James Alder, second from left, with, from left, Deloitte's Darren Johnson, bookme.co.nz's Richard Thomas and BNZ's David Blakey at an awards evening celebrating New Zealand's entrepreneurial success stories. Photo / Supplied
James Alder, second from left, with, from left, Deloitte's Darren Johnson, bookme.co.nz's Richard Thomas and BNZ's David Blakey at an awards evening celebrating New Zealand's entrepreneurial success stories. Photo / Supplied
A man who runs his booming online venture mainly from Whangarei cafes says his type of business is perfectly suited for Northland, and adds resilience to the economy.
It's "business as usual but grow, grow, grow" for James Alder, the Ocean Beach-based founder of bookme.co.nz - a booking website foractivities, attractions and experiences that has infiltrated Australia and is about to hit Fiji.
The company ranked 25th on this year's Deloitte Fast 50 index, making the list for the second time and growing 278 per cent over the last three years.
Mr Alder said it was difficult to make the list in the first place and even more difficult to maintain that initial growth.
Seven of bookme.co.nz's 15 staff were based in Northland, though part of the beauty of the business model was that they could work from anywhere.
Mr Alder's business partner Nick Reekie works from rural Canterbury and the pair did not see each other in person during their first year in business, communicating by Skype, phone and email.
Last year at the Fast 50 ceremony Mr Alder donned a zombie costume in a parody of economist Shamubeel Eaqub's comments that there are "zombie towns" in New Zealand which need to close.
Mr Alder left the costume at home this year but was still passionate about Whangarei and the lifestyle it and similar towns offered.
"Happiness isn't two hours on the motorway, it just isn't," he said. "With our company everyone works mainly from home. Most of our accounts and admin people are mums so they juggle a busy family life. Sometimes that means doing work from the playground."
Mr Alder does most of his work in Whangarei's CBD - either at Deluca cafe or BNZ.
"All I drink is long blacks so hopefully that covers the seat space," he said.
Bookme.co.nz was joined on the Fast 50 list by digital media company eCommistry, who appeared for the first time at number 17, with 321 per cent growth. While its Bay of Islands-based director Todd Welling recently left the firm, co-founder Matt Long said the business's success showed this type of model could work anywhere.
He employed 12 staff across six countries - Australia, New Zealand, Serbia, Belarus, Mauritius and Ukraine.
"I find the best people I can anywhere in the world and it gives us a 16-hour day development window and hours of support. E-commerce is a 24/7 business.
"One of our staff is in Mt Maunganui. If that's where he wants to live then he can go for it " their work revolves around their life."
