What is Hackaotearoa, and who is it for?
Hackaotearoa is a co-working community for startup founders, people working solo or in small teams to solve problems and build businesses they actually care about. Our meetup format is deliberately simple: bring your laptop, work on your thing, do it next to other people doing the same. In the afternoon you can demo what you’ve been working on for feedback and ideas from the rest of the crew.
We only have one rule – Be helpful.
We’re founder-first, which means we back whatever is actually in the founder’s best interest, not what fits a particular startup playbook. Bootstrap, VC-track, side project that wants to grow up – all are welcome, and there’s a lot to learn from people doing it differently to you.
Why now? Why Auckland?
Auckland is great at supporting founders who are accelerator-ready or chasing investment, but there’s much less on offer for the people earlier in the journey, and for the growing wave of founders who’ve deliberately chosen to bootstrap rather than raise capital.
At the same time, the way people build has changed. Tools have gotten dramatically more powerful, especially AI, which means more people are shipping products, faster. The founders who are around other builders learn quicker, ship more, and stay sane longer. And, have more fun! Auckland is small enough that one strong room can shift the ecosystem. That’s the bet we’re making.
What happens at Hackaotearoa that doesn’t happen when you’re just building alone at home?
Momentum. Working solo is the default for early founders and it can be tough. No quick feedback, no one to share your wins with, and you have to keep yourself accountable. At our meetups people ship things. The room runs on AI projects, design tools, web apps, and data crunching, plus plenty of stuff still finding its shape.
What I love most is the curiosity, help and support the group gives each other. That doesn’t happen at your kitchen table.
Last week, Dani finally finished her new website after some friendly lunchtime peer pressure. Tim gave an impromptu pitching masterclass for his marketplace MVP for Sizzle.nz. Hannah told the story of how she and Hanjun got on RNZ to talk about their new hospitality project (an idea they came up with at our very first meetup). Doria’s been prototyping a voice-first healthy habit tracker.
What’s next for Hackaotearoa?
The community has grown to over 60 people in two months. There’s clear demand for this in Auckland, and we’re now thinking seriously about how to make it 10x more valuable for members.
Whatever we do will be shaped by the same founder-first philosophy: special events for solo and early-stage founders, pathways for members who want to connect with investors, clinics and classes mapped to specific startup stages.
Longer term, I’d love to run social impact hackathons that pair our community of builders with nonprofits, and maybe even spin up a venture studio of our own.
If you’re an investor, mentor, AI company, or nonprofit who wants to plug into a growing community of startup builders, get in touch.
