Rabble Rousing

November 10, 2013

A couple of months ago we launched Rabble, the directory of kiwi technology companies.

We were blown away by the response. We started with just over 100 companies, from our own networks, and I had a small wager with the team that we would eventually be able to double this number. We ended up doing that within the first few days as many companies that were not listed were quick to get in touch as ask us to add them to the site. We now have just under 300 companies listed.

So, this week, we’re pleased to release the next version of the site. This adds a number of new things, which we think starts to make it really interesting for everybody:

People

First and foremost, we’ve added people, the most important thing in the world.

You can now join, create a profile and link to the company or companies that you are associated with.

For example, this is my profile:

https://www.rabble.co.nz/profiles/2-rowan-simpson

If you are already associated with a company on Rabble you should have received an email from us with instructions for completing your profile. Once you’ve done that you can add others to that company too. We will get in touch with anybody you add who is not already listed to ask them to join and create a profile.

We’d love to see every company on Rabble with a full list of founders, team members, investors, directors, advisors, etc.

One of the big advantages we have in New Zealand is that we’re all no more than one or two degrees of separation removed from anybody else. But, for some reason there is still sometimes a perception that it is difficult to get in touch with those within the industry who might be able to help you with your business. It’s really not, or at least doesn’t have to be. We hope that having this directory of companies and people available and searchable will make it even easier for everybody who is listed on the site to find the right connections when needed.

Unfortunately there are a few companies from the original list which currently don’t have any people associated:

https://www.rabble.co.nz/companies/orphans

If you can recommend the right people for us to add to these orphans to get them started that would be much appreciated - let us know at rabble@southgatelabs.com

New Categories

We originally launched with four categories: Software, SaaS, Marketplace and E-Commerce. We’ve now added three new categories: Mobile App, Hardware and Services.

If you have a company in any of these seven categories then you can now add yourself directly to the directory - look out for the blue “Add Company” button on the top right of the page. And, if you’d like to suggest other categories for us to add then please get in touch.

As well, we also allow each company to nominate the stage they are at: Pre-launch, startup, Growth or Established, and people searching on Rabble can filter the list of companies by category, stage and location to quickly find the companies they are interested in.

Jobs

The biggest constraint for just about all of the good startups we know is finding good people to join the team and help them grow the business.

It’s depressing to see many otherwise smart people working in boring jobs with large corporates while there are so many great opportunities open at local technology companies.

So, every company listed on Rabble can now include details of current vacancies on their company profile, and we’ve added a new Jobs section which summarises all of the jobs listed on the site.

To add a free job listing to your company, just use the “Add Jobs” link on the company page.

Investment Opportunities

Despite mounting evidence to the contrary, there is still a perception that there is a shortage of capital for growing technology companies in New Zealand.

However, that’s not to say that it is always easy to make the connection between the right company and the right investor.

So, we now allow any company listed on Rabble to indicate if they are currently seeking investment. Those that do will be listed on a new Investments section. Current rules mean we can only display this information to those who have confirmed they are eligible investors - there are instructions on the Investments section page which can help those who are eligible get setup with access.

There are still many investors who wait for opportunities to come to them, often unaware that this means they miss out on all of the best deals. Hopefully Rabble can allow those investors who are willing to cut out the middle man to connect and talk directly with companies who are seeking help.

Each week we will feature remarkable companies on the Rabble homepage.

We’ve started with six companies with global ambitions, nominated by John Holt from the Kiwi Landing Pad in San Francisco:

In the first two months we’ve had thousands of people use the site - so we hope that the exposure to qualified people we can give to companies in this spot will be valuable to them.

If you’re interested in being featured, or in choosing a list of featured companies for us, please get in touch.

There is heaps more we’d like to do with this. We’ve already spoken to a few different people with ideas for how the data that is captured in Rabble can be used to deliver value back to all of the companies listed. So, look out for some further developments over the coming weeks and months. And, if you can see some potential, we’d love to talk to you too.

But, for now, we mostly need your help to spread the word and in add more companies and people to the site.

If you’re not yet listed add yourself today. And, if you know of anybody we’re missing please tell them about us.

Thanks in advance for your help!