If you aren't a little obsessed, you aren't in a startup
PLUS: A $100m fund-of-funds boost by Government, moves to ban social media for under 16s ramp up + Microsoft lays off thousands.
Welcome to mid week!
We made it to hump day, a round of applause for everyone. Hope your week has so far been the productive kind of busy not the stressful kind.
Kicking off today, for paid subscribers we have the latest from our resident scribbler Serge van Dam with a reminder to all founders that obsession is the secret sauce which separates the startup from the standard business.
Here’s what’s in your Daily Shot of news you don’t want to miss
Serge van Dam: If you are not at least a little obsessed; you’re not in a startup
Government to boost Elevate fund by $100m
WNT Ventures launch fourth fund
Microsoft to lay off 6000 workers
Got a tip, press release or just a comment? Drop us a note: hello@caffeinedaily.co - we love to hear from you.
Finn & the Caffeine team
Scaling compliance made easy
Unlock bigger deals, enter new markets, and prove trust as you grow—all for a fraction of the time and money.
Vanta automates up to 90% of the work needed for SOC 2, ISO 27001, CPS 234, Essential 8 and more—saving you hundreds of hours and up to 85% of the cost.
Vanta’s compliance programme makes it simple to lay crucial security foundations that scale as you grow. Join 8,000 companies like Atlassian, Dovetail, InDebted, Sharesies and Flossie that use Vanta to build trust and prove security in real time.
Check out a real time customer story from NZ startup success Flossie.
PLUS download this FREE GLOBAL GUIDE to starting a ‘Security Compliance Programme.
We’re excited to partner with BNZ. As New Zealand's largest business bank, BNZ shares our mission to support the next wave of founders and operators. Over the coming months, we’ll be working together to share insights, tools, and stories that help you grow smarter and faster. Keep an eye out every Thursday for content powered by BNZ.
Scribbles from the Startup Frontlines: If you are not at least a little obsessed; you’re not in a startup
TLDR: If you are not at least a little obsessed; you’re not in a startup. You are merely in a business.
With the support of our friends at Caffeine Daily, Troy Hammond and I host a podcast / show; Startup Theatre (often referred to as “The World’s Biggest Podcast”). We recently interviewed the co-founder of Xero, Hamish Edwards. What came through loud and clear in our conversation with him (which you can watch / listen to here) is the role of obsessive behaviour when it comes to starting, building and scaling a company.
The first startup to properly suck me in was a mobile banking company called M-Com I was involved in. I really would wake up in the middle of the night thinking about how to win a deal (or panicking that I had lost one). I really did have product-related eureka moments in the bathroom, even though I was neither a founder nor responsible for the product. And I certainly missed more than a handful of conversations I was having with friends or family because I was obsessing about our company and its ambitions. I am not saying it was honourable conduct, but I think it was necessary. And bizarrely, I miss the feeling!
I accept that there is a fine line between being passionate and pathological. Founders and start-up people often blur work-life boundaries. But that’s both where the burnout AND the magic happens. [**it became cool for a while to pretend this is not true, but it is.]
Paid subscribers can check out the full column below
If you are not at least a little obsessed; you’re not in a startup
Serge van Dam is an early stage startup investor, focused on going-global productivity software (SaaS) companies. He spends much of his time with a bayonet in hand yelling “now” in the startup trenches.
Government to boost state-backed Elevate fund by $100m: I have been as critical as anyone else at the Government’s move to restructure the various funding and grant structures which are the feeders to startups so hearing that there is a $100m boost to the state-backed Elevate Venture fund in a pre-budget announcement was welcome news this week. In her speech, Minister Willis said since its inception, Elevate has also attracted about $600 million of private investment into the venture capital market. $61 million of the additional funding for Elevate is coming from the Crown’s 2025 contribution to the NZ Super Fund. Check out the full speech from Nicola Willis here.
Govt ramps up move to ban social media for under 16s: Well since we already touched on the Government lets check in one of their other more consequential decisions made recently. As we covered last week, National MP Catherine Wedd has put forward a members' bill which would follow Australia's lead on cracking down on the social media giants. However since a members bill has be to bulled out of a literal biscuit tin in a ballot, unless the Government formally moves to create new legislation the chances of anything happening are lower. Now the PM has ramped up focus on this issue by saying Government is formally investigating options for how this ban could work, outside of the Members Ballot, and put Erica Stanford on the job. More detail from 1 News here.
WNT Ventures launch fourth fund: And the Elevate news isn’t all the good news that’s happening in VC world this morning with a great piece here from Tim McCready over at NZ Herald revealing that WNT Ventures are launching their fourth fund, targeting $35-$40 million for early stage deep tech ventures. The Herald piece highlights the fund has already made its first investment, into carbon capture startup Captivate Technologies. There’s some great detail in here, including an interview with WNT Ventures managing partner Maria Jose Alvarez who seems very clear-eyed about both the opportunities for NZ while having a no nonsense approach to some of the frothier aspects of the current tech economy. Check it out here.
Microsoft to lay off around 3% of workforce: Checking in on one of the titans of the tech sector now and despite Bill Gates pledging to give away most of his fortune much for quickly than expected, the company he founded is as ruthlessly bottom line focused as ever. After a streak of profitable quarters, Microsoft has announced its axing around 6000 roles globally as it responds to surging capital costs on its ambitious AI programme. Reuters reports a fascinating stat from one analyst that base don current projections, for every year that that the tech titan spends at the current rate, they will have to reduce headcount by 10,000.
Considering the news above, thought it was fitting to finish on a Bill Gate’s quote which feels permanently relevant to founders
That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Want to get in touch with a news tip, bit of feedback or just to chat? Email hello@caffeinedaily.co
