Shutterspeed brings transparency and efficiency to the creative economy.
News from the NZ startup ecosystem, straight to your inbox.
Good morning, Caffeinators!
We’re diving deep with the Kiwi founders behind Shutterspeed this morning, only the third NZ company accepted into the US global startup network Techstars and its Sydney-based accelerator programme.
In other news Partly is expanding to the US; Kiwis are making their mark across the ditch at South by Southwest Sydney this week; you can catch a live podcast with Sharndré Kushor, co-founder of Crimson Education this Friday; and meet the team designing a new CEO survey for NZ CEO’s on culture in their workplace.
Have a great day.
Lauren & the CAFFEINE team
Startup Spotlight: Shutterspeed brings transparency and efficiency to the creative economy.
When Shutterspeed founders Henry Collinson and Freddie McKenzie grew frustrated with the burden of admin weighing down their production studio, they figured there must be a better way.
Their solution? An AI powered performance metrics tool that automatically tracks time across the production processes without any manual input, freeing up the creative to focus on creating.
Now Shutter Speed is one of the 4,400 companies accepted into the US global startup network Techstars and its Sydney-based accelerator programme - only the third Kiwi company to have done so.
Caffeine caught up with founder Freddie McKenzie for this week’s startup spotlight.
What problem did you found Shutterspeed to solve?
The problem I found is that the way we charge as creatives is time-based. So it's either hourly or half day or full day. And so what that means is that when we don't actually charge for our work, we're quoting our client on a certain amount of time that we think the project is going to take to complete right now. If we're gonna understand whether or not that project was profitable at all or whether or not we went over budget or whether or not the client is profitable, then the way you do that is by tracking the time that you've been actually doing the project.
Now, you can go on Google and you can type in a time tracking tool, like I did and I tried them all. But I found that they all have the same underlying problem…they're just far too manual in the way they time.
Starting and stopping a timer every time you do a task, going back and putting time logs into a timesheet or retrospectively assigning stuff - that's a lot of admin, it's a lot of thought and it pulls creators away from the creative workflow. And because of that, we don't use time tracking tools in the industry so you have a whole industry that charges time that doesn't track it. Read more.
Partly Expands to the U.S., Launching in San Francisco: Partly is making its US debut in San Francisco, led by Director of Engineering Matt Goodson. The expansion focuses on building connections within the tech and repair industries. Matt is eager to meet with those in the SF/Bay Area to discuss the evolving landscape and Partly’s mission to connect the world’s parts. More here.
Kiwis Take the Stage at South by Southwest Sydney 2024: New Zealand’s top innovators are making waves at South by Southwest (SXSW) Sydney, a hub for creativity, tech, and culture. Key speakers include strategist Cassie Roma on neurodiversity in business, Marissa Brindley highlighting NZ’s deep-tech pioneers, and Susie Thomson sharing strategies to elevate agency profiles. With sessions on Māori storytelling through video games and exciting Kiwi music acts like Phoebe Rings, Aotearoa’s influence at SXSW Sydney showcases its growing global presence in tech, business, and culture. For full details, visit StopPress.
‘She Started It’ hosts live podcast with Sharndré Kushor this Friday: She Started It is a community focused on supporting and celebrating women as globally ambitious leaders. Through authentic conversations with trailblazing founders and leaders, they share insights on success, challenges, and everything in between. The platform aims to ignite confidence and inspire entrepreneurial action, whether it’s launching a business, making a career move, or navigating a life change. Their mission is to empower women to take bold steps in their personal and professional lives. This Friday catch a live recording of their next podcast with Sharndré Kushor, co-founder of Crimson Education. Learn more and RSVP here.
Calling All CEOs and Founders: how valuable is your culture?
One CEO recalled needing to make a change in their leadership team. While these decisions are difficult to make, she knew that the longer you wait to make them, the more credibility you lose among your staff.
For start-ups and early-stage businesses, designing and establishing an effective culture can be one of the most important decisions a CEO can make. However, in a world filled with remote working, cultural diversity, and a growing trend towards prioritising work-life balance, determining what makes a culture effective can be a challenge in itself.
These difficulties have also resulted in a disconnect between academic outputs and the information that business leaders need. Academic research is often US-centric, focused on listed companies, outdated or lacking crucial context and input from established and future leaders.
A new initiative in New Zealand aims to address this gap: a CEO survey designed by CEOs for CEOs. Its goal is to provide actionable insights that leaders can directly apply to enhance performance within their organisations. While the project targets various organisational types, startups are intentionally included as a priority, supported by an advisory board with substantial experience in that space.
Susanna Lee, Executive Director of the Leadership and Governance Collective tells us more here.
Why Motion is the best in class for productivity apps: There’s a million AI assist apps out there but Motion is the market leader in blending calendar and project management, note taking and task lists. Voice integration means you can add tasks on the fly. It’s an excellent tool for teams and helps both businesses and individuals streamline their workflow and remove unnecessary busy work.
Space X successfully catches booster rocket: Say what you want about Elon Musk but this is a genuinely incredible feat of engineering. SpaceX's Starship completed its fifth test flight this week and attempted something that had never been done before. The booster slowed itself down and descended gently back toward the launchpad for a pair of giant mechanical arms to catch it – in what’s known as the "chopsticks manoeuvre". Watch courtesy of the BBC here.
