GridAKL Founders' Clinic

Adam is a marketing strategist, brand consultant and founder of Art of the Possible ANZ, a senior-only consultancy helping ambitious businesses get found and get chosen. With more than 20 years’ experience leading brands, agencies and growth initiatives, Adam works with founders and leadership teams to sharpen positioning, clarify value propositions, build distinctive brands and create more effective go-to-market strategies. He specialises in turning complex business challenges into practical commercial opportunities that drive growth, differentiation and long-term competitive advantage.

Alexandra is a corporate lawyer in Dentons' VC team, who helps founders raise capital (equity and debt) from pre-seed onwards, including convertible notes and SAFEs. She advises founders and startups on getting their legal foundations right – from incorporation, founder agreements, and intellectual property ownership to constitutions and shareholders’ agreements – so that founders can focus on building and growing their businesses. Alex works closely with founders to support the development, scaling and strategic direction of their businesses.

Amanda Butterworth is a Startmate Founders Fellow and early-stage founder coach with a passion for sustainability, social enterprise, fashion, beauty and procurement. She helps founders shape and validate their ideas, cut through the noise and focus on what matters most. With a practical, grounded approach, Amanda supports founders to build confidence, gain clarity and create momentum as they navigate the early stages of their startup journey.

Bethany Sweeney is a solicitor in Smith and Partners' Commercial Team with a background in both business and law. Her business degree, with a focus on marketing, shapes her commercially focused approach to legal advice and gives her a practical understanding of the challenges founders face as they build and grow their businesses. Bethany enjoys helping startups navigate legal issues with clear, practical guidance.

Calvin specialises in corporate law, advising on business sales and acquisitions, restructures, capital raisings, joint ventures, shareholder agreements and employee share schemes. He has extensive private equity, venture capital and M&A experience, acting for businesses ranging from SMEs to multinationals, as well as founders and investors.

Calvin advises startups at every stage, from venture structuring to institutional capital raises. Passionate about gaming and emerging technologies including blockchain and AI, he has advised leading gaming companies and presents at the New Zealand Game Developers Conference.

With experience in R&D commercialisation as an engineer and R&D manager, as well as business improvement consulting across Lean and Agile, Adam supports innovative companies to turn ideas into opportunities. He also helps businesses navigate and access government support, with a particular focus on commercialising R&D and identifying relevant funding and support available.

David Claridge is a senior innovation and commercialisation specialist with extensive experience helping early-stage technology ventures turn ideas into successful businesses. Drawing on a background spanning software, engineering services, telecommunications, marine and manufacturing, he supports founders to validate opportunities, develop commercial pathways and generate revenue. As a Navigator with Auckland Business Chamber working alongside MBIE Innovation Services, David connects innovators with funding, expertise and ecosystem networks. Passionate about growing New Zealand technology companies, he is dedicated to helping founders transform promising technologies into sustainable, high-impact ventures.

David is a Team Lead in the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ), part of the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). IPONZ grants and registers IP rights in New Zealand, helping innovators and businesses protect and commercialise their ideas. With a background in science and innovation, and experience across multiple IP disciplines, David is passionate about giving innovators in New Zealand the knowledge to use intellectual property strategically to support growth, investment, and long-term success.

Former US Marine Major turned veteran tech leader, Devin Deen brings 30 years of military, startup, and board experience to Auckland Startup Week. As Founder of ThinkGo, Devin helps Tech founders cut through growth chaos, align teams, and execute scalable go-to-market strategies. He specializes in sharpening value propositions, business models, and partner ecosystems directly driving sales, capital raises, and acquisitions across global tech ventures.

Ed lives and breathes tech, combining extensive technical, commercial and legal expertise to advise clients on technology and related matters. As CIO at Hudson Gavin Martin, he continues to lead and innovate across all things tech. Passionate about giving back, Ed has held board roles with the NZ Software Association, NZ Game Developers Association and ADLS Technology Law Committee. He lectures in the University of Auckland’s Masters of Entrepreneurship and Commercialisation programme and judges the NZ Hi-Tech Awards. He is also highly recognised by leading legal directories.

Gavin helps founders and entrepreneurs make confident financial decisions across both their business and personal lives. With extensive experience in financial advice and wealth creation, he takes a holistic approach to protecting income and family, managing wealth, structuring finances and planning for the future. Gavin understands the close connection between personal and business finances, helping founders build strong financial foundations while growing their businesses. At Auckland Startup Week, he’ll share practical insights on protecting yourself, your family and building wealth beyond your business.

Hinemihiata Sproat is a Māori business and economic development professional with experience across NZTE, Māori enterprise and community organisations. She brings a strong focus on innovation, sustainability and creating opportunities for Māori businesses to grow. With whakapapa to Ngāti Konohi and Rongowhakaata, Hinemihiata is passionate about connecting people, ideas and opportunities, and bringing mātauranga Māori and contemporary business thinking together to create meaningful outcomes for whānau and communities.

Josh has over 14 years’ experience at PwC, working with diverse organisations to solve complex business challenges, create value and future-proof finance functions. He has led finance functions, delivered process and technology improvements, and driven finance transformation projects within PwC’s Private team. His focus is now on expanding the team’s finance transformation capabilities and providing virtual CFO advisory services to growth-oriented businesses, helping them strengthen financial operations, support growth and build scalable, future-ready finance functions.

Josh leads the development of BNZ’s Technology Industries, building capability across its tech banking team and driving initiatives to support New Zealand’s tech businesses. With senior experience across commercial banking, investments and strategy, Josh holds a Master’s in Finance and an MBA from the University of Oxford.

Jude Dragh is a solicitor in Smith and Partners’ Commercial Team, with experience across a range of commercial matters and a specialised practise in intellectual property. She helps businesses protect, manage and enforce their IP rights, while providing practical, commercially focused advice. With a Bachelor of Information Systems, Jude has a strong understanding of technology and its role in business. She is especially interested in emerging technologies and the legal and commercial issues they present.

Liam helps innovators turn ideas into products, with expertise spanning market validation, deep tech commercialisation, pitching, manufacturing and early-stage startup support. He works closely with founders to test opportunities, navigate the path from idea to market, and build the foundations needed to turn innovation into a viable business.

Mark is an experienced business and innovation leader who helps founders turn complex challenges into clear, actionable strategies. With 20+ years across health, agri and technical businesses—including seven years advising high-growth R&D ventures—he brings practical expertise across strategy, commercialisation, capital, partnerships, sales and navigating the innovation ecosystem. Mark has founded and led businesses, built commercial teams and supported startups through critical growth decisions. His approach is pragmatic, challenging and founder-focused: helping identify the key issue, test assumptions and determine the next best move.

Nick is a Research and Development Specialist, working in the R&D Tax Incentive Engagement Team at the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment. He has extensive experience across a range of technology sectors and works with New Zealand Innovators to help them understand and access R&D funding support.

Experienced business leader with a strong track record in business turnaround, manufacturing, and supply chain optimisation. Having led production and manufacturing operations across Southeast Asia, I have driven market/product growth through strategic leadership, operational excellence, and strong customer partnerships. Plus started my own businesses on multiple occasions.

Rebecca is a product builder and Co-founder of Briick, where she works with AI and automation to help businesses reduce repetitive tasks, improve everyday processes, and give teams more time to focus on the work that matters. With a background in product and experience design, she has spent her career finding simple solutions to complex problems.

Richard Liew is a startup mentor (GEN NZ Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Awards Mentor of the Year 2024) with a focus on storytelling and media. He is the founder of NZ Entrepreneur Magazine, APAC Innovator, the Startup NZ Entrepreneurs Programme and FoundrPR through which he helps inspire, inform and educate thousands of Kiwi startup founders and SME business owners every month.

Shannon helps technology start-ups and scale-ups grow internationally. As a Customer Manager at New Zealand Trade & Enterprise, she supports tech and services companies to strengthen export strategy, capability and growth. She brings over 20 years’ B2B marcoms experience across technology, telecoms and services, including senior communications leadership at IBM NZ and tech sector roles in London and Vancouver. Shannon also contributes to NFP boards, STEAM education and business mentoring.