How would you describe the business culture in New Zealand?
DH: It's pretty much in line with general culture in New Zealand - laid back, creative, fun-loving and balanced. It's also very accessible - so there are far fewer 'layers' or hierarchies.
New Zealand is also quite generalist, because we are too small to have lots and lots of corporate departments where people spend their whole lives getting very good at one thing, we end up creating really brilliant all-rounders who have to be good at lots of things.
We are less cut throat than many places, far less hectic and stressful than most major cities around the world and we are fortunate to not have to deal with a lot of the challenges that exist elsewhere like corruption and instability.
LG: Very tightly networked, everyone is about two degrees from each other. However it's also very friendly and even competitors will sit down and have a beer with one another.
What are the costs of doing business in New Zealand?
DH: New Zealand is really inexpensive to set up shop - you can get going establishing a company within a few days and on not a lot of money. It's relatively expensive to live in the cities so housing becomes a relatively high cost for employees, which means salaries are decent. There aren't a lot of 'transaction' costs, taxes are not bad and there are a lot of great government grants and incentives for research, development and for anybody trying to build a business from New Zealand that sells to the rest of the world. There isn't any capital gains tax either - but their probably should be!
LG: There are comparatively low costs of doing business in New Zealand, it's the international travel costs that can hurt new entrepreneurs based here.
What tips would you give to an entrepreneur thinking of starting-up in New Zealand?
DH: Get over there and meet the people and fall in love with the country! Building a start-up isn't just about the start-up, it's also about designing a new lifestyle for yourself - so thinking about where you are based is just as important as what kind of company you are going to build.
There are more and more technology and media entrepreneurs starting up companies in New Zealand every day and many of them are coming from overseas.
We are also creating some fantastic bio-tech and green technology companies just like LanzaTech (which Virgin partners with to pioneer a new age of biofuels for air travel) and taking them to the world.
LG: I'd say: spend some time getting to know people first and get introductions, plan to start a global business, tour the country and spend time talking to entrepreneurs in each city before deciding where to live, be aware that some businesses are not ideal for NZ, make sure your start up suits the local conditions and don't forget to jump on a plane and meet your customers as soon as possible.
