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Rod Drury

Founder of Xero. Now focused on rebuilding New Zealand's infrastructure and tech ecosystem using the same playbook that scaled a Wellington startup into a multi-billion-dollar global SaaS company.

Philosophy​

Sees New Zealand's small size as an advantage — if government, iwi, and private capital collaborate and just get specific, visible projects done.

Key mantra:

  1. Raise when you don't need it
  2. A's hire A's, B's hire C's
  3. Why not act now?

Playbook​

The playbook that enabled the development of Xero into a global SaaS company.

Systems Thinking​

First principles fors success at scale:

  • Early IPO: NZ's VC market couldn't supply capital; public markets let ordinary investors participate in tech upside
  • Two-sided markets: Accountants as channel partners meant Xero could scale without talking to every SMB directly
  • Design-led: Bank feeds and playful reconciliation created breakout product differentiation
  • Media as distribution: PR deliberately used as free distribution instead of paid advertising

Talent & Culture​

  • A-players only: Constantly upgrade the leadership team as company grows—even counselling out good people who no longer fit the next scale phase
  • Founder-led urgency: Walking the floor, removing blockers in real time
  • Revenue per employee: The key efficiency metric
  • Go offshore: NZ market too small—must crack Australia, UK, then US

Nation Building​

How do you promote investment in infrastructure that determinsitically leads to an objectively better standard of living?

Sovereign Systems​

Focus on preventing "platform value leakage" — foreign intermediaries are clipping 2-30% from local businesses:

PlatformValue LeakSovereign Alternative
Card schemes1-3%NZ payments rails
Booking.com15-25%NZ.com tourism app
Uber25-30%Community mobility
Google/MetaAd spendLocal AI layer

The Tight Five​

  1. Digital Identity: Matter-based national ID shared by banks, government, SaaS providers
  2. Payments: Lower electronic payments costs, proper open banking
  3. Energy: Renewable nation—intergenerational build-out as competitive edge
  4. Regional Templates: Queenstown as prototype for joined-up development
  5. Applied AI: NZ as agile testbed, not competing on frontier models

Queenstown as Template​

Using Queenstown as a testbed for "venture philanthropy":

  • Urban gondola: Airport to CBD, solving congestion
  • Health infrastructure: Public-private hospital setup
  • Decarbonisation: Environmental constraints as design parameters
  • Visible wins: Restore confidence that NZ can do big, exciting things

"Wealthy Kiwis fund early heavy-lifting (design, consents, structuring) so community-owned models and local capital can own long-term cash-generating assets."

On Founders & AI​

The One-Page Brief​

Rod dislikes vague "coffee" meetings. His filter:

  • Tight one-pager showing understanding of market, needs, and ask
  • Almost nobody passes—which he sees as a good proxy for seriousness
  • Spend early career inside high-quality organisations to learn by proximity
  • Use that network and systems thinking to build startups

AI Outlook​

  • Near-term disruption: Contact centres, "no new hires" mindset in Silicon Valley
  • Best opportunities: AI-enabled enterprise SaaS in specific domains
  • Not competing: With frontier model providers—apply, don't build LLMs

Key Quotes​

"NZ's small population means it should be relatively easy for central government, local councils, iwi and private capital to sit around a table and just get aligned."

"I'm saddened by what's happening in New Zealand—a sense that nothing exciting happens. We need bite-sized but ambitious projects to shift that culture."

"Environmental constraints like decarbonisation are design parameters for projects, not blockers."