What does Kiwi Landing Pad do?

Kiwi Landing Pad is an entrepreneur led and run community.  By entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. We work with the best founders and startup teams to support their global growth aspirations, having been through the process ourselves. 

We work best with companies that are Minimum-Viable-Product stage through to IPO (Initial Public Offering), and are demonstrating progress and ambition. 

Our sweet spot are digital, software and technology companies, or traditional businesses with a strong digital or technology focus. Services businesses while great, aren't our jam. 

We like working with you on the DNA of your business, deep diving on Sales, Marketing, Product Management, Customer Success, Governance, Investment and Expansion. We're on your journey, with you #landandexpand
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We have a range of communities, groups and resources for people depending on what they need, so have a decent look at all of our website and see what is relevant for you. 

Also, check out our story here. 

How are you funded?

KLP is a not for profit. We are funded by corporate and government sponsorship, and philanthropic donors. BNZ and Air New Zealand, NZTE, Jasmine Investments (Sam Morgan), Sir Stephen Tindall (K1W1), Evander (The Houldsworth Family), Peter Huljich. 

Are you the government? 

No. We are private led and run. We have a small amount of government funding from NZTE however. 

I'm visiting San Francisco, can you help me? What are the instructions? Do you have an office space we can use during our visit?

Check out our visiting San Francisco post here for co-working, if you want to chat to us about your visit or need some introductions or advice, introduce yourself here. If you want to use our co-working space, follow the instructions, you don't need to email us its self-service. 

I'm not a Startup or Technology company, can I still benefit from the Kiwi Landing Pad? Can you point me in the right direction?

Our main focus is tech, software and digital companies, however every business has to sell, market, do customer service and has a product, check out some of our academy resources and if you are unsure, sign up to our Kiwi Landing Pad community group to start receiving updates to see where you might fit in and get value. 

I work for a corporate and have some customers that I think would benefit from being part of the Kiwi Landing Pad community. How do I know that they will be a good fit for what you are looking for and who you can help? 

​It's super likely that many corporates will have clients that will benefit from our services. Questions to ask yourself is: 

1. Is my customer a startup, technology, digital or software company that is going a product company (physical or software). We'll likely want to talk to them. 
2. Is my customer a traditional business that has a strong digital focus? For example a a fishery that has started bottling omega oil into concentrated capsules and started selling director to consumer, thus is investing heavily into ecommerce? Yes we can likely help and have resources for traditional businesses that are investing heavily on digital, scale and growth. 
3. Is my customer a services business or a development shop/agency? Likely not a good fit for us.  
4. Does my client need help with sales strategy? growth marketing? customer success? They'll like be a good fit for KLP academy. 
5. Is my client exporting to or looking at expansion into Australia, Singapore, UK, Canada or the USA? Depending on how you answered the above questions, likely a good fit for us. 
6. Does my client need access to growth capital/smart capital or institutional money to scale their business?
7. Is my client a small team with less then 5 people with a sustainable business but no ambition to grow beyond New Zealand, or grow the business beyond the team they currently have and the market they are currently servicing? Not a good fit for us. 
8. Does my client have the ambition to build a big business, and potentially expand offshore? 
9. My client is traveling to San Francisco, is there anything you can do for them? Yes they can use our coworking space as a base while they are there, see the details here. 
10. My client is looking for some innovation help and inspiration, is this something that you can help with? 
11. My client has said that they need some more inspiration for there business, is there anyway you can help them with this? Yes, our webinars particularly our Kiwi Founder Stories are well worth a watch, they can also attend some events, and meet our community. 

Now that I know what you are looking for out of my corporate clients that might be a good fit for you to help, ​ and how should I introduce them to you?

Really good question, once you have established that we should meet your client, they can fill out our 'introduce yourself' form here so that we can get in touch, send them the link, we have a referral section on the form so that we know who to thank. We like using this form as it collects all the information that we need to help people effectively.  

Are you an investor? And do you have a fund? 

No and No. We don't personally fund anything or have a fund. We have an email list that we send out once a month that profiles startups who are looking to raise capital after they have sent us there IM (information memorandum) and the details of their capital raise (ie: $250k @ for 10%) to [email protected] . Investors in our community invest in software, technology and digital companies. We merely facilitate some introductions where possible sort of like a concierge. 

I'm new to startups and technology, what is the New Zealand Startup Scene like? How do I find out about whats going on in it?

The New Zealand Startup Scene is growing, and we like to say is around 25 years old in terms of startups starting up, exiting and recycling back into the 'ecosystem'. Thats a term you'll hear a lot. There is a lot of activity in New Zealand in many different hubs around the country. We have an investment and angel scene. There are lots of startup events (sign up to startupdigest New Zealand for exposure to events). Xero is one of our biggest companies. Check out the deloitte fast 50, and the tin100 as other good resources. Also, our coworking spaces are fairly decent. Perhaps get along to a startup grind event, or startup weekend. 

If you are still looking for more info read these two blog posts getting connected and New Zealand's startup scene is bigger then you think. Also, follow Sian and John on LinkedIn, and join our community. 

How do I engage with Kiwi Landing Pad?

Read our home page, and check out our resources and academy and FAQ, if you can't find what you are looking for, introduce yourself, remember to be specific about what you are looking for. 

What should I prepare before reaching out to talk about my business with Kiwi Landing Pad?

Asking yourself these questions are a good start, or filling out our 'introduce yourself' template. Really think about what you need and want, how we can help, what you are looking for, and if you need an introduction, to who, why, and why might they want to talk to you. 

I'm raising money for my startup/business, what investors are there in New Zealand?

Simmonds Stewart has an amazing resource list of all active NZ investors here. 

We do a monthly email to our community profiling kiwi startups looking to raise capital. Send your IM and raise details to [email protected] to be included. 

Do you have any partnerships that might be useful for my business?

Heaps, we provide credits via Amazon AWS, we have a coworking partner in San Francisco, and select BNZ partners centres in New Zealand. We are a StripeAtlas partner. StoryTech of working out your brand story. Covo if you need a virtual mailing address when you are looking to get established in the USA market. Check out our partnerships here in more detail. 

Do you have any events? Where can I register or find them? 

We have webinars every week, and proximity events all the time. Check out our events here. 

How do I join your community?

Check out our community page here and see what community might suit you best. 

Who started the Kiwi Landing Pad?

Kiwi Landing Pad was started by John Holt (Sonar6) and Sam Morgan (TradeMe). You can check our the full story here. 

How big is your team? And who are they?

We are a team of 1.2. Sian Simpson runs the Kiwi Landing Pad day to day, month to month, as our director of community, and John Holt is the 0.2, chairman of KLP, does 1-2 days a week. 

Do you have any success stories? 

Heaps! Some of our most notable have been Xero - we helped them expand into the US. Vend, 90 Seconds, Magritek, Biomatters, Swipedon, Promapp, Genoapay, Magic Memories just to name a few. 

I want to learn and build my capability, do you have any resources that can help me a better founder, marketer, sales professional, customer success leader etc?

Yes, this is why we started KLP Summit and KLP Academy so that you can learn with us, wherever you are. Check out our academy here. 

Whats our definition of a Startup, Scaleup and Small Business? 

What other groups in New Zealand support startups? 

Oh there are so many! A few good ones to check out our government departments - Callaghan Innovation and NZTE. Then there is Amazon AWS, the Icehouse, Flux Accelerator, the Grid AKL. Thats a good start. Also, sign up for startup digest in New Zealand.