Laid back attitude holding Kiwi startups back, specialist says

New Zealanders are generally known for their laidback approach to life, but in business the attitude is holding us back from global success, according to digital strategist Cris Tran.

Tran was in Christchurch last week speaking at the Canterbury Tech Summit. The Vietnamese digital strategist is the founder and executive advisor of Unicorn Ultra Foundation, a blockchain ecosystem based on a venture-builder model that incubates and invests in a number of startups, predominantly in emerging areas of technology like AI and blockchain.

An experienced CEO and a management consultant with the Frontier Leader Institute, Tran is passionate about startups and helping more established companies get into blockchain, as well as having an interest in fostering global partnerships.

A range of companies, including HSBC bank and coffee chain Starbucks, are already embracing blockchain technology – the latter launching a Web3-based loyalty programme, complete with interactive games and NFTs. When Nike introduced a collection of NFT shoes, some of the virtual footwear sold for six-figure sums.

Now based in Vietnam, Tran studied at Massey University in Auckland, so has a good take on the digital business cultures in both New Zealand and Asia.

When comparing the two, his foremost piece of advice for New Zealand companies is to learn to be more aggressive.

While brand New Zealand is well respected on the world stage, he believes we’ve been “a little too organic” with our marketing, and we need to move with the times.

“When I first came here I was shocked that Xero actually comes from New Zealand.

“Somehow the branding is not as strong as it’s supposed to be, we need to work on more aggressive branding.”

Prioritising a more forceful sales and marketing push may not come easy for Kiwis, but Tran says the hard work has already been done in producing a quality product.

“I’m not worried about New Zealand products being lousy; they are great, and the government is really supportive as well. But the brand is still based on the good quality product that we’ve been delivering to the world for the last 50 years.

“So it’s not about capability, it’s about making the choice to go further, to push a little more forward.”

Global talent

Talent strategy is also important for a small country like New Zealand, especially after Covid, so bringing people in from overseas is key. But so is exploring digital Asian markets, in order to truly experience the vibrancy and creativity going on in the sector, he says.

Tran says there are plenty of agencies in Asia that would love to hear about New Zealand’s digital initiatives, so we need to start connecting with them. Bringing in talent, particularly from Asia, would help open these lines of communication too.

However, we first need to create a shift in our mentality and expand our horizons, he says. New Zealand should be playing a far more important role in collaborating with the vibrant digital technology market in Asia, he says.

“We have a lot of world-class startups in New Zealand but they haven’t had the chance to get into Vietnam or elsewhere in Asia.”

The reason for this, he says, is our lack of drive: the mentality from some startup founders that we’ll be fine just selling to New Zealand and Australia. Once we address this and start to look further afield, the world will be our oyster, he says.

‍