all levels of stakeholders – one example being the successful setup of a cross-governmental service to help support the fintech community in New Zealand. Having worked in India, New Zealand and in the UK I have been fortunate to see first hand the merits of adopting a diversity and inclusion lens when standing up and managing teams.

You’ve been based in London for sometime now – what changes will newly arrived Kiwi face when landing?  

Kiwis moving to the UK in the past 9 to 12 months have faced quite a different experience to those landing here pre-pandemic and pre-Brexit. For recent arrivals and prospects soon-to-arrive, there is value in keeping track of the changing ground realities. Building on top of post-Brexit and post-pandemic market dynamics, a consistent hike in headline borrowing rates has had a direct impact on the job market as well as on the cost of living. Starting in Dec 2021 the official interest rate has been raised 14 times to stand at 5.25% today. Loosely in track with that, mortgage rates have risen from about 1.5% to about 6% over the same time – a significant jump for landlords re-fixing their mortgages this year and over the next few months. This is continuing to feed into rental prices. I can’t speak for the rest of the UK, but relative to just 3-5 years ago, London today is a very expensive city to live in. Period. Average rental prices are up 5.3% in the year to June 2023 – that’s the official stats. In reality, not only is finding a suitable rental becoming more challenging but rent increases from the past few years can be multiples of the official figures. On the bright side, over the past few weeks rates appear to have plateaued. 

Have these changes also affected businesses? 

Sustained increases in borrowing costs has impacted businesses, to varying degrees and in particular have had a direct impact on financial services and consulting firms. With a cost of living crisis in full swing businesses are at best consolidating or looking to shave items off their books – whether that be talent or otherwise. Private equity models have been stressed given that many portfolios are made up of businesses bought at historically low borrowing rates just a few years back and now facing much higher interest costs. Venture capital has become more discerning when committing funds, preferring cost cutting as a first step. Large, established financial institutions such as banks have also tightened their belts. This has also seen a marked drop in demand for consulting services. One of the big four consulting firms are laying off 3% of their workforce (about 800 staff), which follows on from another firm which shaved off 5% of their staff in August. 

What’s your advice for those looking to explore the UK? 

It’s not all doom and gloom, however those heading this way should be prepared. Factor housing and rental trends into your budget and make sure you have the funds you need. If you are planning on looking for a job upon landing you may have to wait a bit longer than you had originally planned to land a suitable role so prepare for the eventuality as well. 

If you’re looking to expand your business into the UK market in the coming months make sure you do plenty of research and spend some time on the ground talking to others before you make a final commitment. Right now there are opportunities for NZ-based tech businesses to scale successfully into the UK using a targeted approach, the UK is a stable, high-opportunity environment with an aligned business landscape to Australia and New Zealand, especially after the recently agreed FTA’s.

There is much debate over where the UK is headed economically, but remember individual experiences will vary. As someone once quoted, when your neighbour loses their job, it’s a recession. When you lose yours, it’s a depression.

David started his career as a creative in advertising, he specialised in telling brand stories to customers and connecting people to brands, but what always had him puzzled was the fact that most brands didn’t actually understand who it was they were talking to.

“I have always had a real curiosity as to who people were and what drove them. During the beginning of the dotcom era I joined a startup business in San Francisco which was based on industrial psychology and what we were doing was using deep psychology to matchmake candidates to jobs and also jobs to employees. What I found really interesting is that we were using psychology to understand exactly how a human would behave in certain situations. That was super powerful, and I thought wow if you could apply this to marketing and communications
it would be quite extraordinary.”

After spending some time working for various companies in the US and the UK David returned
to Wellington, and started to think more seriously about this idea of how human behaviour could
better help businesses understand their customers. Despite not intending to start a company he found himself hiring developers and psychologists to work with him on a methodology called Hardwired which formed the basis for his first company Eleven.

“I started Eleven on the 11th of the 11th 2011, to help me explore this idea which had been
building in my brain for some time. Eleven was doing strategic brand and marketing work and
some transformation organisational and culture work with government agencies such as NZTE
and the Ministry of Social Development. Over time it became clear that I needed to focus on one
or the other and so I wound up 11 and launched Hardwired in Feb 2023 which is entirely
focused on building a human connection between business and customers through brand.”

David says like many things, the understanding of the importance of value systems from a business and consumer point of view has been ramped up thanks to the global pandemic.

“Covid just flipped everything on its head, it opened up a huge amount of opportunities for businesses because now you have consumers who are actively seeking businesses and brands that are values based. We call this values based brand to customer connection a ‘we together’ connection. And what that means in very simple terms is what consumers are now looking for, is a business and a brand that they can belong to and with that, with that belonging comes advocacy and shared values and shared beliefs and with that comes enormous growth and revenue.”

But he says some businesses are still struggling to connect to customers because the rise of digital sales means the connection between a business and a consumer is often transactional.

“There’s some great New Zealand businesses but sometimes they struggle to understand their value. There are many businesses who are very functionally oriented. But in most cases human beings don’t buy function, they are buying a solution to an emotional want and need. So New Zealand businesses are hammering away at a functional proposition and customers aren’t interested, that’s the really simple core problem.”

Behavioural psychology being used in marketing is not a new phenomenon, but David says Hardwired uses a three pronged approach to solve this problem for businesses, which is quite unique.

“To begin, we do what we term ‘uncovery work’ the reason we call it uncovery is because it’s about discovering the things you can’t see, the human problems that may not be in plain sight. This leads to the strategy work, what does it mean for business? How does that impact business? How does it shape business? How can it drive business growth? And finally we work on how to connect the brand to customers by using precise emotionally-based communication. I think it’s a combination of the three that makes us different and makes what we do so effective. If a business and its brand can’t apply behavioural psychology then it is waste of opportunity for everyone”

The process can take anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months and David says far from just working with big companies, Hardwired does a lot of work with smaller businesses looking to find their feet in today’s very competitive market.

“We are all well aware of the power of human connection between people and we know how powerful that connection is, it can be lifelong, it’s about shared values and shared beliefs. So when we work with businesses we say what if you could take that same connection and apply it
to customers? With that comes a complete paradigm shift in how a business works with its customers and how customers work with businesses.”

The process is extremely collaborative and David says he realises not every business is willing
to shift their traditional paradigm of customer marketing. However for those that are open to the process there are huge rewards to be had, especially for Kiwi export businesses looking to gain footholds in offshore markets.

“When you enter a different market it has a different culture, but fundamentally human beings are human beings, we’re hardwired in very similar ways, societal elements around us may change but they don’t have as much impact as you might think. Exporting from New Zealand can be hard, we are a long way from the rest of the world and our providence story doesn’t hold the sway it used to, at least not in the way it did 10-15 years ago. You have to look at things differently to understand how you can make that connection with your customers on a much deeper level, and that is something I would like to see Kiwi businesses get a lot more support with.”

A social campaign titled ‘This Election We’re Letting Australia Decide’, has been launched today, to coincide with the opening of offshore voting and draw attention to the size and impact of the overseas vote this October in the hopes of encouraging offshore Kiwi to do their part.

Of the estimated one million New Zealanders living overseas, almost 70% of them reside in Australia, which could mean up to half a million votes in the New Zealand election. If every one of them voted, their contribution would surpass votes which are currently being indicated for the minor parties including Act, Greens, New Zealand First and Te Pāti Māori.

Every Kiwi Vote Counts Director Tracey Lee spent 15 years of her life voting overseas, and says democracy only works if we are all part of it.

“This campaign is not about orchestrating turn-out in favour of one party or another, it is simply championing the rights of all New Zealanders to vote and ensuring that we have robust and healthy participation in our government elections.”

In the past, elections have seen around 1-in-10 overseas New Zealanders vote, which represents a mere 2% of the offshore population, This means there are an additional 750,000 offshore Kiwi who aren’t exercising their democratic right to vote, something Tracey says needs attention.

“Overseas voters are especially important this year, it’s going to be a tighter election than we saw in 2020. Both major political parties have new leaders and minor parties are set to play a big role. This means every Kiwi vote really does count. Especially in Australia where our New Zealand population is eight times the size of any one electorate.”

The rules around overseas voting have changed this year, to acknowledge the impact of the pandemic, so overseas voters have ‘double the chances’ in 2023: With New Zealand citizen eligibility extended from three years to six years that they have to have been in New Zealand, and from 12 months to four years for permanent residents.

This campaign follows on from their successful 2020 campaign which used the (then) playful hook of Russian Meddling in overseas elections as a proxy for participation. The campaign reached 1-in-2.5 Kiwi, with 80M global impressions.

Every Kiwi Vote Counts has also successfully made submissions to the Justice Committee and Independent Electoral Review and presented to the Electoral Review board to make a case for increasing eligibility (from 3 years to 6 years for citizens) to account for disrupted travel during the global pandemic.

For more information and to watch the video head to everykiwivotecounts.nz

Craig Fenton describes his career as “what mathematicians would call a stochastic walk” meaning he has embraced different roles and career paths rather hap-hazzardly and opportunistically through luck, timing and hard work. Craig originally trained as a lawyer and worked in the field for six years before realising it wasn’t where his passion truly lay. 

“Although I loved my time in the law, I was much more interested in business and in particular, technology, and its application to business. I had always had a curiosity and an interest in how stuff worked. That interest was first piqued in me by my grandfather and then by my father who had a toy company which adapted to the world of electronic toys and games which sort of morphed into computing. My dad actually had the exclusive licence for the Amstrad computer in New Zealand so as a family, we were probably one of the earliest adopters.”

Unsure of how to move from law into business Craig decided to move to London to pursue an MBA at the London Business School.

“I found law to be intellectually challenging but I didn’t find it very creatively challenging and I think that’s where business draws my interest. You know, it’s sort of a canvas on which we can paint. However I couldn’t simply take off my lawyer’s wig and black robe and wander into Liverpool Street in the middle of London and declare myself to be ‘in business’. There needed to be some sort of objective reference point that people could grip onto and say okay, this person at least sort of passes muster at the subsistence level of credibility.”

Since making that move 25 years ago Craig has worked across the technology industry for 20 years, most recently as Google’s Managing Director of Strategy and Operations for UK and Ireland. He’s also an author, angel investor and advisor to several start-ups, and has founded his own record label and film production company to give creatives from less privileged backgrounds their start in music and film. In 2023 he was recognised as “UK New Zealander of the Year”

As a mentor Criag says he’s always encouraging people to discover what it is that really matters to them personally, because if you follow your passion that’s half the battle. 

“I think the idea of change starts with an intention and the intention begins with a sort of deeper understanding of yourself. You’ve got to understand what excites you, what’s the thing that makes you lean forward and talk a bit quicker? What do you consume when you’ve got some spare time? These are all markers of something you’re really passionate about. You have to ask yourself why, not what? Why do I want to do that? Not what do I want to do? I think it’s easy to be distracted and sometimes, derailed by a company name, a job title, a function, an industry or even a country. These are all examples of ‘what’, but the deeper question is, why. And the why is the thing that feeds your passion. Never do something because you think you should or somebody’s telling you to do it.”

“I am most comfortable when I’m uncomfortable. A degree of stretch in what you’re doing, I think is important and necessary. When that starts to fade and perhaps, when your excitement starts to fade, or you notice yourself increasingly surrounded by people who are not giving you energy, you need to be prepared to move on.”

Craig says for him, working with up and coming businesses and Kiwi looking to expand into other markets is about giving back and acknowledging that his success is in part due to those who helped him along the way. But there is also a more personal reason.

“There’s also a selfish element to it which is that I get so much energy from it. I love working with entrepreneurs from New Zealand, Kiwi businesses and individuals who have just landed here in the way that I did 25 years ago. I think it’s important for us to think not of the brain drain, as it used to be called in my day, but frame it more as a neural expansion that makes us all stronger, and I think that’s a purpose worth fighting for and investing in, and that’s what drives me to help out wherever I can. 

When Craig set out to do his MBA at the London Business School 25 years ago he never imagined living offshore for so long. He’s always maintained a strong connection back to Aotearoa and this year was named UK New Zealander of the Year and separately received an Special Recognition Award from the University of Auckland. He was also part of the New Zealand contingent which attended the coronation of King Charles. 

“It’s been a very humbling experience to receive the two awards and to be part of the fantastic Kiwi community in the UK. I think we all sort of stagger through life, with a sense of imposter syndrome thinking ‘why me? I’m in the company of such remarkable New Zealanders and Kiwi really do punch above our weight. I am constantly stunned, amazed and proud of my fellow country people and the achievements that they have attained.”

After a quarter of a century offshore Craig says the family are excited to move back to New Zealand and start the next chapter in their lives. The move will allow the family to enjoy the Kiwi summer and Craig says he’s looking forward to the challenge a new role brings. 

“I am deeply honoured to join the NZ Rugby whānau. The Teams in Black represent the top of our professional sport, of any team in any sport, and elite performance like this is sustained by the foundations on which it is built. I look forward to working with stakeholders across all levels of the game, honouring our legacy, whilst moving the game forward in a modern digital world.”

Aislinn and her Irish partner had been living in the UK for 12 years and enjoying all that London had to offer, however juggling two young children and two careers without family support was starting to take its toll. Aislinn was conscious that her Wellington based parents were getting older and none of their five children were close by to help out if and when they needed it. 

“We started asking ourselves what mattered most and evaluating where we wanted to be. I had been out of the country for more than a decade and my partner had never lived in New Zealand so it was a big decision to move home, but ultimately it came down to what’s important. Having my kids being able to spend time with their grandparents and build that relationship with them is really special, it’s time you don’t get back, and at the end of the day I think your family will always come out on top.” 

Since Aislinn’s partner didn’t have a New Zealand passport the couple had to apply for a visa and were warned it could take up to 13 months to process, thinking they would apply and get that underway while they sorted other things out made Aislinn initially feel like she was really organised, until they found themselves racing against the clock.

“We were notified that the visa had been accepted and processed in just seven weeks after we applied, which was great, until we found out that we had to land in New Zealand by September to keep it valid. All of a sudden we had to move quite quickly, we had a flat we wanted to sell and we had to pack everything up – living somewhere for 12 years you don’t realise how much stuff you have accumulated, we also both had to find jobs and sort the kids out, I was so focused on the admin I never stopped to think about actually arriving in Wellington.” 

Aislinn applied for a job as the General Manager for the New Zealand String Quartet, and after interviewing online, the family was in the car on the way to the airport when she got the call she had been successful. 

“It was really nice to know I had something lined up, Wellington has such a great arts and culture scene so I didn’t see the move as problematic for my career. Obviously this is a smaller organisation than ones I had been working in overseas, but I actually like that. When you’re working with a string quartet, by its very nature, it’s a very agile organisation. We can jump at opportunities. We can do more experimental things rather than, you know, working with an orchestra, where you need a concert hall and a lot more planning time because you’ve got so many more people to move. Because of New Zealand being the size that it is, and Wellington being the size that it is, I very quickly got to know all the other people working in the same industry and everyone kind of has each other’s backs. If you have an idea and you want to make something happen you talk to a few people and all of a sudden things are moving really fast.” 

Since moving back to the capital the family have been embracing all the city has to offer and Aislinn says Wellington is a fantastic place, especially if you have a young family. 

“Wellington is really beautiful, and coming from the UK I have noticed a huge change in the amount of wildlife. We are living up in the hills of Brooklyn so we can see the harbour and we are really close to Wellington Zoo and near the boundary of Zealandia. The native birds are just everywhere. We’ve got a resident tūī right by our letterbox that you can chat with when you come in, we call him Stuey the tūī, and we’ve got kākā flying all around. The kids love visiting various beaches and Te Papa. Wellington has a really great buzz to it, there is always something to do and a lot of it is free. We can’t wait till they get a bit older and we can do some of the amazing bush walks and other activities that are right on our doorstep.”

“The other thing I have really noticed is the rise of the Te Ao Māori and how readily New Zealand is embracing it. Our kids are coming home with much more understanding at three than I ever had in my 18 years of growing up here. They are already counting in Māori and singing songs and I love that that is part of their every day.” 

Her advice to others would be to not sweat the small stuff. Despite the family moving home on a much faster time frame than they had initially intended, Aislinn says there were lots of things that fell into place once they landed in Wellington. 

“Moving can be a really anxious time and there are all these questions that you ask yourself or things you worry about, but what we found was that New Zealand is such a friendly and open place that things sorted themselves out quite quickly once we were on the ground. Things like getting a drivers licence was much more straightforward compared to the UK and I found building up professional networks quite easy which was great. There were of course stressful elements like not being able to sell the London flat and having to temporarily move in with my parents while we found somewhere to rent, but overall it wasn’t as bad as you start to think it might be.”

Aislinn and her partner, who’s a social worker, both started work quite quickly and that combined with the kids’ social lives has meant they have been able to settle into life in the capital fairly easily. 

“We have a couple of good friends who have also moved back from the UK and whose kids go to Kindy with ours. There are three families who are all going through the same journey together which is nice. It’s good to be able to share stories about the UK and also have people who really understand what this process is like.”

A year on Aislinn says the family are loving their new lifestyle and, now that they are settled she can’t imagine getting on a plane and going back, not even for a visit at this stage. 

“Now that we’re here, if we’re going to have a holiday I just really want to explore Wellington and the rest of New Zealand, there is so much I haven’t seen. I just want to go on a lot of nice domestic holidays. It’s just so great to have this lifestyle, when I collect the kids from Kindy and they’re covered head to toe in paint and sand with bare feet, I can’t help thinking this was such a good decision. The kids have a healthier, happier lifestyle in Wellington and knowing that they are happy is really the most important thing.”

This content was produced in partnership with Wellington NZ. Their ‘Esc to Wellington‘ campaign is inviting skilled people to Wellington Te Upoko o Te Ika, as a destination to work, live, and thrive.