I’ve had a busy first quarter of 2026, and the past few weeks in particular have been a flurry of events across Wellington’s startup ecosystem — from an NZ Tech Rally event for International Women’s Day through to the day-long Code Camp Wellington conference spread across the Xero and Trade Me offices.
Two quotes bookended this series of events for me. The first came from NZ Tech Rally: “if you are not winning, you are learning.” The second came from Dean Pemberton at Code Camp: “you only win if no one loses.” There is something almost incongruent about holding both ideas at once, like a Zen koan without an answer.
The first quarter of 2026 did not go quite to plan for SMUNZ. Most of my energy went into chasing paid work, and while I did get some useful things done for SMUNZ, I did not hit the targets I had set for Q1. The main one I missed was getting properly started on the RAMP project: automating the reconciliation path from OpenCollective through to the bank account and into the Beancount ledger. That work has not gone away, but it has now been pushed out to Q3 on the GitLab milestone.
Cookie & Me #
I knew going into a string of events that I’d be meeting amazing, busy, overloaded people who weren’t going to remember my name or a business card. I needed another tactic.
After attending The Atom’s Fission Project Night Market back in February, I knew exactly what would make the brand stand out: cookies. More specifically, I was excited to place the very first order with Geordie’s Cookie & Me startup.
Geordie is the same founder I wrote about after Startup Weekend Wellington, where his project RunAR was runner-up. He has plenty of ideas and a bright future ahead — and what I like about Cookie & Me is that he’s starting small and making something real.
So I asked him to fill an order for StartMeUp.nz branded cookies for WellyForge #7 on Wednesday, the Python user group meeting on Thursday, and Code Camp Wellington on Saturday. The idea was simple: give people something delicious, advertise what I’m working on, and introduce them to a cool new product at the same time.
On Tuesday morning, Geordie and his mom turned up to The Atom with a box of custom-branded cookies featuring the StartMeUp.nz logo.
They were a genuine hit. I had to try at least one — and it was hard to stop there, especially at Code Camp on Saturday morning after I’d skipped breakfast to get there on time.
If you’re interested in getting branded cookies made for your startup, user group, or next conference, reach out to Geordie at Cookie & Me. It’s a far more memorable takeaway than a business card.
The Talks That Hit Home: Think Small and Taking a Career Break #
The week gave me a lot to feel good about. But it also gave me a lot to sit with.
I got a double dose of Parts Trader stories — once at WellyForge, and again in the opening keynote at Code Camp, where Chris talked about how to maintain a startup mindset even after more than twenty years of growth. There were no real surprises in what he said, and I mean that as a compliment. I could relate to all of it. Innovation, energy, laughter, creative chaos, wrong turns, dead ends, circling back, and somehow keeping momentum alive while the organisation changes shape around you. It felt a bit like hearing the story of my own last twenty years played back to me.
Thinking small, starting small, is one of the core tenets of SMUNZ too. We believe big things start small, which is why our logo is a bean sprout turning into a rocket ship. That sentiment hit home for me, not just as startup advice but as a reminder that ambition does not have to begin at scale.
Through all the chaos, Chris said, you have to retain your sense of humour. It’s what gets you through. I couldn’t agree more.
But it was Prae Songprasit’s talk that resonated most. She was brave enough to guide a room full of people through the experience of having not one but multiple burnouts — in the same building, no less. By the end of 2024 she was deep into her third. She reflected on the reasons, budgeted for the exit, and planned a proper break in 2025 before returning to coding full time with a new set of guiding principles. No regrets.
Sitting there listening, I recognised the signs. Not in her — in myself.
Taking a Break #
I have burned out before. More than once.
The first time crept up on me slowly. Twenty years into my IT career, when a few issues compounded, a failing retaining wall my insurance wouldn’t cover, and my father’s health was declining — and I still couldn’t quite admit what was happening. Part of it was that I could feel my professional development stalling out at a company that was unable to recognise my talent or give me a role where I could properly develop my skills. I wasn’t miserable there. I liked the people, including my manager. But I was distracted, emotional, and bewildered, and I couldn’t quite see a way forward. Eventually I booked a GP appointment just to describe the symptoms, and sitting there in the chair, it all came out.
If you find yourself far along into burnout with no one to turn to: go see your GP. They’ll tell you you’re not the only one. They’ll give you time off. Take it.
The next thing I did was absolutely the wrong thing to do after having a breakdown: I joined a startup.
Too soon, too much, too far from home. Fortunately my relationship with the new startup broke down before the next burnout could fully hit, they offered me a redundancy I gladly accepted. Now I could go spend more time with my father.
The very next day, he passed away.
The Pattern Repeats #
A few months later I was back in Wellington — jobless, fatherless, and with a depleted bank account after fixing that retaining wall. A good contract landed, consulting for a public sector client. But after two years, that ended in another burnout too, when the same pattern that led to the first one began to emerge. I raided the retirement fund to break the circuit. Then I joined Startup Weekend, ended up on the winning team, and started working on StartMeUp.nz — built around the gap I’d noticed: the lack of support and planning that comes once the high of a startup weekend wears off. You might have a good pitch deck after a whirlwind weekend of validation, but there is still the long circuitous road Chris described ahead if you’re going to make something of the idea.
Then I almost burned out on SMUNZ too.
What I’m Doing About It #
Prae had a slide about what she was looking for in her next role. I’ve been thinking about my own version of that list.
After the second breakdown, after the public sector contract, after six months working on StartMeUp.nz on a shrinking runway, I’ve landed on my criteria:
- Anything that pays — and keeps the peace at home.
- Something working with a sufficiently advanced IT team — ideally one wrangling the ecosystem around their Kubernetes cluster.
- Short-term contract — built-in circuit-breaker.
I’m glad to say I’ve ticked the boxes. I’m heading into a contract role for a while, and I’m stepping back from active work on StartMeUp.nz. Not abandoning it. Parking it, intentionally, before it parks me.
One of Prae’s requirements for her next role was an NZ focus, and that landed with me too. That is a big part of what SMUNZ is for. I want to help build something useful here in Aotearoa New Zealand, for founders and builders here, without having to pretend the answer is always somewhere else.
And while I’m at it: I’m also looking for a graphic designer to help evolve the SMUNZ logo into something a bit more Kiwiana and more clearly grounded in New Zealand. Maybe the bean sprout leans more toward a fern. Maybe there is a kiwi in there somewhere. If that sounds like your kind of brief, please get in touch.
I’ll be back in May at NZ Tech Rally — with more cookies, maybe a new collaborator, and a clearer head. StartMeUp.nz exists to be a stable presence in this ecosystem: a resource pool, a community, and eventually an emergency fund for founders facing exactly the kind of burnout I’ve been describing. I can’t build that alone. But I can build it slowly, without burning out again in the process.
That much, at least, I’m learning.
If you or someone you know is experiencing burnout, please reach out to a healthcare professional. In New Zealand, you can call or text 1737 to speak with a trained counsellor, any time.