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In New Zealand, you usually hear about a grant, a programme or an event because one person posted about it.
This page lists 37 of those people: who they are, what they do now, and where they are based.
The list is informed by the startup community, through nominations, and by the WFW team.
Funding deadlines, programmes and events rarely appear in one central place. They show up in the posts of people who share them in public, most often on LinkedIn. Follow the right ones and you find out before applications close.
This is not an endorsement list. There are no rankings, sponsors or paid spots.
Last updated 8 October 2026.
What is a startup super-connector?
A super-connector is someone who regularly shares startup opportunities, events and programmes in public.
Sometimes they are the source of the opportunity. More often, they are how a founder finds out it exists.
How to read the tags
Each person has one line of tags, always in the same order: sector, who their work is for, what a founder can get from them, and where they are based.
- Venture Capital: works at a fund that invests in startups
- Angel Investment: invests their own money, often through an angel group
- Crowdfunding: runs a platform where companies raise money from the public
- Programmes & Hubs: runs or works at an accelerator, incubator, startup hub or university programme
- Community Builder: runs a founder community, meet-ups or events
- Media: publishes a newsletter, magazine or podcast you can subscribe to
- Coaching & Advice: coaches founders or advises on one topic
- International Opportunity: a route to programmes outside New Zealand
"Industry Agnostic" means they are worth following whatever you are building. Māori, Women and Students appear only when a person's current work is for that group.
NZ Startup Super-Connectors: the 2026 list
Listed alphabetically by first name. Not ranked.
Adam Walmsley and Dean Watson
EdTech · Community Builder · Media · Nationwide
Adam and Dean co-founded EdTech Jobs NZ in 2024, a free community with a fortnightly newsletter covering jobs, companies, investors and events in New Zealand education technology. Dean is Executive Director of EdTech New Zealand, the sector's peak body. Adam sits on its Executive Council and is Head of Business Development at LearnCoach. Adam co-founded Code Avengers, and Dean was a founding employee at LearnCoach.
Follow Adam Walmsley on LinkedIn · Follow Dean Watson on LinkedIn
Anna Guenther
Industry Agnostic · Women · Crowdfunding · Wellington
Anna co-founded PledgeMe in 2011, New Zealand's first crowdfunding platform. She pushes for ways to raise money outside banks and venture capital, and backs physical product companies that struggle to raise from traditional investors. This year she travels on a Churchill Fellowship to research what gets more money to female founders.
Follow Anna Guenther on LinkedIn
Brett Holland
Industry Agnostic · Programmes & Hubs · Wellington
Brett helped build Creative HQ in Wellington, one of New Zealand's longest-running startup support organisations, set up in 2003. He joined its board in 2014, then led its accelerators, including Lightning Lab, and its innovation programmes for startups, corporates and government. He is now Chief Innovation Officer. Earlier, in the United States, he founded BoxDirect and co-founded Akoya, both later acquired.
Follow Brett Holland on LinkedIn
Brianne West
Industry Agnostic · Coaching & Advice · Nationwide
Brianne is a microbiologist who founded Ethique in Christchurch in 2012 and grew it into a packaging-free beauty brand that was later acquired. She now runs Incredibrands, maker of Incrediballs, a plastic-free drink concentrate, and Because Why?!, which looks into environmental problems and helps fund early research on possible fixes. She is a WWF-New Zealand trustee, speaks and judges at startup events, and posts about honest marketing and how New Zealand funds science.
Follow Brianne West on LinkedIn
Chris O'Neill
Industry Agnostic · Programmes & Hubs · Wellington
Chris has been at Creative HQ in Wellington since 2021. He spends most of his time coaching startups from across Aotearoa. His areas of passion are Fintech and how AI is going to transform the world of startups. Before Creative HQ he spent five years at the Ākina Foundation advising and coaching social enterprise startups. He also runs his own business.
Follow Chris O'Neill on LinkedIn
Colm Kearney
Industry Agnostic · Programmes & Hubs · Wellington
Colm is GM Startups and Head of Tech Sector at Creative HQ in Wellington, and sits on the FinTechNZ Executive Council. He joined Creative HQ in 2023 after more than eight years at Callaghan Innovation, where he managed the C-Prize technology challenge and finished on the executive leadership team.
Follow Colm Kearney on LinkedIn
Dascha Cooper
Industry Agnostic · Programmes & Hubs · Wellington
Dascha is Business Partner, Tech Sector and Entrepreneurship at Victoria University of Wellington, and holds the same role part-time at Taiawa, the Wellington Tech Hub. Before that she was Programme Manager, Tech Sector at WellingtonNZ, the region's economic development agency, working on its plan to grow the number of startups in Wellington and attract venture capital to the region.
Follow Dascha Cooper on LinkedIn
Emelie Verseput
Industry Agnostic · Community Builder · Wellington
Emelie builds startup communities, again and again. She ran projects and community at Venture Centre in Tauranga, including Tauranga Startup Weekend, then built founder communities at Phase One Ventures, GD1 and Movac, and grew NextWork's student community. She is now co-founder of KONA Retreat.
Follow Emelie Verseput on LinkedIn
Eve Charles
Industry Agnostic · Programmes & Hubs · Community Builder · Auckland
Eve has been Startup Hub Manager at GridAKL in Auckland since 2020, running its programmes, events and partnerships for startups. She sits on the organising committee for Auckland Startup Week and co-organises Founder Flight Club, volunteer-run peer support groups for founders. Before GridAKL she spent five years in economic development at ATEED, Auckland's economic growth agency.
Follow Eve Charles on LinkedIn
Holly Beals
Climate Tech · Programmes & Hubs · Community Builder · Wellington
Holly directs Aurora Climate Lab, the climate accelerator at Creative HQ in Wellington, where she has been a Senior Innovation Specialist since 2024. Before that she spent six years at Goodnature, including 15 months as interim chief executive. She is a member of Women in Climate Tech.
Follow Holly Beals on LinkedIn
James Fuller
Industry Agnostic · Coaching & Advice · Wellington
James is co-founder and CEO of Hnry, the Wellington company he started in 2016 to handle tax, invoicing and insurance for self-employed people. Alongside running Hnry, he gives his time for free to the startup community, speaking at events and sitting on judging panels. He also worked on Creative HQ's accelerators while starting Hnry.
Follow James Fuller on LinkedIn
Jesse Henderson
Industry Agnostic · Community Builder · Coaching & Advice · Northland
Jesse co-founded Whangārei Startups in 2025, the volunteer-run community now growing into Tai Tokerau Startups, which runs pitch-and-mix socials for Northland founders. She is a Startup Aotearoa regional coach for Tai Tokerau, and earlier ran Northland Inc's The Pick accelerator programmes, and works on the emerging Tai Tokerau Angel Network. She also leads business development at Get Better Problems, a sales-focused commercialisation consultancy.
Follow Jesse Henderson on LinkedIn
Joe Slater
Industry Agnostic · Coaching & Advice · Wellington
Joe coaches founders through Cascade Coaching NZ and sources opportunities for WFW Monthly as an Ecosystem Expert. He was General Manager Startups at Creative HQ from 2022 to 2025, where he co-created the Aurora Climate Lab and Fintech Lab accelerators.. He co-founded Six Barrel Soda in 2012 and sold it in 2025. His full-time role is Head of Product & Strategy at Consumer NZ.
Kate Radcliffe-Reid
Industry Agnostic · Community Builder · Canterbury
Kate is founder and CEO of Backkr, a Christchurch startup that helps small businesses find customers. On LinkedIn she profiles other business owners, shares marketing jobs and upcoming events, and posts honest lessons from building Backkr and the Christchurch startup scene.
Follow Kate Radcliffe-Reid on LinkedIn
Katharina Chiu and A-Chau Le
Industry Agnostic · Women · Community Builder · Auckland
Katharina and A-Chau co-founded From Scratch in 2025, a community of more than 200 women starting something new, whether that is a business, a side project or a career change. Katharina also leads Startup Run Club NZ. A-Chau is an angel investor and adviser with Startmate, and spent eight years at Google.
Follow Katharina Chiu on LinkedIn · Follow A-Chau Le on LinkedIn
Kirsty O'Hara
Industry Agnostic · Community Builder · Wellington
Kirsty shares write-ups of Wellington startup and tech events after they happen, and connects people across the city's tech community. She is also the founder of Againery, a Wellington startup building a clothing repair app.
Follow Kirsty O'Hara on LinkedIn
Lee Timutimu
Industry Agnostic · Māori / Pasifika · Community Builder · Waikato
Lee is co-founder of Te Hapori Matihiko, a community for Māori working in digital and technology, and founder of Te Matarau, the Māori Tech Association. Based in Hamilton, he sits on AI Forum NZ's Māori advisory panel. He has founded several companies, including the health tech startup Awa Digital Aotearoa and the low-cost internet provider Our Net.
Follow Lee Timutimu on LinkedIn
Maddie White
Deep Tech · Community Builder · Wellington
Maddie is Head of Strategic Engagement at Advemto, co-founder and CEO of LabMates, a platform for scientists to grow their careers, and a community builder at WellyForge, which brings Wellington's science and tech people together.
Follow Maddie White on LinkedIn
Mahesh Muralidhar
Industry Agnostic · Venture Capital · Auckland
Mahesh is Chief Executive of Phase One, an Auckland venture firm that works with early-stage New Zealand founders for free and invests in the companies that make progress. He sits on the board of Ministry of Awesome. Before Phase One he was an early leader at Canva and VP of People Operations at Airtasker. He is also a National Party candidate.
Follow Mahesh Muralidhar on LinkedIn
Mark Bregman
Deep Tech · Venture Capital · Auckland
Mark is Managing General Partner of Quidnet Ventures, an Auckland-based fund that invests early in deep tech companies. He sits on the Physical Sciences Investment Committee at Return on Science, the national research commercialisation programme, and on the boards of Arcanum AI, Litmaps and Marama Labs. Earlier he was chief technology officer at NetApp, NeuStar and Symantec.
Follow Mark Bregman on LinkedIn
Mark Robinson
Industry Agnostic · Coaching & Advice · Auckland
Mark wrote the WFW Expert Edition on New Zealand government support for startups. He spent seven years at Callaghan Innovation as a Business Innovation Advisor for the health sector, connecting companies to funding, technical help and markets. Mark now works as a fractional executive at VentureNest Advisory.
Follow Mark Robinson on LinkedIn
Mason Bleakley
Industry Agnostic · Venture Capital · International Opportunity · Auckland / USA
Mason is a Principal at Icehouse Ventures, where he started as an analyst in 2017. He has backed Appetise, Antioch, NextWork, Contented and Number 8 Bio, and has coached dozens of founders to pitch at Icehouse Ventures' Showcase. In September 2026 he moved to New York to help Kiwi companies expand into the US, where he also hosts catch-ups for Kiwi founders and operators.
Follow Mason Bleakley on LinkedIn
Mat Rowe
Deep Tech · Venture Capital · Programmes & Hubs · Auckland
Mat is Founding Partner and Director of Outset Ventures in Auckland, a deep tech incubator and venture investor with its own laboratory and workshop space for early-stage companies. He was a founding employee at LanzaTech, co-founded Dotterel Technologies and Mint Innovation.
Michael Cousins
Industry Agnostic · International Opportunity · Wellington
Mike has spent nearly 20 years with the U.S. Department of State and is a Digital Media Specialist at the U.S. Embassy in Wellington. Known for connecting people, he has built deep ties across New Zealand's innovation community, helping deliver grant-supported programmes across the sector. He has also championed Kiwi founders for U.S. programmes such as the Global Entrepreneurship Summit and the International Visitor Leadership Program.
Follow Michael Cousins on LinkedIn
Pascale Hyboud-Peron
Industry Agnostic · Students · Community Builder · Bay of Plenty
Pascale is GM of Stand Tall in Tauranga. She is also Regional Partner for the Young Enterprise Trust in Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty, working with more than 100 student founders across six schools. She has been part of 20 Startup Weekend events as an organiser and facilitator, and co-founded Venture Centre, which ran the Basestation coworking space.
Follow Pascale Hyboud-Peron on LinkedIn
Pauli Sosa
Industry Agnostic · Community Builder · Auckland
Pauli is a Project Manager at Auckland Council, working across investment and business attraction. She curates the New Zealand edition of Startup Digest, a weekly newsletter featuring startup and tech events. She is also the founder of Migrants in Tech, a community connecting newcomers with Aotearoa New Zealand’s tech ecosystem, and has been a Startup Weekend organiser and facilitator since 2012. With a background spanning community building, events, entrepreneurship and innovation, she loves connecting people, ideas and opportunities across the startup and technology ecosystem.
Rene Koehler
Industry Agnostic · Coaching & Advice · Otago
Rene is Wānaka lead at Startup Queenstown Lakes, where he coaches early and mid-stage founders on turning an idea into a business model and testing assumptions. He runs Innovation Distillery, facilitating strategy workshops and design sprints. Before that he was Chief Engineer and Product Manager at Fisher & Paykel Technologies, and led advanced powertrain engineering at Volkswagen in Germany.
Follow Rene Koehler on LinkedIn
Richard Liew
Industry Agnostic · Media · Auckland
Richard founded NZ Entrepreneur Magazine in 2012 and runs Founder Media Group, which brings together NZ Entrepreneur, APAC Innovator, Startup NZ and FoundrPR. He is experimenting with free AI-powered PR for startups through Press Room, and is a facilitator at Founder Flight Club.
Follow Richard Liew on LinkedIn
Rowan Savage
Industry Agnostic · Media · Nationwide
Rowan built NZ Tech Events, a free listing of tech conferences, meetups, workshops and hackathons across New Zealand, where organisers can post their events for free. He co-founded Runn and was its chief technology officer from 2018 to 2025, growing it from four people to 50 staff. He is now Chief Operating Officer at Scannable in Queenstown.
Follow Rowan Savage on LinkedIn
Rowan Simpson
Industry Agnostic · Angel Investment · Nationwide
Rowan was employee number three at Trade Me and also worked at Xero. He was founding chairman of Vend and the first investor in Timely, and invests in early-stage New Zealand companies. He wrote the book How To Be Wrong and chairs Hoku Group.
Follow Rowan Simpson on LinkedIn
Rudi Bublitz
Industry Agnostic · Angel Investment · Media · Nationwide
Rudi co-founded the angel group Flying Kiwi Angels in 2014 and edits its newsletter, Another FKA Friday, which covers angel investing and startup news. He has been a council member of the Angel Association New Zealand since 2015 and is a mentor at ADI.Clinic, where founders can book a 20-minute session with angel investors.
Follow Rudi Bublitz on LinkedIn
Saara Tawha
Industry Agnostic · Māori / Pasifika · Coaching & Advice · Waikato
Saara runs Ramaroa in Hamilton, which delivers business training programmes and coaching with a focus on Māori business. Before that she spent nearly four years at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, where she managed Te Ahikōmako, its centre for Māori innovation and entrepreneurship, and the Kōkiri business accelerator. She has also worked at PledgeMe, supporting equity crowdfunding campaigns.
Follow Saara Tawha on LinkedIn
Serge van Dam
B2B SaaS · Venture Capital · Angel Investment · Wellington
Serge is an Operating Partner at Movac and an active investor in early-stage B2B SaaS and AI companies, and he sits on several tech company boards. He advises New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, is a founding advisory council member of kiwiSaaS, and co-hosts the Startup Theatre podcast. Earlier he was Chief Marketing Officer at M-Com, which was sold to Fiserv in 2011. See where he is speaking next at Where's Serge?
Follow Serge van Dam on LinkedIn
Stu Lees
Industry Agnostic · Coaching & Advice · Auckland
Stu is a marketing consultant and coach in Auckland. He founded The Shoestring Marketer, which teaches marketing on a small budget and includes the Marketing on a Shoestring podcast, and he is Auckland chapter president of The Marketing Club. He built an IT services business, Zero Down, which Ricoh New Zealand acquired in 2013.
Zach Warder-Gabaldon
Industry Agnostic · Programmes & Hubs · Angel Investment · Nationwide
Zach's kaupapa is to grow NZ's economy through startup innovation. He does through his roles as Chief Innovation Officer at Ministry of Awesome, angel investor with Mainland Angels, and collaborations with / contributions to GrowthNZ, Endeavor, the US State Department, and various NZ ministries and government offices. He came to New Zealand after more than 20 years in Silicon Valley startups.
Follow Zach Warder-Gabaldon on LinkedIn
How this list is built
This list builds on a public What Founders Want LinkedIn series about the people founders already rely on to find out what is happening in NZ startups.
Inclusion is based on what a person visibly contributes, not job title, seniority or commercial services.
The list is reviewed in rounds. People are added through nominations and by WFW.
This list grows with each round. Look for the next update in early 2027, or nominate someone for the next round.
More from What Founders Want
- WFW Monthly: this month's funding, programmes and events for NZ founders
- The Directories: investors, accelerators and support organisations in one place
- Expert Editions: guides written with NZ specialists