Paul, Louie, software product guru Gary Jensen (Phocus ex Telogis / Verizon) & George photo by Sunstone

I was having a coffee with Pete Howard of Entre - a neat student-led not-for-profit that is the start-up face of the University of Canterbury school of entrepreneurship...with a wry smile he said ‘you like surfing & skiing I think you’d like these guys - they’re twins from Taranaki who have an idea for an app to do recruitment like tinder…I was like ‘sure why not’. Seemed like a good match as I have a recruitment background, founded Sunstone and have helped grow lots of software start-ups over the years and thought what a great chance to give back to the university I went to - sign me up!

The Entre enterprise challenge is a 9 week start-up mentorship programme where you spend a couple of hours a week to help students get to an MVP which finishes up with all the start-ups doing a quick pitch at a showcase night grand finale. It’s a super fun night seeing all the awesome new ideas coming to life as innovative MVP products or services and meeting lots of inspiring students who are our future.

I had a wonderful experience as I not only gave back & was able to help other entrepreneurs but I learnt a lot about myself - how to sow a seed and bring people on the journey. It’s not about telling someone how to do something but to brain storm together and facilitate ideas & help the start-up founders come to realisation what the best way is at the time. As we know...nothing is forever and you can change things when needed - and just this very style - being dynamic, the ability to change & adapt is a crucial approach in start-up land - a great experience & reminder for all no matter what age your business is.

The guys - George & Louis Newton had amazing energy and enthusiasm - wow if you could bottle that…Sometimes you recognise certain characteristics in people that they will just make it happen - whether it’s with Snippet Jobs or another venture…the motivation, the bravery to try new things, solve problems and pivot when something doesn’t work - these guys have that X factor. Also to be able to take on critique, to swallow your pride and trust an expert but to have a two way conversation - and ask the why?

I thoroughly enjoyed my experience with the boys so thank them very much for having me and listening to all my skiing & recruitment stories haha ;-) The Snippet business is developing from strength to strength and I can’t wait to see what this year brings for these new entrepreneurs - all the best guys!

So if you’d like to get involved or come a long to one of the show case events and support student start-up culture in Christchurch please check out: www.entre.co.nz

I’m Paul, lover of coffee, dogs, biking, surfing & skiing. Founder & Principal Consultant of Sunstone, an IT Recruitment & HR company specialising in recruiting IT roles within software, web, mobile, blockchain, data, cloud infrastructure, security & networks in Christchurch & South Island of New Zealand.

My experience helping a student tech start-up launch it's MVP