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Uptake of cloud technology is really starting to gather pace in the property industry .
are now being presented with opportunities and options for taking a more fragmented approach to technology adoption . Meanwhile , on the consumer front , the tokenisation of artwork seems to have suddenly become a thing . I ’ m fascinated that people can create these digital works and someone will pay for the ownership of them .
How do you deal with stress and unwind outside the office ?
I like to put a positive spin on stress . Often , the reason I ’ m stressed is because I have to deal with something new and I ’ m not sure how to approach it . Reframing it as an academic and emotional challenge helps me put it into perspective . After a really big week , I like to unwind by doing something off piste – taking my family away , going on hikes , riding bikes and just being silly with the kids . Music is another outlet . In my younger days , I played in a band and during lockdown last year I started having trumpet lessons . I was pretty bad to begin with but I ’ ve been practising for 15 minutes a night and I ’ m now a bit more listenable .
If you could go back and change one career decision , what would it be ?
This is a hard one . I worked in the resources sector for three years and I certainly don ’ t regret the connections I made – it ’ s where I met Steve Surridge and Pete Rose who are both directors of Forbury – but , from an ethical perspective , I probably didn ’ t think about it enough at the time . When my kids are older , I ’ m going to have a tough time explaining why I put three years of energy and effort into promoting the interests of a coal company that was indirectly responsible for generating a huge amount of CO 2
. It ’ s not really in line with my values .
What do you currently identify as the major areas of investment in your industry ?
What are the region specific challenges when implementing new technology in APAC ?
Aversion to change is the biggest one we face . Property is a conservative industry and people are not always aware of what ’ s possible . The prevailing mindset tends to be ‘ if it ain ’ t broke , don ’ t fix it ’. Outside of Australia and New Zealand , establishing trust is a big thing too . Asian companies generally won ’ t contemplate change , unless it ’ s with a partner that ’ s known to them . Fortunately for us , New Zealand Trade and Enterprise have been really helpful . They have some excellent people and resources in situ to help small players like us connect with local businesses we can work with .
What changes to your job role have you seen in the last year and how do you see these developing in the next 12 months ?
We ’ ve added 10 people in the last 12 months , taking our headcount to 24 . As a result , I ’ ve handed on a lot of day-to-day responsibilities . My involvement in sales is limited to newer markets and really big deals , and on the development side we now have a team of experts who know better than I do how to optimize and expand our offering . Our UK launch is scheduled for late April and I ’ ll be keeping a close eye on early results over there . If things go as well as we expect , we ’ ll be getting ready to push the button on our next market , the US .
What advice would you offer somebody aspiring to obtain a C-level position in your industry ?
Do it from a founding position . Team up with someone else so you can share the risk and bounce ideas off one another , and work towards the point where there is a C level role for each of you ! If you ’ re joining a smaller , fast growth company with the aim of working your way to the top , be realistic about the level of effort that ’ s required . In companies with fewer than 50 employees , there is no downtime because there is so much work to do and everyone in the business needs to contribute to the outcome . That means being prepared to give it 110 %, every single day . p
For SaaS companies like ours , there are several : security ; people and culture ; market expansion ; and marketing . We ’ re trying to achieve our strategic growth ambitions across different time zones and places of work , and creating the right sort of environment for the people who work in the business is key to our growth and success .
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