Make it happen, Make it real
I’ve been a bit remiss for not posting on this sooner (and not posting in a while). I’m so proud of how well Dave and Tim have accomplished getting their startups off the ground. Both their startups recently received some serious global exposure and both were met with outstanding reviews, which they well deserved.
Ponoko
On-demand, social manufacturing - design, share, and buy laser-cut products from a variety of materials
Dave launched Ponoko at the TechCrunch 40 event with big buzz and fantastic reviews like this from Michael Arrington “Ponoko is a cool way for designers to create new physical products and sell them. Users collaborate on design and prototyping all the way through to production.” It was also hilarious that Dave emailed me afterwards and said that the first person who approached him was a VC who started off asking “Do you happen to know an American interaction designer…Philip Fierlinger?”
I was really lucky to have the opportunity to work with Dave for a short while. When we were just forming Xero, Dave consulted for us and worked along side us in the 404 apartment. I got to hear Dave’s early concepts for what would become Ponoko. From the outset I loved it and I was quite impressed that he was so unphased to take on, what seemed to me, such a daunting project. It’s definitely not your usual web startup. And that’s one important reason why it’s such a great idea.
PlanHQ
A collaborative planning tool to help start a business and keep it on track
Tim is a born entrepreneur who has a never ending reserve of passion and ideas. He presented his product PlanHQ at DEMO, which also got an excellent review from Msr. Arrington.
Tim is really active in the NZ web and business community. A little while ago he did a fantastic presentation on getting your startup funded:
The entire set of videos is well worth watching. It’s refreshingly frank and well informed, with great insights and tips, based on priceless experience.
Go New Zealand! Go Wellington. Let’s just not mention the rugby.
Posting your comment
Tim Norton | October 12, 2007 @ 12:18 am
Cheers Phil : )
The guys from Mint who won the Techcrunch event said to pass on their credits to you also for the interaction design of Xero.