The great Kiwi ‘traditional’ of do-it-yourself (DIY) has its downsides in many techdevelopments according to serial entrepreneur Melissa Clark-Reynolds.
Speaking as one of a panel at
The founder of Minimonos , an onlineenvironment for children which currently has 90% of its 1.5 million followers in the U.K. saysgetting the right people with the right expertise in at the right time can save a heap of troubleand money. It can also mean the success (or failure) of a project getting off the ground shesays.
“Perhaps it is the downside of our Number 8 wire mentality, and something it would be good attimes for us to ditch,” she says.
Clark-Reynolds questioned whether the NZ gaming industry (those who make the PC and smart-phoneoriented games) is as healthy as sometimes portrayed.
Most companies creating such games are doing so on a toll basis for others, “working forhire.”
She says there are exceptions such as Ninja Kiwi and DaveFrampton (whose CHOPPER - is his best seller. His Blockheads app has over 1.5 milliondownloads).
“We need to create and grow our own IP, not necessarily just do it for others,” saysClark-Reynolds.
The rapidly changing of the net, devices and how people access content is something everyone alsoneeds to be aware of she says.
The Minimonos team has watched, “fascinated” by the growth of computer tablet use, and howit may impact on their online interactive world.
“For the last two quarters, the number of children playing on tablets exceeded the numberplaying on a PC,” she says.
“It is transforming the way we present our material, and means again we’re going to have totweak our presentation.”
She also had a prediction of what will be ‘hot’ in the near future.
“There’s a massive education bubble going on, and all over the place we’re seeing pressureto reform it,” Clark-Reynolds says.
“Education’s not strong in the tech world, and when you look at things, there’s a real gapbetween what children use and experience at school, and what they have available at home.”
The hype, and hope, around education-oriented apps is difficult to appreciate from New Zealandshe says.
She recently heard of one USA purchase of an education start-up.
“It has no business model, no revenue, and yet it raised $75 million,” she says.
“Something started up in that sector is going to flip really fast.”