Beyond the Commodity Economy - What Can New Zealand Build, Own and Scale from Here?

Sometimes taking a break takes you straight back to the beginning.

After a few weeks of spending 10–15 hours a day buried in VS Code building Atlas, I decided my brain needed a break from coding.

Then I read a LinkedIn post from Vince Cocurullo asking what Northland currently exports that we could be processing or manufacturing here instead.

I started writing a reply.

Atlas and I started talking.

That conversation became a paper.

We explored manufacturing, capital, land, investment, risk, failure, ownership and why New Zealand sometimes struggles to back itself. We even challenged some of our own assumptions along the way.

But what surprised me most was where we ended up.

Right back at the roots of Just the Cotter Pin.

Practical experience. Learning from failure. People sharing what they know. Asking better questions. And having conversations before reaching for complicated solutions.

The smallest conclusion in the paper might also be the most important:

Answer the email. Have the cuppa. Start the conversation.

Because that's exactly how this paper started.

📄 Read the paper: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTM__aKi3zzEGBuU37yu9kQFsMFf-L7XSAWZ88oWYgloQm6lEfocOEoVxg9hKD3kzGUgd0ErjsroQ5J/pub

Thanks Vince for starting the conversation.

Perfect for the moment.

#NewZealand #Productivity #Investment #Entrepreneurship #RegionalDevelopment #AtlasWorkshop