New Zealand’s free co-working day for builders.
What Founders Want is launching the Wellington chapter of HackAotearoa, and helping it reach the rest of the country. Here is what it is, why it exists, and how to get in.
The hardest part of getting started isn't one problem. It's two.
The earliest stage of a company, from idea to first paying customers, is where founders lose the most and get the least real help. Two things go wrong at once:
Gap one, knowing:
It’s hard to know what you don’t know. Which accelerator. Whose money to take, and on what terms. Do I need a lawyer? How can the government support me, and the first steps out of the gate. Get these wrong and you don't get a warning. You pay later, in time, money and equity you can't get back.
Gap two, doing:
Building from your living room is quiet in a way that kills momentum. The most useful person to a founder is almost always another founder a few steps ahead, and most founders go months without sitting next to one. Isolation doesn't announce itself. It slowly saps your motivation.
Most startup support picks one gap and charges for it, or wraps both inside a programme you have to apply to and give something up for. WFW x HackAotearoa covers both, and charges founders nothing.
Theory and practice. Online and offline.
What Founders Want, the theory
Online, free, neutral. How to raise money without wrecking your company. Who does what across the ecosystem, and what it actually costs. What to do, and in what order. No pay-to-play, no advisers taking a cut, and no founder is ever charged. Around 75,000 sessions since April 2025, with no paid marketing.
HackAotearoa, the practice
In person, free, every second Friday. No speakers, no programme, no pitching. One full day building your own thing alongside other founders on the same journey. Someone in the room has already hit the wall you're stuck on. You leave having shipped something, instead of bleeding time while you sit through panels and fireside chats.
The reference layer is online, the build day is in the room.
What HackAotearoa actually is
The co-working community for New Zealand startup builders. Started in Auckland in March 2026. Building solo, together.
Momentum. A full day carved out to ship, sitting next to people doing exactly the same thing.
Getting unstuck. Someone in the room has hit your exact wall before. Pricing, the landing page, the 2pm bug.
People who get it. Building your own thing is lonely. A room full of founders is the straightforward fix.
Investors, lawyers, operators and experienced founders are welcome to pull up a desk too, as members of the room, not as sponsors or speakers.
The point is to build next to founders, not to present at them.
And what it isn't, so nobody arrives expecting the wrong thing
- Not a HackAthon. No shared challenge, no teams, no prize, nothing to prepare. Bring whatever you're already building.
- Not an incubator or accelerator. No equity, no application, no demo day. An incubator takes a slice of your company. This asks for a Friday.
- Not developers and tech startups only. You don't need a startup or a codebase. Designers, marketers, writers and side-project builders are regulars.
The day
No agenda to sit through. You show up, say what you're building, and build it. That's the whole shape of the day.
9:00 — Doors open. Coffee, grab a desk, settle in.
9:30 — Intros. Who you are, what you're building, what you want to get done today.
All day — Build. Heads down on your own thing, alongside everyone doing the same. Ask for help when you're stuck.
12:00 — Lunch, together (if you want).
4:00 — Demos. Five minutes each, optional. Progress, not polish.
5:00 — Wrap up, or keep working if you're in the zone.
Auckland: the proof it works
HackAotearoa started at GridAKL in Wynyard Quarter and has pulled more than 100 builders through the door since March 2026, on nothing but word of mouth and a good format. The venue is sponsored, so the day stays free. Nobody is selling anything in the room. That is the whole model, and it's the reason it keeps filling up.
Run by: HackAotearoa, James Smejlis
Venue: GridAKL, Wynyard Quarter, Auckland
Cadence: every second Friday
Cost: free
→ RSVP to Auckland
Wellington: the first new city
What Founders Want is launching HackAotearoa's Wellington chapter, the first city beyond Auckland. Same format, same price: free.
A co-working day where Wellington founders finally build in the same room instead of alone across the city.
Plainly, so you know who's running this. Lane Litz, who runs What Founders Want, runs the Wellington chapter in person. WFW is HackAotearoa's national distribution partner. HackAotearoa owns the brand and the format. WFW builds Wellington and helps the next cities launch. Founders pay nothing to either.
Run by: What Founders Want, Lane Litz
First session: TBD
Venue: TBD
Cadence: every second Friday
Cost: free
→ Booking link coming soon
Where should HackAotearoa go next?
Auckland works. Wellington is starting. You tell us the third city.
Upvote where HackAotearoa should launch next. And if you'd help make it happen, raise your hand to run it, co-host, or offer a venue. Two minutes, no login.
Vote for your city, here
There are three ways to raise your hand, and every one of them starts a new chapter:
Run a chapter. You want HackAotearoa in your city and you'll be the person who makes it happen. We hand you the format, the templates, and the support to launch.
Co-host. You'll help someone else run it: welcoming people, building the room, showing up. No fee, no programme.
Offer a venue. You have a space that could host around 30 founders every second Friday, at no cost. In return, it becomes the long-term home of that city's founder co-working community.
Why WFW is behind this
Founders pay too much, in money, time and equity, because they’re missing key information at the moment they need it. That's what What Founders Want fixes, online, for free. No pay-to-play.
But you can read every right answer and still stall out alone in your living room. HackAotearoa is the other half: the room where you actually build.
Both are free. Neither sells you anything. Founders never pay. That isn't a launch offer or a growth tactic. It's the entire point.
HackAotearoa owns its brand, format and community. What Founders Want is HackAotearoa's national distribution partner and runs the Wellington chapter. Events are free to attend. This is a collaboration between two independent organisations, not a legal partnership or advisory relationship, and no founder is charged to take part.
Links: HackAotearoa.nz · RSVP on Luma · HackAotearoa on LinkedIn
