It’s been a busy time at the NZSA. As well as our usual series of monthly events, we were delighted to play an active part in Auckland’s TechWeek program. The NZSA partnered with the Angel Investment community to host the Angel@myTable event for around 90 attendees. A special thanks to ATEED and The Grid for making it possible.

We held our AGM in June, where the current Executive Committee was re-elected for another term, with one change; Jane Smallfield has retired. Jane has been a president and an active executive member for many years, and has made an incredible contribution to the NZSA. On behalf of members past and present, I’d like to thank Jane for the time and energy she has given. You will be missed!

For members who were not able to attend the AGM, the NZSA is going strong. Our events are well attended and enjoyed. Our membership has doubled over recent years, the churn rate has halved, and we’re financially healthy. We are well underway with our initiatives this year to increase our presence and participation in the tech community.

It’s also my pleasure to announce that NZTech and the NZSA have signed an Alliance Agreement, which will open up new benefits for NZSA members. These include: connecting with the NZTech community members, news, & events listing and company logo on the NZTech website options to engage in the advocacy work NZTech undertakes with Government. If you are a company or small company member, you’ll be able to promote your business by featuring your logo and company details on both our membership page and NZTech’s website. Both our sites receive a steady stream of web traffic, specifically searching for technology and software businesses in NZ. Keep an eye out for an email from NZSA with the details.

Roger Ford and Graeme Muller, Chief Executive - NZTech

See you at one of our events soon!

Roger Ford
President, NZSA

Angel at My Table: Tuesday 9 August

Whose Pitch Will Win Over the Dragons – And the Money!

Our annual Angel at My Table event is one of the most popular nights on the NZSA calendar.

You’re invited to watch four early-stage entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of three ‘dragons’. There will be $5,000 prize money for the winners, so you can expect to see some strong competition – they’ll be bringing their A-game!

There’s sure to be plenty of laughs and you’ll see first-hand what investors are looking for. As an attendee, you can get involved too – judging The Peoples’ Choice award winner.

Dinner and networking too
Your entry includes a delicious two-course meal and wine tasting, plus networking with Auckland’s software community leaders, to help take your business to the next level.

Don’t miss out
Last year’s Angel at My Table event was a great success and tickets sold out, so secure your seat now.

You won't want to miss our September Event on Tuesday 13 September
Guest Speaker: Catherine Griffiths, Client Service Director at Buzzfeed in Australia

Networking at our April Event

Since our last newsletter we’ve been fortunate to have four very interesting speakers cover diverse aspects of running a successful tech business. In April we had young entrepreneur Ben O’Brien from StretchSense demonstrate their world beating ‘Rubberbands with Bluetooth’. Then we heard how Fronde are supporting clients to successfully embrace the cloud, by overcoming concerns such as security, in a very interesting presentation from CTO James Valentine. Our June speaker, Peter Gardner shared a frank and fascinating story about KonnectNet’s expansion across New Zealand and into Australia.

At the July Dinner, besides giving a great plug for Waikato University which she says is currently producing the best calibre of business graduates in NZ, Nuwanthie Samarakone from ICE Professionals listed her top tips for recruiting and developing graduates.

Rod Hall, Hayley Miller, Pierre Leducq, Andy Lowe, Averill Dickson and Robert Silver.

Don’t forget our NZSA referral promotion: refer a friend or colleague to an event and receive a free drink, on us! The guest must fill in your name as the referrer when registering for a standard ticket. (The guest must not have attended a NZSA event in the past 12 months.)

Tech is New Zealand’s Third Largest Export Sector
Last month, NZTech released ‘Digital Nation New Zealand, From Tech Sector to Digital Nation’. The research shows that the tech sector is a large and significant contributor to the New Zealand economy.

There are over 28,000 companies, employing almost 100,000 people, or 5% of the workforce. These companies created $32b in output in 2015, which generated $16.2b GDP, or 8% of the economy. The sector also exported $6.3b in 2015, 9% of the country’s exports, officially making it the third largest export sector.

NZTech also found that for every 4% growth in productivity within the tech sector it generates 1% growth in GDP, equal to $2.7b. This means every dollar invested in growing tech sector productivity brings a $3 ROI. Read the report, study the data and watch the videos.

Free eBook: Building a World Class Marketing Capability
Based on seven years of benchmark studies through the Market Measures study, and consulting engagements with over 150 great kiwi tech companies, Concentrate has identified some of the factors you need to consider to develop a world class marketing capability. Download the free eBook (you will be required to input basic contact details).

IBM Global Entrepreneur Cloud Start-up Programme
Through this global programme, qualifying start-ups receive from $12K USD up to $120K USD worth of credits per annum to put towards IBM Cloud usage, giving them the instant infrastructure needed to quickly launch their businesses and focus resources on coding, building, scaling and bringing innovations to market.

The programme also offers start-ups invaluable and in-depth connections into IBM’s enterprise client base, many of whom consistently look to the start-up community for new approaches to industry challenges. More information.

NZSA members are eligible for 10% discount on registration for the following Conferenz events:

IT & Enterprise Architecture Conference 26-27 July
NZ Data Forum 16 August
NZ Cloud Computing Conference 6 September

To qualify for the member-only discount please contact admin@nzsa.co.nz to request the promo code, before you register.

AgileNZ Conference 2016 – Call for Speakers
The best local speakers are being sought from NZ's Agile Community to join a stellar line-up of international keynotes and share their thoughts and experiences at this year's AgileNZ Conference in Auckland on 29-30 November.

If you've got something big to say across the Technical, Product and Innovation tracks, register your interest now to speak at AgileNZ 2016. More information.

Cyber Threats - Insights from the World’s Most Famous Hacker.
22 August, Auckland.

Kevin Mitnick, once the FBI’s most wanted hacker is now a trusted security consultant to the Fortune 500 and governments worldwide. He will be presenting to Business Leaders in Auckland. More information.

NZSA members include entrepreneurs and managers of everything from small emerging businesses to large multi-national operators. We are proud to count many of the country’s top software leaders, strategists, investors, influencers and supporters in our ranks.

Benefits of Membership:

• Supporting the growth and development of Auckland’s software community
• Preferential member rates to attend 10 monthly events which feature top quality speakers, a high quality two-course meal plus wine tasting and networking with industry peers
• Use of the NZSA logo to distinguish you, or your company, as a member of the New Zealand Software Association
• Access to discounted services, including legal templates for Company Membership (package value: $850+GST) and Conferenz events
• Eligibility to vote at NZSA Annual General Meeting
• Quarterly newsletter and access to LinkedIn group discussions to keep up to date on software industry developments

More information