The Business of Tech

Back in July of 2023, now last year, Rocket Lab finalised its plans for recovering and reusing engines for its rockets. Founder and CEO Peter Beck spared some time to chat about what that means for the company. Plus, he spoke about how he saw the space industry in Aotearoa New Zealand, and where he thought we stood on the global stage. Since then, Beck hosted the National Party’s pre-election spac...

Mark Clare is the founding and managing partner at Clare Capital, a boutique investment bank that releases a regular tech insights newsletter. We chose this conversation to feature because not only does Mark offer fantastic insights about listed companies and the public market, but goes wider than that. He talks about the private capital market, about the value that a strong NZX can bring to the c...

It's episode 33, the final full episode for the year. To put a bow on what has been a full on year of tech news, we quickly recap the biggest stories from 2023 from across the world, and in Aotearoa New Zealand. Then we speak to Merja Myllylahti, a senior lecturer at AUT and co-director of the universities research centre for journalism, media and democracy (JMAD). She recently published her book...

This week we look back at the NZ tech stock market in 2023 to get a sense of where priorities lie for those investing their capital into the industry, and which stocks to watch in 2024. We speak to three financial markets specialists, Clare Capital’s founder Mark Clare, and Joshua Dale and Stephen Ridgewell from Craigs Investment Partners to hear about the positives and negatives of higher rates a...

Artificial intelligence exploded onto the scene in a major way in 2023, establishing foundations for a level of disruption that we don't yet fully understand. In this episode, we speak to Simply Privacy's Frith Tweedie and Frankly AI's Matt Ensor about what we saw in the AI market this year, and where we might see it go in 2024. We also share our thoughts about the new government's ministerial mak...

Easy Crypto CEO and co-founder Janine Grainger joins us to explain why she and her team decided to launch a locally owned wallet, and the NZDD stablecoin pegged to the NZ dollar, and backed 1:1 by funds in the bank. Plus, we discuss the biggest tech story of the year, the ousting of OpenAI founding CEO Sam Altman, and why the news should matter to Kiwis and their businesses. Note: When Ben said ar...

Toby Littin features this week’s episode to talk about the global success of Parkable, a company that started in 2015 as a way to connect drivers with people with spare carparks, and has grown into an international parking management platform with the likes of Meta as a customer. Littin speaks to the changes a company goes through when it moves from start up to scale up, and whether it’s possible...

This week, Peter talks to stalwart of both the supermarket and telecommunications industries, Ernie Newman. In the early 2000s, the government intervened to ensure that the monopoly that then-Telecom had on broadband internet industry didn’t last long. What can we learn from those efforts and where should we be putting out hopes for disruption?  We also chat about the latest tech news including, t...

Peter talks to Lawrence Gasman, the founder of news and research company Inside Quantum Technology, who says that quantum computing and the changes it will bring is now just around the corner. Whether you’re a total quantum newbie or an industry stalwart this interview will give you something to think about. We also dig into the latest tech news, including Supie’s downfall and the surprising ups a...

This week we look into Tātaki Auckland Unlimited's plan to grow the city's tech industry, create high-paying jobs and attract more talent and investment to the region. One year into the three year Tech Tāmaki Makaurau strategy, how are things tracking?  Tātaki's head of tech and innovation Marissa Brindley joins us to explain how the Auckland Council's economic development arm is helping startups...

On this episode we chat with Emma-Kate Greer, 2degrees' chief corporate affairs officer whose duties include overseeing the telco's emissions reduction and sustainability efforts. She shares why 2degrees has gone with science-based targets and how it plans to get there, offering a frank look at the challenges faced by the telecommunication industry. Emma-Kate also offers some insight into where NZ...

With the 2023 general election just days away we have one last episode around tech and politics, this time looking at the fear that concerted and bad-faith social media campaigns are eroding the very fabric of democracy. We're joined by Ximena Smith from the public interest think tank Brainbox Institute who digs into whether the outcome of democratic elections are really being swung by social medi...

Whoever wins the vote at the election, it is going to be a very different government than we have had for most of the past six years. Part of that, is going to be overseeing the contuing digitalisation of business, government and pretty much every other part of our society. One big project will be enabling digital identification for the residents of Aotearoa, a move that is working its way through...

We talk to Worldline’s Julia Nicol, who outlines the upcoming debut of contactless Eftpos, as well as Tristan Dakin of Wise, who explains the digital money transfer platform’s new deal with Swift, and what it could mean for integration with banks worldwide.  Also, BusinessDesk’s media writer Daniel Dunkley joins us to talk about Meta’s standoff with the Canadian government over the Online News Act...

Dr Matt Boyd of Adapt Research deals with catastrophes on a day-to-day basis. In episode 21 of The Business of Tech, Dr Boyd takes us through some of the big risks on his radar, both natural and man-made, and suggests how we can put in place the ”resilience infrastructure” to give us a shot at coping with a major global catastrophe that could see us isolated from our trading partners and left to f...

This week, we catch up with our resident political guru, Pattrick Smellie, BusinessDesk’s founder and editor, to get his insights into how tech issues are factoring into politicians' thinking.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Silicon Valley is a bastion of innovation, where fortunes are made and unicorns created. But it also has its dark side in the rapacious business models, and the extreme concentration of power and wealth the Valley's key players have amassed. In his new book Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism and the World, best-selling author Malcolm Harris revisits the city where he grew up and takes...

Mark Billinghurst is a professor at the University of Auckland’s bioengineering institute and director of the empathic computing laboratory at the University of South Australia in Adelaide. In our feature interview he paints a mixed future for mixed reality tech. And Ben and Peter talk about a raft of new research showing that Kiwis trust in AI is lower than ever, and the increasing pressure for r...

Is it time for NZ to be bolder with regulating big tech? Peter talks to the European Union's envoy to Silicon Valley about how the EU's efforts to regulate big tech have been received and what NZ could learn from the massive government's imminent law changes. We also ask if Microsoft's co-pilot can really be worth the pricetag. Subscribe on   iHeart Radio  or  wherever you get podcasts. Reading li...

This week our main feature comes from Peter's experience at the site of OpenStar, a local startup that has big plans for creating a viable nuclear fusion reactor. He speaks to founder Ratu Mataira, investor Robbie Paul, and fusion expert Dennis Whyte to get their takes on what OpenStar is doing differently. Ben reports on one of the startup events of the year: Ministry of Awesome's Electrify Aotea...

This week's episode is sponsored by 2degrees and takes a deep look at the telco's Shaping Business report for 2023. Ben interviews a guest panel that includes: 2degrees chief business officer Andrew Fairgray, Mitre10 CEO Andrea Scown, and Founder of Valocity, Data Insight and Generate Zero Carmen Vicelich. Plus, Ben and Peter share their own views on some of the key findings. Subscribe on   iHeart...

This month was the hottest in recorded history, and the evidence that humanity is at fault is irrefutable. That's why episode 14 is all about how using data and digital tools could help start to move the needle on greenhouse gas emmissions. From next year, listed companies are going to be expected to disclose their emmissions in their annual reports. KPMG director and data specialist Greg Scott jo...

It's episode 13 and Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck joins to talk about why the company gave up on catching rockets with helicopters to focus on fishing them out of the ocean instead. Beck also gives detail into what's happening at Rocket Lab and where he sees Aotearoa New Zealand on the global space industry stage. News topics: Twitter is out, X is... well, Twitter's called X now. Cutting c...

Tāwhaki chief exec Linda Falwasser and BryceTech managing director Simon Potter join this week to talk about the big plans for an aerospace hub on the Kaitorete Spit in Canterbury, and how it can help rejuvenate the surrounding land and water. We also speak to Brooke Lord from the NZ and Aus recruitment peak body RCSA about the sudden drop in tech job listings. Our news topics include: Monopoly co...

No one is 100% immune to being scammed and for businesses, one simple mistake can cost dearly. We talk to Nigel Latta who has returned to NZ's screens with You've Been Scammed, a deep dive on the business of scams in Aotearoa and has some top tips for who to be wary of and how to avoid becoming a victim yourself. Tech news covered: Should we have a sovreign cloud for AI? The impending end of 3G mo...