Editorial
Let's kick this thing into action!
I've had a guts full of waiting for successive lame governments to ponder their navels while repeatedly coming up with excuses for not taking positive steps towards addressing New Zealand's atrocious performance in the new economy.

Perhaps it's time that we, as an industry, simply took things into our own hands and realised that the government will only do what IT wants when IT wants to, and that really they seem to be completely out of touch with the needs and demands of this country as a participant in the global economy.

As a first phase of getting some positive action going, I'd like to call on anyone and everyone who thinks they might have some knowledge, skill and time available that they could dedicate to helping out the many would-be entrepreneurs and smart young people who might be considering "giving it a go" in the new economy.

Acknowledging that these startups seldom have any real cash, I think anyone who's interested in helping out will have to be prepared to give away their time and efforts for free - or perhaps for a small equity stake in the venture.

It's my goal to build a directory of resources that young (or old) up-and-comers can call on to help them work through the many critical phases of creating their product and/or service, then getting it to market.

There are already similar "mentor" schemes operating in the general business marketplace so we probably don't need to dwell too much on traditional aspects of business -- but we do need people who are aware of the peculiarities associated with knowledge-based industries.

Not only will those who participate get a chance to earn some warm-fuzzies, but if you provide your services on an equity stake basis you might even end up with a very real return on your investment.

If you're a budding entrepreneur with a good idea for a product or service, or maybe a professional or experienced knowledge-based worker then let me know what you think of this idea.

Let's not wait for those idiots in parliament -- the game will be over before they've even woken up.

NZZoom.com -- someone's got it now
I hope TVNZ were reading yesterday's Aardvark because someone snapped up the nzzoom.com domain name after I pointed out that it was still available in yesterday's column.

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