Meet Neil Lloyd: Wānaka Founder and Advocate for Supportive Communities
Neil Lloyd is the founder of DWS, a leading software company based in Wānaka – and an important part of our Startup Queenstown Lakes community.
DWS recently made national headlines with its innovative solution for AJ Hackett Bungy. The adventure tourism company offers high-quality photos and videos to customers of their once-in-a-lifetime bungy jump or canyon swing experiences. However, the camera equipment required to do this was expensive, slow and lacking in flexibility for both customers and AJ Hackett Bungy.
DWS’s solution was to develop a clever system of cutting-edge technology and automation – as well as a lot of iPhones – to streamline the process and reduce costs.
“It’s been a two- almost three-year project,” explains Neil.
But how did a leading software company come to be in the Queenstown Lakes District? Neil says he came to Wānaka after travelling through Asia, Europe and New Zealand extensively.
DWS Founder & CTO Neil Lloyd
“DWS was going through various iterations of size and function at the time, but it changed focus and things became easier when I arrived here in Wānaka,” he explains.
“My initial hesitation was that: it’s a small town, particularly on a global scale. So commerce and start-ups… I wasn’t expecting anything like that to be here. But then I came across Startup Queenstown Lakes and met up with Jinene (Coach) and Wayne (Trustee and IP Lawyer) at one of the events. I got into the startup community and realised just how much was going on in this community and the region as a whole, as well as the skill sets based right here”.
“Jinene and Wayne have been really helpful. Jinene is great on how to grow your business and Wayne has been helpful on structure and advice around IP and things like that. They’re great mentors and it’s a very good community with lots of other co-founders and people doing interesting things.”
Since becoming involved with the SQL community, Neil has dedicated a lot of his time and expertise to helping others, acting as a mentor at the Startup Weekend in 2023 and providing advice and guidance to other start-up founders.
Neil leading a session at Startup Weekend 2023.
“There’s typically a big divide between the technical and non-technical – for example, someone wanting to build a SAAS platform and they have the idea and the domain knowledge. That’s great. But it’s difficult for them to bridge that gap, to go out and build it. It’s a ‘where do I start?’ and ‘who do I trust?’ type of problem.
“The advice that I give, is born out of the experience that I’ve had in various roles and companies I’ve been in.”
Neil has spent a lot of time with founders, helping them to understand what they want to build and connecting them to people with the right technical skills and experience. For him, it’s all part of being in a supportive community.
“It’s a great community. There’s a lot of support there. Jinene and Wayne can help connect you to funding (which can be a difficult path on your own), you’ve got the general support of everyone in the community, and the amazing connections you make.
“I went to a SQL event recently and met Tuki [Huck], who’s also a local start-up founder, and talking to him I found that he has a photography background and used to work for Sony. It’s surprising the personal connections you make and how you get to know their backgrounds. Then you end up calling them if you’ve hit a problem they’ve got expertise in. Kieran [Gardiner, co-founder of Venu] is another – I met him at Startup Weekend and he has a marketing background. So I’ve called on him a few times to get some advice.
“You’ve got that pool of expertise. It’s really helpful. If I had to describe Startup Queenstown Lakes in one word, I’d say Support.”
Story written by Startup Queenstown Lakes.