Sometimes it is best to bring in the specialists. For us it is more about the individual than where they work. Nothing against the big brands, but our friends have often branched out on their own. 

Some Tap-In friends include:

Product Strategy
(and a lot more)

DONALD FARMER TreeHive Strategy

Donald Farmer is globally recognized as a visionary Product Leader, sought after speaker, patent holder and author who has built and executed BI and AI strategy for industry leaders Microsoft and Qlik, and numerous startups and mid-stage companies.

Donald has a track record of success that includes leading and being part of transformative global teams, such as helping SQL Server eclipse Oracle as the largest enterprise class database in the world to leading transformative product strategy at Qlik that helped drive a 3.3 billion dollar acquisition.

Marketing Strategy

DANIEL BARNES The Future is Unwritten

Daniel Barnes is Founder & Partner of Barnes, Catmur & Friends Dentsu. After becoming the most effective independent advertising agency in Asia-Pacific and Top 5 worldwide, Barnes, Catmur & Friends recently joined forces with global giant Dentsu Aegis Network to create New Zealand’s most integrated agency offering. As well as his ongoing work with BC&F Dentsu, Daniel advises both startups and upstarts in a wide range of fields from tech to FMCG.

All Things Financial

TOBIN BLATHWAYT Accelerated Transaction Consulting 

Tobin helps companies navigate through liquidity events. He is a finance and management professional with 25 years' experience mainly with PwC and General Electric in New Zealand, England and the United States in a number of senior general management, finance, quality and performance improvement roles. A Chartered Accountant, Tobin also has extensive experience as a Chief Financial Officer, and more recently as Chief Operating Officer in listed and unlisted companies.

PR

JAN SEDGWICK – Carrara Communications

Available for occasional PR advice for selected growth companies who are technologically aware and using innovation as a driver for expansion. Or, in other words, cool companies doing great stuff, run by interesting people.

Brand and Design

ANDY BENNETT HeyYou

Andy has over 18 years experience in the graphic design industry and has a passion for strategy-led design with ideas at the heart. He has his own boutique graphic design studio, HeyYou, based in Auckland.

Before starting HeyYou in May 2016, he was Design Director at Designworks Auckland. He worked there as the design lead on Foodstuffs (New World and PAK'nSAVE), Anchor New Zealand, BrewGroup (formerly Bell Tea and Coffee Co.), Fletcher Construction and Auckland Hockey. Other brands he has worked with are Air New Zealand, Telecom NZ (Spark), DB Breweries, Fonterra, Brand Australia, Westfield, ANZ, ASB and Auckland Transport, to name just a few. 

HR

NICOLE GRIFFITHS AND NICHOLA GOLD Spice HR

Nicole and Nichola are the founders and owners of Spice HR, and have over 30 years’ experience between them in corporate Management and HR, covering a wide range of industries and environments. After a break from the corporate world they realised that they did not wish to return (ever!), and instead decided to share their knowledge and experience with proactive business owners and decision makers.

They are experts in finding the root cause of people related challenges, and providing relevant, practical, easy to implement solutions. They advise on how to minimise risks, enhance culture, improve engagement and therefore performance, all of which will positively impact your bottom line.

Their key points:

• Education of business owners in all things HR

• Minimise risks, and enhance culture, improving engagement, performance and the bottom line

• Passions are around culture, engagement and development

• Understanding that what’s needed will vary – they find out about the business and then make recommendations

• No templated, blanket solutions – their vast experience allows them to tailor – not one size fits all

Arjen Visser - Dbvisit

Michael was part of our advisory board from 2012 to 2016. He provided us with advice both operationally and strategically. As Michael was running his own successful much larger software company we were able to learn from his experience and his mistakes. 

I liked Michael's approach because he did not beat around the bush, he is sharp thinking and practical. If he felt something needed to improve he would tell us straight. His role was not to soothe our egos but to help us see things we did not see and improve our overall business. 

Michael did not accept any fees during this period, he asked us to donate his fees to a charity of his choosing. Something very noble and appreciated.

During his period on our advisory board we won the Deloitte Fast 50 twice and the Deloitte Asia Pacific 500 three times. That is a testimony to his tenure.

Martin Bing - 1Place

Michael has been great and very accessible in helping mentor me in sales and marketing.

The fact that he's "been there and done that already" has proved invaluable in strategising for our plans for world domination!

Mike is a very easy guy to talk to and get on with, yet is still willing to challenge you.

I've really appreciated getting to know him better and probably his only failing is that he is not as funny as me and he is a year younger :(

Would have no hesitation in recommending Mike.

Phil Pietersen – AlphaCert Labs

I have known Michael Whitehead for many years and hugely admired the growth and success of WhereScape under his leadership. I have been working with Michael this year and we have totally transformed our marketing and sales strategy. Michael's experience and wisdom has been invaluable to redefine our target market that is now fully aligned with our product vision as opposed to our historic approach based on a fee for services mentality. We have completely redefined our business plan and we now have a very clear vision of what success looks like. During this process Michael has revolutionised our sales approach and has been a fantastic role-play sales manager to bring accountability and focus that entrepreneurial owner operators rarely have the opportunity to work with. Not only does Michael have many years of wisdom to draw upon but is one of the sharpest business people I've ever had the pleasure of working with, instantly assessing even the most complex scenarios and giving clear and well founded suggestions for the future. If you want your company to grow and prosper, and to go to places you've never dreamed of, I highly recommend Michael set you on a course to get there.

Paul Schneider and Daniela Suess
- Coromandel Distilling awildian.com

Why is Michael so dazzlingly good in business? The simple answer: Michael is passionate about what he does. He has this remarkable talent of scattering ‘magic dust’ over all things business. What makes Michael even more outstanding is that does the opposite of what most successful folk do: he gives back. He shares his key ingredients for success with entrepreneurs, dreamers and, as he admits, occasionally some crazy people too.

Anyone who wants to get into or get better at business will profit immensely from Michael’s extreme competence, skill, wisdom, knowledge. And he’s fun too.

We have known Michael for close to ten years. Michael introduced us to the business world and was instrumental in turning our ideas and dreams into a business. Without him and his positive ‘can do’ guidance we would no doubt still be crazy dreamers. Now we’re crazy entrepreneurs. Thanks Michael!