CSSE Seminar Series (CSSESS)
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Seminar
About PowerHouse – An Early-Stage Investor
(Is it more like "Dragons’ Den" or "Antiques Roadshow"?)
Speakers: Jane Hill, Hamish Dean and Thor Russell.
Institute: PowerHouse Ventures Ltd.
Time/Place: 3:10pm, Friday, 7 May, in Room 031, Erskine Building.
All are welcome.
Abstract
PowerHouse specialises in early-stage technology investment and venture development. We invest in ventures that have potential to grow and deliver strong returns. To achieve this, ventures need some form of advantage over competitive offerings. One way of getting a head-start with competitive advantage is to base ventures on technology or intellectual property that provides an edge. For example, with a software venture, this type of advantage can often be gained by using an algorithm that achieves better results than others of its type.
In looking for opportunities in which to invest, we do not always wait for people to come to us (and pitch their ideas). We go looking for technology that we think could be interesting in the marketplace. We look for technology that could be shaped in such a way that a customer could derive value from it. Sometimes we need to look below the surface to see the potential. Our team is skilled at shaping or “polishing” up potential opportunities. We use our own proprietary process for determining how to measure the value of potential opportunities, rank them, and decide which are worth pursuing ahead of others.
We enjoy talking to academics and researchers, understanding the finer points of what gives their technology the edge. By looking below the surface, we often find gems that are worth investing in – both time and early-stage capital.
The PowerHouse team is experienced in all stages of technology venture development. Through our investment and venture development programme, we provide access to expertise and capital to help ventures to reach their maximum potential.
If you would like to hear more, please join us this Friday when Jane Hill will be discussing the PowerHouse technology investment model. Dr Hamish Dean and Thor Russell, two recent graduates from UC, will speak briefly on their technology and start-ups.
Biography
Jane Hill: Jane is a technology entrepreneur, founding her own software start-up in 2000. The company developed a generic configuration management system for mobile telecommunications network operators. This start-up was based on industry experience after working for the UK’s leading mobile operator. Jane also has experience in developing research-based software, having previously worked for the NIWA for five years. Her Crown Research Institute experience and linkages are invaluable to PowerHouse where she now works as a Venture Partner specialising in software and mobile applications.
Hamish Dean: Hamish Dean’s Shapeshifter software uses algorithms to minimise wastage when cutting patterns from rolls of cloth, an idea he developed while completing a PhD in mechanical engineering at the University of Canterbury.
He joined the Canterbury Innovation Incubator in 2002 with the idea of commercialising his PhD research, making his first sale and securing an angel investor in 2003. Since then, Hamish has extended his offerings markedly and grown his company to successfully compete with giant multi-nationals in the textile industry.
Thor Russell: Thor Russell graduated from the University of Canterbury with a first class honours degree in electrical engineering and shortly after joined the Canterbury Innovation Incubator to launch a start-up company off the back of his university research project.
While studying Thor came up with a way of translating vowel sounds into visual images on a computer screen. Using analysis of sound, he was able to model exactly where in the mouth the tongue should be in order to produce a given sound.
View past or future seminars; or view the CSSESS Home Page.