Starting a company is never a straight line — it’s a rollercoaster. It’s easy to say “just start,” “go global,” or “build something people want,” but the real challenge is in the execution. This page brings together founder journeys that show what it actually takes to turn ideas into momentum: the sparks, the peaks, the setbacks, and the resilience that keeps the ride trending upwards.

Whether you’re building your first product, exploring new industries, or studying how great companies grow, these case studies surface the key learnings at a glance — practical lessons from founders who’ve lived the chaos, made the calls, and kept climbing.

Explore the Case Studies:

Global Scalers

New Zealand is a small market. If you want to build something that matters, you have to build beyond it.

But going global? Easy to talk about. Brutally hard to pull off.

In Global Scalers, we follow real New Zealand founders as they take ambitious companies offshore—through timing dilemmas, capital challenges, distribution puzzles, and the emotional cost of scaling. Honest stories, practical lessons, and the truth behind the headlines

Volpara Health

(coming soon)

Volpara Health began with a simple but unfashionable insight: before you “do AI,” you stabilise the physics. That single choice became the backbone of a global med-tech platform built from Wellington to the world.

From early grants to FDA approval, from direct sales to a public listing, Volpara shows how disciplined science, thoughtful capital, and mission-led culture can scale further — and last longer — than hype ever could.

About the Founder

Ralph Highnam founded and led Volpara Health from a Wellington start-up to a twice-acquired med-tech company used in clinics worldwide.

About the Interviewer

Angus Blair is a General Partner at Outset Ventures, backing more than 25 science-led spinouts across aerospace, med-tech, and advanced materials.

Consumer Brand Case Studies

Most startup case studies online? SaaS.

Meanwhile, consumer brands make up half the ecosystem and get almost no airtime. No playbooks, no scars, no clear path forward.

And that’s the problem. Founders build faster when they can stand on the shoulders of giants. We’re fixing that.

Six Barrel Soda

NZ’s Craft Soda Brand

FTN Motion

NZ’s Electric Motorcycle Brand

Ārepa

NZ’s Brainfood Brand

Girl Native

NZ’s Indigenous Skincare Brand

The NZ Start a Startup Wiki

The Most Comprehensive Collection of Kiwi Startup Case Studies (40 and counting)

Learn from the journeys of New Zealand’s most successful founders — what worked, what didn’t, and how to ride the startup rollercoaster with fewer bumps.

Practical lessons, proven tactics, and Kiwi ingenuity to help you avoid mistakes and scale faster