me me me me

The Hundred Year Company

Posted on by Will L.

I’m a bit of a business geek. Ever since I threw in my Engineering job to try my hand starting my own web design business in the sexy dot.com age, and later a string of startups in the dot.bust and 2.0 era, I think one of my favourite things to do is to sit back and listen to audiobooks and podcasts on the glorious stories behind successful ventures.
One thing that’s been bubbling in my mind this month is an interesting mystery in the world of business…

No company has survived beyond 100 years.

(Okay, I’ll qualify this with the exception of a few banks and family owned restaurants.)

Businesses go through a life cycle, and incredibly, almost without exception, no matter how big and influential, they seem to become dead-a-fied by the time 100 years is up. In fact it turns out a pimply teenager gets to live longer than the average company (12-15 years).

My van is older than that. Actually, it’s almost double that.

Why is it by contrast other people-made things, like cities, easily last thousands of years, surviving floods, plagues, earthquakes, climate change, and nuclear bombs along the way.

The scientists will tell you it’s from the strength of human networks.

But I’m thinking it’s more. I wonder if it’s got to do with something we call bio-diversity in nature.

It’s the concept that the diversity between the members within a system is an asset in times of change. If your population is ravaged by sickle-cell anemia, for example, there’s gonna be a good chance a few of you will have a solution or even immunity if the gene pool is diverse enough.

Now take a look at our companies. Man… we build them efficient, and homogeneous. We stick to our core competencies, outsource the rest, we recruit new staff making sure they fit tightly to our company culture… all this makes so much sense to be efficient and competitive, but it’s what we call mono-culture in farming (that’s why we need pesticides). These are the opposite factors needed for longevity.

So I’m looking at Enspiral. It’s one of a new wave of companies worldwide that’s built on a different framework, one that embraces the network, zero hierarchy, diversity and actively encourages self direction and expression for every member.

In some ways, I saw it as inefficient at getting things done, and so one might say we spun off other ventures within the eco-system, these were more purpose-built to get things done a bit better. But I wonder… will Enspiral or perhaps a model like it, inspire our first wave of 100 year old companies?

An opportunity to Stand Up

Posted on by joshua

Sometimes an opportunity comes along that nudges its way up your todo list and makes you stand up and take action – today I got nudged.

A few months ago some volunteers approached me about launching a New Zealand version of GetUp! – for those of you who don’t know about GetUp I’d recommend you take the time to read through their site – they have had a pretty big impact in Australia. I found their disclosure page particularly useful in understanding what makes the organisation tick. The core idea is a member funded organisation independent of any political party that runs a continuous series of citizen lead campaigns.

There are a few interesting things about GetUp, the first is that they are not alone – notably organisations like AVAAZ, MoveOn and 38 degrees have very similar models, and more importantly have been winning campaigns.

The second interesting thing is that they quickly become member sustained which means with a bit of initial capital and energy to get going they can grow to stand on their own feet.

The third is that there is an eco-system forming of people and tools that are connecting and supporting these organisations. So new ones forming don’t have to reinvent the wheel as there is a wealth of experience and software on hand to help them get up and running.

Back in 2009 I did a fair amount of research into GetUp and launching a New Zealand version was actually the other project I was considering instead of doing Enspiral. So when the volunteers approached me and shared their plans I was pretty receptive and keen to help out. I was cautious however as this isn’t a new idea and I’ve heard lots of people talk about this (including me) and not actually follow through.

However I have been pleasantly surprised by this group of volunteers. So far they have
- recruited a stunning mentor in Ben Brandzel (an early employee at MoveOn who now devotes his time to supporting and growing these types of organisations around the world)
- engaged a team of over a dozen volunteers to put energy into making this happen
- convinced the standup.org.nz domain owners (who had a similar vision) to gift the domain and support this team
- produced a comprehensive strategy document outlining the vision for the organisation
- begun laying the foundation for a formal relationship with GetUp
- made solid progress on a brand and website
- begun work on an animation explaining the concept
- started building relationships with other organisations interested in specific issues.

So things have been moving forward at a decent pace but one thing was missing from the picture, the right person to lead the emerging organisation.

Today they found the ideal person, and I mean ideal – I literally couldn’t imagine a better person to turn this opportunity into a success. But one thing is standing in the way, funding. The candidate has several other opportunities on the table and would be prepared to take a risk on launching a new organisation but the team needs to secure the initial money. With just 20k they could secure a runway for a few months which would get the first few campaigns launched and keep the momentum going.

So today when they came to me saying we need to raise 20k by next friday to secure our dream executive director I felt like it was my turn to stand up and help them do that, so here is the pitch

——-
This is a model which has been proven around the world to be a scalable and sustainable way to protect our environment, increase fairness and engage citizens in building a stronger country for everyone. I believe this team has what it takes to go all the way and setup New Zealand’s equivalent of GetUp!

We just need to pass the hat around and raise 20k 17k by next Friday and they are all set to take the next steps. 17 more people giving 1k each and we are over the line, so if you are interested in helping out or know someone who would be then I’d love to have a chat – joshua@enspiral.com or 021 684 495.

Launch of Enspiral Legal Ltd

Posted on by rochelle

ENSPIRAL LEGAL LTD 27 March 2012

I’m so thrilled to announce that I’m launching Enspiral Legal Ltd today.

If I had my way, no one in the creative and innovative sector would see what I do as ‘just the legals’. Instead they will develop a good understanding of the important legal concepts that govern the way business is done. Without that understanding, it becomes difficult to grow and develop any organisation successfully to a significant scale. To make sure my documents can become an integral part of the structure of a business, I work hard to ensure that they are drafted in plain English where it is possible, so that you can refer back to them as your business grows and changes.

I have loved working with Enspiral for the last 12 months. I have 17 years New Zealand legal experience, specialising in intellectual property law at a large trans-Tasman law firm in the past. After a couple of years contracting, I will now be providing legal advice and drafting legal documents for commercial technology companies, web startups, social enterprises and charities.

It has been both interesting and challenging watching Enspiral grow over the last year. I am now looking forward to growing Enspiral Legal Ltd in our unique way, by nurturing excellence while promoting and supporting lawyers as they grow their own legal businesses within Enspiral Legal Ltd.

I am motivated by building a great social enterprise and charitable sector, with an emphasis on legal education for businesses and those operating in the not for profit sector. But Enspiral Legal Ltd will continue doing a good proportion of its work in the commercial sector. Commercial work is a great way to keep grounded in commercial realities, and helps to bring excellence and perspective to the social enterprises.

For many years I was a litigator, appearing in courts arguing over who was to obtain the spoils after businesses broke down or came to an impasse. The wasted energy and expense of determining ‘who was right’ convinced me that there had to be a better way. Often sub-standard documents, or even no documentation, lay behind the dispute. Because of this, I want to help startups and not-for-profits to ensure they have access to good advice, but more importantly that they gain an understanding of the type of legal structures they are working in, and the ways to avoid common pitfalls as the organisation grows.

I have listed the work types that Enspiral Legal Ltd will offer, and would love to chat with anyone who wants to talk about how Enspiral Legal Ltd can help them or their organisation.

Enspiral Legal Ltd:

Commercial Law
Employment and Contractor Agreements
Distribution and Sales agreements
Franchise Agreements
Open Source documentation
Terms of Trade
Website Terms and Conditions
Privacy clauses

Business and Social Enterprise Structures
Company constitutions
Shareholder agreements
Partnership agreements
Licensing agreements
Charitable Trusts
Charitable companies
Incorporated associations
Company documentation and procedures

Intellectual Property
Trade Mark applications
Copyright advice
Patent advice (not applications)
General intellectual property advice and strategies
International Trade Mark applications can be made through my network of trusted T M professionals.
Commercialisation and licensing agreements
Sponsorship agreements

Sir Paul Callaghan’s legacy

Posted on by joshua

I was deeply saddened to hear of Sir Paul Callaghan’s passing today. While he made many contributions to New Zealand over the years, for me personally his lasting legacy will be the presentation he gave at StrategyNZ last year.

This talk resonates with many of us at Enspiral and was one of the inspirations that prompted Alex Gibson (with Graham Jenson) to create 100 Companies.

The vision of New Zealand as a place where ‘talent wants to live’ is bang on the money – I constantly meet (and usually try to recruit) very talented people who can live anywhere in the world and choose New Zealand because of the quality of life. Sure, you can usually make more money living somewhere else but you have to sacrifice much that is of more value. That’s what got me over here from Australia (shh, don’t tell anyone) in 2004, and that’s why I’m still here to this day. Because it’s simply better in New Zealand.

The challenge to create 100 world class companies is such a clear call to action and if one of our Enspiral companies could one day be part of that 100 then I’d consider it a job well done.

For me Paul Callaghan embodies what is great about this country, the straight up no bullshit approach to getting things done, humility balanced with great accomplishments, a commitment to leaving things better than when we arrived. Thank you for the vision and challenge Paul, we never met but your words will stay with me for a long time.

Reflection on my internship at Enspiral

Posted on by Nicolas

As part of my studies in computer science, I had the chance to take part in three professional experiences in the past three years. Each experience really helped develop my skills further, as well as gaining self-confidence and finding my technical interests in the IT world. Even then, I was missing something, without which, I felt absolutely uncertain about my future: that was a Purpose.

I like making websites mainly for their ability to reach out many people and to give birth to strong communities with comparatively little effort. I see the Web a bit like a big jam session where everybody plays their own music, and people who resonate to it add their contribution and become part of the harmony. Currently too many people play Dance when they’d like to play Bluegrass, just because it’s easier to make money from it.

It’s a shame. One should be able to spend their time doing what they like and earn a reasonable amount of money from it. And I think that’s what Enspiral does for people who want to make the world a better place. I am currently volunteering two days a week on Bucky Box, a project to change our food system to a healthier and more responsible one, as well as being contracted three days a week for the Ministry of Social Development. This balance of paid work and community involvement is now crucial to me. It gives me a path to follow, another reason to wake up in the morning, and substantially, hope for the future.

I’d say the main conclusion of my internship so far is that the flight from France to Wellington was SO worth it! Thanks to all the like-minded people I’ve met through Enspiral, I know I don’t necessarily need to set up my own business to work for good. Yet, I might create a few ventures along the road, because I feel it’s the most challenging and efficient way to make things happen. And challenges that involve changing the world are a lot of fun!

Developing at Enspiral

Posted on by rob

“Always be the worst guy in every band you’re in. – so you can learn. The people around you affect your performance. Choose your crowd wisely.”
― Chad Fowler, The Passionate Programmer: Creating a Remarkable Career in Software Development

I came to Enspiral in March this year. When I first met JV I told him that I wanted to come to an environment where I could sharpen up my programming skills and learn from people better than me.

It did not take long. Pretty soon Josuha, Allen, Will and I conducted our own kind of ‘Skunk Works’. It went like this: We travelled to a secluded kiwi bach in the Nelson Lakes for 2 weeks and we laid the foundations of Bucky Box on our laptops and external monitors around a fireplace. It was almost nerd-mas but colder. (Almost) every morning we would get up and drag our pasty white (and brown) legs on an idyllic lakeside run. We spent the rest of the time scheming, coding and photoshopping interrupted by cooking, eating and sleeping.

Joshua schooled me with a seasoned introduction to Rails and RSpec. Allan, our host, mokeyed Will’s impassioned designs into HAML and CSS in between his smoking cigarettes, drinking whiskey and talking about MacVIM. I think you call that Agile.

After Skunkworks I spent 6 or so weeks working on another Rails project for Wellington web design company Passionfruit. Ezra did the overall design, articulated it to me, and I built the backend and basic view tempates for him to style. That was fun because by this stage I felt like I knew my software stack inside out. I was now flying in Rails and BDD.

Since then I’ve lead development for Goalpost, my favorite team yet (hi guys! xxx), with any extra time being consumed by side projects ArohaNZ and STEM.

This week I’ve been sharing what I’ve learned. Enspiral has been meeting with some friends of mine involved in Occupy Wellington. We’ve working together to build a decision making tool that can meet the needs of both of our groups. It’s going to be called Tautoko, and we’re using the development of it as an opportunity to share development practices.

We’ve gone for the name ‘The Dungeon Sessions’- Julian, Alex, Jon and I sat in the back server room with the lights off because they were flickering. I setup screen sharing and Skype so that Allan, another Alex and Chris could join us from around the country. In just under 2 hours I rushed through our setup and almost completed the first ticket. I really enjoyed it, and we have another Dungeon Session planned for next week.

There’s lots more to talk about but I’m tired, and I need to get back to ranting about John Key on Facebook.

Thanks for reading!
Rob

P.s. I’m told Allan is now 3 weeks smoke free, making him Goalpost’s first successful beta tester. Yay!

Here Comes Goalpost: Positive Change with Social Goals

Posted on by kelly

The beginning of a new year brings about plans, possibilities, goals and intentions. This time is nearly upon us again. At Enspiral we’re really excited about 2012 and see it as a year of immense possibilities for positive change in the World.

Social Code Ltd is an independent start-up owned by four Enspiralists, and in January 2012 will be launching Goalpost. Goalpost is a web and mobile application that helps users achieve positive behaviour change through setting and achieving goals with the support of their social networks. Our first goal is to help kiwis quit smoking. We’ve teamed up with Quit Group and Smokefree (Health Sponsorship Council) to help make this happen.

Goalpost works in three ways: by partnering with experts, by leveraging the support and influence of your social networks, and by keeping you motivated through the integration of game mechanics such as challenges, rewards, pledges, achievements. It’s fun!

We are currently in our first stage Beta iteration providing the minimum set of features that provide the initial real value to the user. This first incarnation of Goalpost provides initial functionality to engage the viewer, providing a compelling user experience and ‘hooking’ them so they continue toward their goal. Goalpost will be launching to the public with a ‘Quit smoking’ challenge to Kiwis around New Years.

We are currently in full testing mode and on the search for more testers, so if you know anyone who wants to quit smoking, please email info@goalpost.it

In the meantime connect with us on twitter @goalpost_it and help spread the good word!

Inspired by Festival for the Future

Posted on by guyryan

If there was one thing you could do to change the world – and you knew you couldn’t fail, what would it be? A good friend once asked me this. Now it’s a question I ask myself almost every day.

This time last year we proposed the Inspiring Stories project to the Vodafone NZ Foundation: imagine if we connected up young filmmakers around New Zealand with young Kiwis making a difference. Imagine if we gave those young filmmakers hands on training and support, and connected them up with creative industry mentors. Imagine the stories they could tell. Imagine the people and projects we could discover.

Vodafone gave us the green light, and from March to July we did just that. We ran storytelling & filmmaking workshops in almost every region of New Zealand. Collectively, they brought together more than 150 young filmmakers and kick-started over 100 short film projects. Many of those young filmmakers submitted them to the world’s first Inspiring Stories Film Competition. But this was just the beginning.

How do we create a framework that truly supports the next generation to explore the big issues of our time? What do those 21st century challenges look like in our local communities? And what would it take for emerging creative industry to partner with community and entrepreneurship to tackle these issues? And how do we make it fun?!

We came up with the idea of Festival for the Future: a national event for emerging creatives, entrepreneurs and young Kiwis making a difference in their community.

We dreamed up an exciting program of speakers, workshops, film screenings, entertainment and strategy sessions to kick-start new projects for a better world. It grew. And grew. And 10-weeks later it happened. The event sold-out, and 120 people came from all around New Zealand to take part. The experience was amazing – life changing for some.

Imagine a generation of New Zealanders stepping up to tackle the big issues of our time – to create more vibrant, sustainable places to live, work and play. If I could do one thing to change the world, it’d be to create experiences for people to discover their potential to change the world, and then support them to make it happen.

In a short space of time we connected with over 50 organizations who contributed in all kinds of ways to make this first-time event possible. The website had hits from 49 countries. A team of volunteers devoted their time to ensure the event ran pretty much flawlessly. All of this started with an idea. A tiny team organized the entire Festival from the Enspiral office in Wellington.

From Laura, Guy and Tania – the tiny organizing team, thank you. None of this would have been possible without the support of so many people. It wouldn’t have been half the event if we hadn’t worked with Jamie on the website, had Alanna support our team of volunteers, nor cranked HQ from the most amazing shared office space I’ve ever had the pleasure of working in.

Thanks for having us, Enspiral!

Enspiral Engineering

Posted on by jonathon.avery

During a Kite Boarding holiday on the pacific atoll, Aitutaki (near Rarotonga), I read the book “The Ecology of Commerce” by Paul Hawkens. The sadness it evoked in me for how we have devastated the planet and it’s ecosystems soon transformed into a deep passion to do something about it. I spent a few months searching the Internet, reading, networking and imagining how wonderful life here would be if we worked with nature instead of against it. I dreamed of ways in which we could create a restorative or circular economy and learned about concepts such as Cradle to Cradle Design and Bio-mimicry. See: Re-thinking Progress: The Circular Economy

I have spent a large chunk of my working life in precision engineering environments – building particle accelerators at Buckley Systems. The experience gave me  a deep understanding of how to make complex parts and equipment. I have also had insights in to a large range of engineering companies across New Zealand while working for a machine tool agency. This highlighted the widely varying manufacturing standards and the problems that clients have in finding the right supplier for their needs. A business course at Auckland University ignited an endeavor to  facilitate and maximize manufacturing efficiency. The big question became, how do I make a difference for manufacturing in New Zealand?

I recently met Joshua Vial at the Intersect Trust AGM weekend in Wellington. Demonstrating the power of purposeful networking, Joshua invited me to meet the Enspiral crew at their retreat to help enable my dream of working with purpose. We established that my beliefs and values are aligned with the Enspiral way and that my engineering background, networks and understanding of business together with the experience of being self employed offered an opportunity to start a new branch of Enspiral, Enspiral Engineering.

Enspiral Engineering is being modeled off of the Enspiral business model – where software designers and engineers are successfully working for more than profit, we will be making it work for mechanical engineering. We are a growing collective of talented engineers from various disciplines, and will actively work to change the world by concentrating on projects that are environmentally or socially beneficial.

An example of a project that I managed, at the end of 2010, was a Giant Sprinkler for Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate and their campaign: Share The Joy. The teams at DDB and Mango came up with the idea of taking a garden sprinkler and super sizing it for people to play under. It was to tour around popular beaches for the public to enjoy over summer. The concept was presented to me including an artists impression and a picture of a garden sprinkler, along with the usual legal requirements of such a build.

 

I worked closely with the team at DDB and Mango to produce a 3D CAD model that they were happy with. We had a very tight build time of around three weeks leading up to Christmas. And the build included fifteen days of fiber-glassing and painting.

Due to the fresh water restrictions in summer, we decided to use salt water from the ocean and the whole system had to be safe for the public. This provided a range of considerations including:

  • How do we get a constant and dependable water flow?
  • How do we avoid blocking the beach with pipes running everywhere?
  • How do we pump water from surf beaches with surges and tides coming and going?
  • How do we run this without mains power?
  • How do we make it safe for the public?
  • What materials must be used to cope with salt water to avoid corrosion?

The system that we came up with, which solved all of these considerations, was this:

Early in the morning the team would set the sprinkler up, race down to the water with a 500L/min petrol powered pump and hoses that connected to a 3000L bladder tank situated near the sprinkler. They would fill the tank, then pack up the hoses and pump so that the beach was clear. The tank would supply the sprinkler with a constant flow, and minimised beach disruption. The rotary action was powered by 12 volt truck batteries contained within the sprinkler base powering a small electric motor and gearbox. A petrol powered generator drove the water pump between the tank and the sprinkler. All components were safe for use with salt water: 316 stainless steel, fiber glass, plastic and brass.

Loads of people enjoyed playing under the sprinkler in the summer sun. Giant Sprinkler

The project was a great success and demonstrated the importance of collaboration, great networks and manufacturing know-how to pull off such a project with high time constraints.

At Enspiral Engineering, we are ready to take on projects that involve mechanical design, project management, manufacturing management and commercialisation.

I believe New Zealand manufacturing has enormous potential both locally and internationally. I’m inspired to be working collaboratively on great projects with talented people.

Contact me – Jonathon Avery | 021 220 2200 | jonathon.avery@enspiral.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Making of 100 Companies

Posted on by alex

For those of you who haven’t heard, myself and my friend, Graham Jenson, made a data visualisation that won the supreme award at this years Mix and Mash, and I’d like to share with you some of reasoning behind the visualisation.

First of all I’d like to thank everyone who helped us, either by supporting us directly or spreading the word of our data visualisation, or more precisely Paul Callaghan’s work, with the Tweeting, FBing and Redditing, its been truly overwhelming.

How the idea came about? Well first off we needed a story to tell, all good visualisations tell a story, and we needed a good one. Graham had been talking for some time about Paul Callaghan’s work, and we saw that it was perfectly suited for a visualisation; it has data driven facts and a very compelling story. So we extracted the essence of Paul’s work, and created our goal:

“To visually convey the importance of technological and manufacturing companies to New Zealand’s growth and prosperity”.

How did we do it? We created chapters from each of Paul’s main points in his StrategyNZ Keynote, then with each chapter we thought; out of this point, what would look really good to the user and make the biggest impact, an example of this can be seen on our mining screen, so if we have estimates of how much mineral wealth New Zealand has, and our current rate of extraction, why not see how fast we can deplete them; the counters are haunting when you see that we can burn through all of our crude oil in just 15 years.

We took each idea, found the data surrounding it (thank god for data transparency in New Zealand), created a basic statistical model for the idea, then created a UI that allowed the user to adjust various atributes of the model. Each visualisation aims to maximise the visual impact of the point being made as the user is manipulating the model.

Thats basically it; doesn’t sound to bad when it’s put like that, but the development wasn’t without it’s problems, however, I think I’ll leave that for another post.

We had a lot of fun during the Mix and Mash, helped support the New Zealander of the Year 2011, and won some cash out of it. I look forward to next years competition, and hope that you all do too, and please comment below if you have any questions about the visualisation.