Soda Inc.

This week we wrapped up our From Lab to Market workshop series which saw 25 budding tech entrepreneurs and academic researchers learn how to turn an idea into a viable commercial opportunity. 🔍 📊

The interactive sessions, led by Soda's Kate Wightman and an expert guest speaker each week, were run in partnership with the HIKO Hub and The University of Waikato.

We'll be running these workshops again in 2025 so sign up to our monthly newsletter to stay up to date. 👇

https://share.hsforms.com/1lNn79uzoTOKL1mE6bWJy4A1e73m

🎉 We've delivered 100 coaching sessions to startup founders through our partnership with Startup Aotearoa. That's 100 hours of FREE support to early-stage entrepreneurs. 👏

If you're a founder who could benefit from talking to a startup coach, please check out Startup Aotearoa's online resources and request a FREE one-to-one coaching session.

https://startupaotearoa.org/

Our Power Lunch series for 2024 finished with a bang and a sold-out crowd coming to hear from an epic lineup of female founders. 💥

Thank you to Charlotte Greer veto. zero-waste, Helen Paul-Smith OKU - NZ Native Herbal Products and Kitti Bradley (Mother Trucking) - plus her co-founder and sidekick Jason Teunissen - for sharing your challenges, highlights and learnings as business founders and owners.

Huge thanks to Investment Partners for sponsoring this event and supporting women in business. 🙏

📢 Joining our Power Lunch panel is Helen Paul-Smith, co-founder and director of OKU - NZ Native Herbal Products. 🙌

ŌKU New Zealand is a B Corp certified business that uses native New Zealand ingredients to make tea, elixirs and skincare products. Passionate about creating great sustainable products from the beautiful flora of Aotearoa, Helen - who is of Tapuika and Ngai Te Rangi descent - founded the business in 2010 with her husband Scott who is a Medical Herbalist and Naturopath. 🌿

Sponsored by Craigs Investment Partners, our Power Lunch on 24 September is currently at capacity but if you're interested in coming, please join the waitlist as tickets may become available. 👇

https://events.humanitix.com/soda-power-lunch-with-female-founders

📌 Every Wednesday one of our team is based at the HIKO Hub at The University of Waikato. Come chat to us about how we can help your business or startup grow and reach your goals. 🎯

Drop in between 9.30am-2.30pm or make an appointment 👇

https://calendly.com/admin-sodainc/30min

It seems that working for a startup really is a dream job for many. 🙌 It was great to see the interest and support for Icehouse Ventures' Careers of the Future Waikato event yesterday.

The audience heard firsthand what it's like working in a startup from Rocketspark's Hayden Walsh, founder of OKU - NZ Native Herbal Products Helen Paul-Smith and Zane Williams from Halter.

Wishing everyone the best of luck for landing their dream role!

Commercial and scientific dive company, Deep Dive Division, received Regional Business Partner funding to work with Deloitte to help them create a 10-year strategy. 📈

Co-owner and director, Courtney Karalus, says: “We applied for the funding because we needed help with financial forecasting and modelling. We have big growth strategies so realised we needed expertise to invest in the right people to help us. We wanted to have the road map to help us get to where we want to go."

Read more 👇

https://www.sodainc.com/news/deep-dive-division

And get in touch with us if you are a Waikato business owner interested in receiving government funding to help build your capability. 📧

RBP Training Provides Road Map for Commercial Dive Business | News & Stories Deep Dive Division | Regional Business Partner Network | management capability training | Deloitte

Do you need support to grow your capability as a business owner and accelerate your business's success? As the Waikato's Regional Business Partner, we connect business owners with government funding, training and support. Find out how we can help 👇

https://www.sodainc.com/business-support

Recording is underway for season two of the She Started It Podcast. Join these live interviews (online) where you'll have the opportunity to ask these global leaders your burning business questions. 🎙️

https://www.shestartedit.co.nz/ssi-series

🎉 We cannot wait to hear from these amazing wahine founders at our Power Lunch on 24 September. Joining Kitti Bradley (Mother Trucking and Low Code NZ Ltd) and Charlotte Greer (veto. zero-waste) is Hannah Courtney (exited founder of Real Rad Food).

Sponsored by Craigs Investment Partners, tickets to this free event have all been snapped up but if you're keen to come, please join the waitlist as tickets will become available closer to the event. 👇

https://events.humanitix.com/soda-power-lunch-with-female-founders

🎯 As a small business owner or entrepreneur, it can sometimes feel like you're juggling flaming torches! Staying focused and prioritising helps you cut through the noise and stay on track. These Business Bites from Kim Hill at Stratigi are a great no-nonsense guide to helping you achieve your goals.

Manuela Klevisser is passionate about helping entrepreneurs live life on their own terms. Her startup - Empower Me - is a platform that will bring entrepreneurs together to learn and grow.

The Empower Me Collective enables entrepreneurs to meet regularly and work on specific challenges to grow their business. 📈

Read more about Empower Me and how Manuela benefited from free one-on-one Startup Aotearoa coaching 👇

Startup Aims to Empower Entrepreneurs | News & Stories Empower Me | Startup | Entrepreneur Support | Startup Aotearoa

📅 Get in quick! Our third and final Power Lunch for 2024 features a panel of epic female founders who will share their experiences as business owners.

Join us on Tuesday 24 September for a light lunch and a panel discussion with founders Kitti Bradley (Mother Trucking) and Charlotte Greer (veto. zero-waste).

Thanks to our Power Lunch sponsor Craigs Investment Partners for supporting women in business and making this event possible. 🙏

Tickets for this event are free but limited so RSVP now! 👇

Soda Power Lunch with Female Founders | Humanitix Get tickets on Humanitix - Soda Power Lunch with Female Founders hosted by Soda Inc.. Events Room 1, Gallagher Hub, Wintec, Tristram Street, Whitiora, Hamilton 3204, New Zealand. Tuesday 24th September 2024. Find event information.

Customer testimonials are a powerful tool to build reputation, trust and credibility. Research shows that over 70% of customers say that positive reviews and testimonials make them trust a business more.

Thanks to Matthew Miller from Mogul for sharing his top tips on how to get testimonials from clients. 🙏

Are you keen to work in a startup? We've joined forces with Icehouse Ventures to host Careers of the Future, where you can hear from the founders and operators of startups that are currently hiring. You'll also have the opportunity to network with panellists and startups to gain insight into what day-to-day life looks like when scaling a company.

📅 Wednesday 11 September
⏲ 5:30 - 7:30pm
📍 Events Room 1, The Bill Gallagher Centre, Wintec, Hamilton

RSVP 👇

https://www.icehouseventures.co.nz/landing-pages/careers-of-the-future-rsvp

If you're a Waikato startup needing guidance and support, you can receive free one-to-one coaching with Soda business growth advisor and innovation specialist, Sue Loder. 👏

With nearly 30 years of entrepreneurial experience, Sue has successfully owned, managed, and on sold numerous ventures, including start-ups and acquisitions, across service, product, and food manufacturing sectors.

Book your FREE Startup Aotearoa coaching session 👇

www.startupaotearoa.org

📢 Startup founders, here's an exciting opportunity to win $1million USD!

Creative HQ has partnered with Pegasus Tech Ventures to bring the Startup World Cup to NZ.

The Startup World Cup is a global competition for early-stage startups to pitch-to-win $1million USD at the finals in San Francisco this October.

First, you'll need to win the NZ finals event in Wellington on 12 September. To enter, your startup must be:

➡ Headquartered in NZ
➡ Pre-seed to series B stage
➡ Able to attend both the Wellington event on 12 September and able to fly to San Francisco in October if you win (flights and accomm are covered)

Register here 👇

https://forms.zohopublic.com.au/creativehq/form/StartupWorldCupApplications/formperma/Z7mBdg4ebnjX0g6Ou2OjmpBuOAfs0hnKikqFMfHq7zs

Find out more about the Startup World Cup 👇

https://www.startupworldcup.io/

Hamilton aviation business Flight Structures Ltd design, manufacture and certify specialist aviation parts so when they were looking for a team building workshop, Lego Serious Play seemed like the perfect fit! ✈

“Everyone was very engaged, much more so than if we’d just sat around tables. One of our training goals was to strengthen inter team relationships and just one month later I’ve already noticed different combinations of staff members working together on projects", says Sally Kerr, Flight Structures Quality & Safety Manager.

delivered the half-day workshop, focusing on communication.

Read more 👇 and get in touch if you're a Waikato business keen to get government funding to help pay for this workshop.

Lego Workshop Builds Better Teams | News & Stories Flight Structures | Lego Serious Play | Plexus Consulting | Regional Business Partner network

🚨 We're looking into creating an online paid platform with professionally developed business programmes and would love your thoughts! Answer our 2-minute survey and be in to win a $150 Prezzie card. 👇

https://share.hsforms.com/1LKvObJBkScOPJz5E-RoJew1e73m

* Winner will be drawn and contacted on 28 August then announced in our August newsletter.

📅 NEW COMMERCIALISATION WORKSHOPS

In partnership with HIKO Hub, we have created a new "From Lab to Market" workshop series which has been designed to develop the capability and business acumen of academics, postgraduate students and budding entrepreneurs.

These free workshops will equip participants with the knowledge and skills necessary to transform research ideas into market ready innovations. Find out more and register 👇

➡ 3 September - Introduction to Commercialisation & Innovation
https://events.humanitix.com/hiko-hub-x-soda-startup-session-or-introduction-to-commercialisation-and-innovation

➡ 10 September - Market Validation & Intellectual Property
https://events.humanitix.com/hiko-hub-x-soda-from-lab-to-market-or-market-validation-and-intellectual-property

➡ 17 September - Business Model & Go-to-Market Strategy
https://events.humanitix.com/hiko-hub-x-soda-from-lab-to-market-or-business-model-and-go-to-market-strategy

➡ 24 September - Pitching & Fundraising
https://events.humanitix.com/copy-of-hiko-hub-x-soda-from-lab-to-market-or-pitching-and-fundraising

Thank you to everyone who attended our Power Lunch: Women in Business Expo yesterday. We love supporting women in business, and it was great to see a room full of vibrant businesswomen networking and learning about the support available to them. 👩‍💼

To kick off the event we heard from business owner, And again founder and RISE UP 2021 winner Wendy Quach about how Soda's support has helped her business grow. 👗 🚀

Attendees then had the opportunity to talk to 16 different organisations who support business owners. Thank you Callaghan Innovation, Cambridge Chamber of Commerce NZ, Creative Waikato, Emtota, HIKO Hub, Impact Hub Waikato, Ministry of Awesome, New Zealand Trade & Enterprise, On Your Terms, PoutamaTrust, re:ampd, South Waikato Investment Fund Trust (SWIFT), The Good Day Matrix and Waikato Chamber of Commerce. 🙏

A huge thank you to our event sponsors Callaghan Innovation for making this event possible and to Rudi's and Remedy Drinks for the delicious catering. 🍕

📸 Sam Kennedy, The Good Day Matrix

Many of you will know Kate from her work supporting startups or maybe you followed her journey when she walked the length of NZ raising $50k for gynaecological cancer! Kate is also our Business Growth Advisor, Startup Lead and a Startup Aotearoa coach. 🙌

Kate's experience working alongside 300+ NZ startups in roles at VCs, angel groups, crowd funding platforms and technology incubators means she is well-equipped to help founders on their startup journey.

If you're a startup looking for advice, you can book a free one-to-one coaching session throughStartup Aotearoa 👇

www.startupaotearoa.org