NZ Startup of the Week
I’ve just launched a new blog, NZ Startup of the Week. Every week, I’ll be featuring a Kiwi startup going global. Be sure to have a look.
Continue reading →Should there be religious limits to absolute media freedom of expression?
Last week, I was invited to be part of a panel discussion hosted by the Victoria University Religious Studies Department on the topic of whether there should be limits to absolute media freedom of expression. Prof Paul Morris provided an opening statement. Joining me on the panel were Tayyaba Khan, Jenny Chalmers, Tom Scott, Selva…
Continue reading →Getting the most from your mentor in an accelerator
I’m planning on being very involved in the Lightning Lab Christchurch accelerator programme that starts next week, mainly as a mentor. As I look back on both Lightning Lab Wellington accelerators where I mentored in 2013 and 2014, I felt that most of the teams could have used their mentors more effectively. With that in…
Continue reading →The Internet in NZ – not half bad
I’ve just returned from a 3-1/2 month trip, mostly holiday with my wife Kate and 11 year old son Dan, in which we visited Hong Kong, Vietnam, Italy, Switzerland, France, Spain, and the USA, generally avoiding big cities. Naturally, it was important to stay well-connected every place we went, so we employed a combination of…
Continue reading →Brisket, the Classic Recipe
Every Passover, at least one guest asks us how we made the brisket. Here’s my mom’s recipe for brisket, or as we used to call it af Idish, flanken. It uses the classic Eastern European “gedempt” or braising cooking method. Ingredients: Slab(s) of brisket, about 100g (just less than 1/4 lb) per serving Onions, about…
Continue reading →Connecting with me on LinkedIn
So you want to “Connect with me on LinkedIn” – awesome! But there needs to be a bit more for me to accept. 1) Tell me why Simply asking to connect ain’t enough – let me know why, is it for a particular job, because of my background, due to something of mine you read,…
Continue reading →Religious Instruction in NZ state schools
Should our children be taught Christianity (or any other specific religion) in state schools? If this is of interest to you, read on… I’ve been invited by David Hines to join the Secular Education Network’s mediation at the Human Rights Commission, in which they are lodging a complaint against the Ministry of Education in an…
Continue reading →What does a startup need to thrive?
Last weekend I was invited to be a panelist on Radio NZ’s “The Weekend” programme with Lynn Freeman, discussing what it takes for startups to thrive. You can hear the audio here: I took some notes before the panel, of all of the things that I wanted to say – but of course in these…
Continue reading →In the wake of Charlie Hebdo
In the wake of the recent Paris killings, I helped organise an interfaith meeting of Jews, Christians, and Muslims at the Kilbirnie Islamic Centre. All three faiths denounced the killings, as per our media release from the Wellington Council of Christians and Jews. The meeting had reasonably good media coverage from Radio NZ, One News…
Continue reading →Should you keep your startup idea secret?
I recently facilitated Startup Weekend Hawkes Bay, the first such event in one of my favourite regions of New Zealand. Most of the people there were first-timers, and they put in a fantastic effort. Just after the final presentations, one of our esteemed judges and local hero Sir Graeme Avery decided to give an impromptu…
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