Sadly, Ray Thomson has passed away recently. He was instrumental in kickstarting my angel investor career. He had a charming but very effective way of helping fledgling angel investors grow their wings. He would simply stand behind them at the deep end and push them in to fly, swim or drown. In startup speak 'drown' would be 'fast fail'.  Worked for me and from joining Ice Angels in 2010 I rapidly advanced to become chairman of their screening committee and a member of their advisory board under Ray's chairmanship.

OMG, I know that I have no Bavarian blood in me but it tuns out that my name is very Bavarian. Beer and Pretzel is quintessential Bavarian and my name picks up on that. Interestingly, there are more pictures of smiling and sober women holding beer and pretzel than of men.

Aisleworx is world leading in the design and delivery of its patented digital media shopping carts for families with young kids. The FunCart™ is safe and fun to use.  It provides onboard entertainment for the kids and additionally special offers for other shopper via short clips on a front screen and static images on the two side screens.

Top US retailers with nearly a total of 1,000 supermarkets already offer one or more FunCarts™ for the the convenience of young families. FunCarts™ create shopper loyalty, young families spend longer in the store and buy more, and instead of potentially disrupting other shoppers the family with FunCart™ image has a positive impact. For that reason major brands are considering to co-brand the physical FunCart™ to leverage these feel good factors.

Independent research has shown that the digital media advertising on FunCarts™ is highly effective with 15-20% category lift compared to control stores. Now in over 1,000 stores, FunCart™ ads reach more eyeballs than the major TV networks. It reachers consumers inside the store which makes  FunCart™ digital media more targeted than any other medium.

Aisleworx is well poised to expand the US business having recently set up a dedicated US digital media company to exploit the new and exiting instore advertising channel that the FunCart™ platform is rapidly creating.

Encouraged by the success Aisleworx has designed and built a first Adult FunCart to give a fun option also for mum and dad.  Initial market validation suggests that dads will be 10 times more likely to buy an Adult FunCart.

The staged photo below contrasts our established FunCart™ with the prototype of our Adult FunCart. Special thanks go to the team at ShopperChopper.com 👍

Surfing brand Billabong, true to their name, got themselves into a deep water hole. They could have done a cool photo contrast like my mockup above. The contract of active vs passive also nicely reflects my understanding of angel investing and why I am so passionate about Flying Kiwi Angels. However, instead Billabong chose to piss of millions with this contrast imagery.

Bringing most Fridays Kiwi news on angel investing and the startup ecosystem. Snappy commentary, selected event listings and some serious fun on a Friday afternoon.

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Reading the Sunday paper I stumbled across this article lamenting the rising cost of weddings in New Zealand. Given my recent personal experience I think this needs to be put into proper perspective.

​The following is an extract from the original article Dictator of Facilitator? by Doug Macnamara.
​He has also a number of interesting monthly LinkedIn posts under the title The Governance Doctor.

Every fourth Tuesday of the month Flying Kiwi Angels have a pitch night which is generously hosted by the motley crew at KPMG Enterprise. They are working with FKA to bring relevant services and support to the startup ecosystem.

Flying Kiwi Angels have just completed their due diligence on Moxion. LPs have voted unanimously to make this our 10th portfolio company. Moxion is a game changer for film and TV production cutting the delivery time of on-set footage aka dailies from 24 hours to under 2 minutes.