Ponoko
co-founder
It’s ten Have’s second internet-based start-up, with Wellington-originated,globally-operating Ponoko being a bit of poster child for mass customisation/personal manufacturing.It describes itself as ‘the world’s easiest making system’.
ten Have described being in the start-up (and follow through) stage as being where “fear offailure is a constant”.
And those reading and observing of others’ success in the venture capital and start-up space“hear a lot of stories that are embellished,” he says.
That is, people hear many of the successful bits, the how it all happened narrative. Thedownsides, hard times, unsuccessful moves get short shrift. Equally, hindsight provides tremendousclarity.
As it currently stands for himself and Ponoko, “I can’t tell you where I am, but I can tellyou how fast I’m going,” he says.
“It is like being chased in a confined space with a bunch of other nutters.”
For all that, ten Have clearly relishes the excitement, the challenge, the unknowns that go withstarting with a metaphoric blank piece of paper.
“It allows you to look into the abyss,” he says.
“Do it for the journey, for the learning, not for the dollars.”
For someone who in the first two years of his original start up began his morning by throwing upthe breakfast he’d just eaten, ten Have’s frankness was a tonic in an environment where kickingoff a new idea is often seen and spoken of as a walk in the park.
At times, it is anything but.
“You need to turn around and conquer the fear,” says ten Have.