Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Caffeine

The good thing about the end of the year is sitting back and reflecting on the year that was: did we achieve our goals? What progress did we make? Are we winning?

With Caffeine still only four months into its own startup journey, it’s too soon to answer all those questions but we seem to have struck a chord with many founders and others in the ecosystem based on positive feedback (we don’t bother reading the negative stuff – just joking!).

Here’s how our co-founder James Hurman recently reflected on the journey in a social media post:

“What a ride! A year ago, Julie and I decided we wanted to do something to fix the lack of great local startup news. In April, it was still just a reasonably blurry concept that was becoming more about founder-focused content and community as we shopped the idea around founders and the ecosystem for feedback. Then in June we set ourselves a crazy objective to get Caffeine built and live by September. And somehow we did it!”

“Since launching, the goal has been to figure out how to create content that's genuinely useful to founders, and better connect founders with each other and the most useful bits of the ecosystem around them.” 

“Like all of the companies we're involved with at Previously, it's a process of doing stuff, then listening and iterating. 2024 will be the year we learn how to build something that's of genuine value to founders and helps make a tangible difference to startup outcomes in Aotearoa New Zealand.”

So as we look forward to 2024, we’re asking how we can better serve New Zealand’s startup community and we’d welcome your thoughts. What goals should we realistically set ourselves in what looks set to be another tough year in the startup world with investment capital remaining tight? And should I personally bother making a New Year’s resolution when I never stick to it? (Maybe this is the year!)

The Caffeine team is winding up from today, Friday 22 December, but we'll continue daily coverage over the next two weeks with our Break from BAU series and then a week featuring our best stories of 2023, based on readership numbers.

We’ll resume normal coverage and our newsletters from 8 January 2024. 

New things we’re introducing on the editorial side include our very first podcast – one on startup growth powered by New Zealand Capital Growth Partners. We’ll also have a series on hot offshore markets, a new columnist, and a focus on AI with an Ask Me Anything panel of experts, who will hopefully answer any AI-related questions you throw at them.

We’ll also start a weekly series on the trials and tribulations of being a startup founder through the eyes of Caffeine’s other co-founder, Julie Gill. 

And we’ll be based in a swanky new office space downstairs from Previously Unavailable in Ponsonby, co-working alongside the Ideally startup team. 

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a festive New Year and we look forward to telling more good yarns and sharing useful insights in 2024.

Fiona and the Caffeine team