INTOUCH : Shock sales course in US

“The programme was designed to shock us into realising the intensity of being part of high growth, innovative business in the United States and to sort those who can take the pace and those who can’t.”
That’s Richard Downs-Honey, MD of marine technology company High Modulus and no slouch in the fast-paced Kiwi export world, talking about course he recently attended in Entrepreneurial Thinking at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ten Kiwi entrepreneurs from local high-growth technology companies took part with support from the New Zealand Government through FRST (Foundation for Research, Science and Technology).
The Foundation’s northern regional manager Suki Siriwardena said the week-long course delivered significant benefits including new knowledge about accelerating the growth of high-tech start-ups, best practices in sales and marketing and raft of valuable contacts.
The strong focus on commercialisation and how to achieve it, was very relevant, according to Sarah Kennedy, managing director of Healtheries.
“New Zealand is hotbed of ideas and new technologies but companies here often find it hard to achieve the next step and take their products to the world.”