Every week we ask a local business or product to introduce themselves in eight simple takes. This week we talk to Zoe Timbrell and Vaughan Rowsell of OMGTech!, the not-for-profit getting kids into coding and technology through a series of high-tech workshops.

ONE: How did OMGTech! start and what was your inspiration for the project?

Vaughan Rowsell (VR): I had the idea for OMGTech! three years ago and was really inspired by something my mum always did, which was to give back and pay it forward. She was a paraplegic solo unemployed mum of three boys and life was tough, but she always made room to give to others who needed it. She took care of us kids and wanted the best and brightest future for us.

One day in the early eighties she came home with a computer. She had borrowed some money and bought it as she had a hunch computers would be big. Everyone thought she was crazy since putting food on the table was hard enough and nobody had computers [at the time]. But that gesture meant that from that day on, we grew up with a computer. Us three boys lived on it. We learned to code, tinker and explore everything a computer could do.

My mum passed away shortly after I launched [cloud-based software company] Vend so I missed out on showing her how it set me up to do something big with technology. When she passed, I thought a lot about how to remember her, and several years later I figured out that I wanted to do that same thing she did for us boys but for every kid in New Zealand. Give them access to the emerging future technology and teach them how to invent and innovate with it. So we launched OMGTech! [in 2014] with the mission to give every girl and boy from any background in New Zealand the opportunity to be part of the future tech industry.

TWO: What kind of interest or experience in business/entrepreneurship did you have prior to starting OMGTech!? How did that inform your project?

VR: As the founder of Vend, I’d been working in tech startups my whole career and I became very aware that the profile of my peers in the industry was fairly homogenous. Mostly white guys and a lot of beards. So part of the reason for starting OMGTech! was to get more girls into tech. We also work with low decile communities so kids from less fortunate backgrounds can be part of the industry too.

Also as a start-up veteran and what I guess you would call a hacker, we wanted to run OMGTech! like a startup. We had no money so we had to think. We boot-strapped it and got investment from partners and have run it like a lean startup from day one. We’re not in the business to make money. We’ve funded it privately to keep it going. Our weekends and evenings are spent keeping it going and we have the support of an awesome volunteer network too.

THREE: Tell us about what OMGTech! does and how it works.

Zoe Timbrell (ZT): We run a number of programmes and workshops that teach the skills required to do fun and interesting stuff with future tech. Robots, drones, 3D printing, VR/AR, game design, sensors – you name it. Whatever the emerging tech is, we put together workshops that teach the concepts required to learn how this stuff works and how you can apply it to the real world. So content creation is a part of what we do.

We run a series of day-long events nationwide where parents and kids can come along and try out all of our workshops. They [get the chance to] programme up robots and design games. This creates the awareness about what we do and demystifies it so it doesn’t seem scary or hard.

We’ve developed all these workshops in a way so anyone can teach them. So we also run programmes to train teachers, volunteers, community groups and Iwi. We get more scale with the more people who can teach what we do. It’s like a self-replicating system.

Lastly, we develop overarching strategic programmes with community groups and educators to tailor the delivery of our workshops to match the needs of the kids in those communities. For example, we translated Microsoft’s Hour of Code into Te Reo to use these tools to work with Maori communities. A particular group of schools may not have the physical resources to teach things like robotics, so we figure out how to supply the gear to them. It’s all about removing the barriers to give access to the kids any way we can.

FOUR: What sort of lessons/activities go on in these OMGTech! workshops?

ZT: Robotics, VR/AR, design, ethics, computer science fundamentals, and a lot of coding. But we do it all in a way that’s fun. The kids don’t know they’re learning math and algorithms which, let’s be honest, are boring. Instead, they learn how to code a game.

FIVE: What was your reasoning behind partnering with major tech companies like Spark and Microsoft?

VR: An important part of inspiring kids and keeping up with the latest trends is to work with people who are active in the industry. We get amazing people from our partner companies like Spark and Microsoft to come along and help teach. The kids can then meet real people doing amazing things with technology and have some awesome role models. And as these companies do cool stuff with technology, they help us out by giving us the latest tools for the kids to use.

SIX: Do you think we’re doing enough in terms of educating young people today about future technologies? What would you like to see done by our government and leaders?

ZT: We can always do more and we’re actually really far behind. That’s why we started OMGTech! because we didn’t want to wait for the government to figure out there was a problem, or rather, a huge opportunity to get kids more literate with technology.

We just started doing it and demonstrating how simple it really is and how much kids and parents want it. We definitely helped some of our leaders catch up and see the opportunity ahead for New Zealand, and this has led to progress with some of the skills needed in computer science to be introduced into the school curriculum as of next year.

But we have so far to go. Kids outside of the major centres still have trouble getting reliable access to the internet, let along having a device to use on it. So there are real access problems in a lot of our communities. But even if we had every kid with access, we want to make sure they have the best content, the best tools and the most prepared educators to bring them all into a future that is going to be dominated by technology in every part of life. Let’s teach the kids how to create and innovate, not just be consumers of technology.

SEVEN: Do you have any plans to scale/grow further and if so, what are they?

VR: We are working with more and more communities all around New Zealand. But we are still a small team so it’s difficult to spread ourselves too far. We need more sponsorship so we can get onboard some more permanent team members and fund the development of new workshops. We’re also looking for people to help setup OMGTech! hubs in regions all around the country. All we need are a handful of passionate volunteers, a venue that can fit 50-100 kids and we can supply the rest. We can organise the logistics, marketing, and provide the gear and content. So anyone keen to start a new chapter let us know.

EIGHT: Lastly, tell us about a start-up or business that you really admire right now.

VR: Eat My Lunch is on a similar mission with a similar model. We also run our big events on a buy one, give one model. So if you buy a ticket, you’re sponsoring another kid to come along including their lunch, so we hope to join forces on this sometime soon. One day, we’ll get kids to make robots that can make the sandwiches and pack the bags too.

ZT: Rocket Lab because they’re showing every kid in New Zealand and the world that they can grow up to be rocket scientists. We have a space industry now and our kids will be the pioneers of a new frontier. Plus, some of our volunteers work there. We dream of having an OMGTech! space camp with Rocket Lab one day.

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More than 40 New Zealand businesses have been ranked as some of the fastest growing technology companies in the Asia-Pacific region by revenue growth. But the big surprise came from a digital marketing company that’s only been operating for about three years, Rebecca Stevenson reports.

This week a New Zealand company you’ve probably never heard of was announced as one of the fastest growing technology companies in the Asia-Pacific area.

Firefly Search, a digital marketing agency founded by 27-year-olds Anthony Baxter and Marko Kisa in 2014, saw its percentage revenue growth claim it 17th spot on the 2017 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific index, making it the top-ranked New Zealand company on the list. Firefly made the cut after booking revenue growth of 2156% over three years.

The index ranks companies on the blunt measure of percentage revenue growth, but with a much lower floor in revenue than its counterpart Kiwi list with US$50,000 (the New Zealand equivalent Fast50 has a revenue floor of NZ$500,000 to be included). But to be eligible for the list a company must own proprietary intellectual property or technology (that is sold to customers in products) that contributes to a majority of the company’s operating revenues.

Firefly’s Baxter says the marketing company’s high ranking was a pleasant shock. The chief executive officer says Firefly (which specialises in digital marketing from strategy creation through to search engine optimisation, content and social media campaigns) has achieved this growth in the most basic way possible – it’s all real revenue from real customers.

So what does Firefly do, exactly? The company is a Google Premium Partner, meaning it has met Google targets for expertise in using Adwords (Google’s online advertising programme where brands bid for ads associated with search terms), number of clients, spend and growth. Being present and being seen on Google is key – Firefly says “30% of all traffic will click on the top organic position through the result of implementing ecommerce SEO services.”

It may also recommend its clients use cookies to “remarket” their website to you once you leave it (those ads that seem to follow you everywhere). Firefly’s website says remarketing is “Simply put – JavaScript code is placed in the back-end of your website which drops an anonymous browser cookie onto every new visitor. This let’s Google/Facebook know that they have recently visited your website and bids in real time for ad placements to place your business message back in front of them.” The theory is it’s easier to turn someone who already showed an interest into a real sale.

Baxter acknowledges digital marketing can have the whiff of bullshit about it (website impressions don’t impress him much), but he says Firefly’s measureable outcomes – and technology solutions for measuring those outcomes – are what elevates it above the rest. He likens Firefly’s methodology to how McDonald’s makes a burger. Anyone can make a burger or use Adwords and cookies, but it’s the way – and process – of how Macca’s makes a burger in 25 seconds that gives the company its special sauce, Baxter says. Firefly similarly has a methodology around its digital marketing, he says. This is one strand of the company’s intellectual property.

It’s in measuring results for clients where Firefly says it also has intellectual property (needed to be considered for the index). It has a sister company, Call Metrics, with call tracking technology which lets its clients drill down and work out precisely where their customers’ calls have come from. Baxter says Call Metrics could be dangerous for Firefly as it will show up failures, but he’s firm this is what clients need; transparency and results. “If we don’t get it right the client will know. We are OK with that.”

Again, Google is at work. New, dynamic phone numbers are generated as people visit a website which are linked to searches and Adwords, so an advertiser can learn which ads are resulting in phone calls (prized because making a phone call takes effort and is more likely to lead to a sale). Call Metrics is cloud-based, and doesn’t need access to phone systems or websites either; code is attached through Google Tag Manager.

The Auckland-based company now has 15 staff. Baxter says it has plans to rebrand Firefly, push into Australia and grow Call Metrics. Next year the company will enter the New Zealand Fast50 competition, Baxter says.

Who else made the list? A total of 45 Kiwi businesses made the index including online lender Moola at number 49, followed by online tithing payment provider Pushpay at 56. The two financial services providers recorded revenue growth of 1013% and 914% respectively over three years. Appointment booking app Timely – who recently announced a $7 million investment – clocked in at 141, with Kiwi heavyweights Vend and Xero also making the list at number at 309 and 318.

Overall, the top 500 companies in 2017 averaged revenue growth of 600%, while the top ten companies in the ranking achieved average revenue growth of 11,995%. Both the top 500 and top 10 revenue growth figures are the highest recorded since 200, Deloitte said.

New Zealand hasn’t disgraced itself, despite it being the first time in five years where we’ve had under 50 companies make the list. When you line our effort up against the region’s big boys – India had 53, South Korea 43, Japan 46 – its not bad reading at all. China topped out with 119 on the list, five of the top ten and the top-ranked company, Douyu, a Chinese live streaming platform. So no competition there.

Venture capitalist Rowan Simpson says he was personally pleased to see Xero, Vend and Timely, all of which he’s been involved with, make the list. But he’s less keen on the top Kiwis ranked, saying none of them are his cup of tea. “But good for them,” Simpson says, “we’re doing well on a per capital basis”, even though comparing revenue growth from year-to-year can throw up variable results, and include outliers who have grown from a low base rapidly. “But that shouldn’t distract from the fact there are a good number of local companies that are growing at the very high rates required to be included. One of the great things about the Deloitte Fast 50 and 500 is that unlike most other business awards they are 100% objective (biggest revenue growth wins) not decided by judges.”

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