Today I was invited by the New Zealand Parliament to address their Finance and Expenditure Committee about my submission to the 2019 Venture Capital Fund Bill.

Here’s my submission:

There were a dozen submissions in total. I was pleased to see the Ākina Foundation calling for many of the same things as me.

Here is their submission:

New Zealand is punching above its weight when it comes to innovation but we still have a long way to go to be a worthy competitor to Silicon Valley. I hope the Committee listens to my recommendations and uses this opportunity to massively accelerate Kiwi entrepreneurship.

I’ve received some good feedback about my presentation to Parliament. People can’t believe how bored the politicians looked. I was the last speaker of the day, at the end of a 2 hour+ session, so they probably wanted to wrap it up. I was pleased that the Chair Dr Deborah Russell acknowledged and supported my point on inclusiveness.

The following submission was sent in by John Holt, who founded the Kiwi Landing Pad which has helped more than 6000 New Zealanders launch their businesses in San Francisco and elsewhere. I agree with everything he’s saying, he has some great ideas about metrics.