Founders in Five: Ratu Mataira, Founder & CEO of OpenStar Technologies

Time for round #4 of our new Founders in 5 series — five questions with NZ’s startup leaders. This week we were thrilled to steal some time from the legendary OpenStar Technologies Founder and CEO, Ratu Mataira. His coffee is a long black and cocktail an Old Fashioned. We love this perspective from his bio. More here.

“I come from a family of educators. My grandmother, Dame Kāterina Mataira, received her knighthood for saving Te Reo Māori from extinction after a century of colonisation. If she could do that, what is the measure of what you can do in a single life? For our generation – for my life – that challenge is climate change and the future of human prosperity. Fusion itself is only a technical solution, but these problems are more than technical. Saving Te Reo Māori wasn’t done via an app, AI, or government intervention – it was done by people coming together with a sense of responsibility, courage, and hope to protect what was most important to them. That’s OpenStar, and that’s me.”
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What do you wish you had known before becoming a founder?

I've learnt a lot about how to take care of myself during this journey, physically and mentally, and I'm still learning. Honestly the more of those skills I could have had at the beginning would have been an amazing head start.

What's the most useful advice you've ever received [and followed]?

Somethings you can grow into, and some things you just need to be put through the trial. Don't shy away from the intimidating thing by hoping that you can grow into more gradually. Much of the judgement you will make as a founder is how to distinguish these situations for your self and your team.

And the worst? [Followed or not]

Hard question to answer, in part because bad advice is often just other peoples’ opinions and anxieties masquerading as advice. So, “NZ couldn't do this, so you can’t do it here” is probably the best example.

What do we need to do to take the NZ startup ecosystem to the next level?

The public already funds a huge amount of IP generation through research funding. The largest benefit to the public from that IP comes from job creation and access to new technology, rather than a university trying to own a large share in those business.

The government should step in to make sure fewer start ups are killed by TTO deals. This will see more technology commercialised. More tech in the market will create a flywheel, more entrepreneurs will go through the university system, knowing there is a pathway. Eventually TTOs and uni endowments can get access to the best stream of entrepreneurial talent, thanks to their great commercialisation track record.

Which will lead to significantly better investment outcomes for universities.

What's the hardest thing about being a founder?

You have a huge amount of agency over your own fate and the fate of the company. But sometimes you have to face things out of your control, or you have to step back. Facing that loss of agency, when you normally have so much, is the hardest for me.