Meet the New+Improved team

Connon has extensive experience developing disruptive businesses and technologies and has worked across New Zealand, the United Kingdom and North America. He is an expert in understanding problem spaces, conceptualising product solutions and enrolling clients, teams and investors to help get early-stage companies off the ground.

Antony leads product and technical development at New+Improved. He has extensive experience working in and building pre-seed and seed stage companies and is an expert in rapidly finding product market fit. Antony has worked in startups and early-stage companies for more than a decade, co-founding several companies, including Tracksuit, Zavy and Ideally. Prior, Antony worked in data science and machine learning both in New Zealand and London, working with blue-chip companies across Europe, North America and APAC.

Hannah works across strategy, structure and governance in helping the studio turn early ideas into ventures that can grow with confidence. With a background as a tech founder and experience spanning venture building, technology law and company governance, Hannah brings clear thinking, commercial judgment and a bias toward action. She is driven by the belief that great founders, supported by the right structure and community, can create companies that genuinely improve the world.

Laura identifies exceptional early-stage founders and works closely with them and their teams as they navigate the transition from idea to early company building, with a particular focus on people, structure, and day-to-day operations. Laura also leads New+Improved’s marketing efforts. With global experience in VC, consulting with startups and scaleups, tech, and talent, Laura has deep expertise in building teams, designing organisational foundations, and establishing operating rhythms that enable companies to scale effectively.

Simon leads brand strategy and investment for New+Improved and the companies during launch. Simon also leads Brand Fund and startup brand strategy at Previously Unavailable. Prior to joining Previously, Simon led global brand from $2m to $20m ARR for Vend, who went on to exit for $500M. Simon has led brand and positioning work for high-growth startups and scaleups, including Timely, Extraordinary, Taxi, Bustle, Tradify, Appetise, aglow and Ideally.

Chris focuses on two key parts of the New+Improved process: 1. early problem discovery and solution prototyping, and 2. venture build, customer-acquisition and validation. As a self-confessed Venture-Studio evangelist, he’s also passionate about shaping the commercial model and capital strategy for New+Improved. Chris has 20+ years of international experience in engineering R&D, management consulting, M&A, innovation consulting and venture building. His role combines the technical, human, operational and commercial threads required to find, create and scale successful ventures. He supported the group’s early ventures, including Ideally, where he was hands-on and on the board from inception through to their $100m Series A.

Ashish is a Full-Stack Developer at New+Improved with a strong track record in building impactful applications. He played a key role in the development of MVPs and first version products for all of New+Improved’s ventures. Previously, Ashish contributed significantly to research and development at TRA and has been actively involved in advancing tech solutions ever since.

James is the Strategy Partner at New+Improved, helping ventures build the brand and marketing foundations they need to grow with conviction. Named the world's #1 strategic planning director, he is one of the world's leading experts in marketing and advertising effectiveness. Author of two acclaimed books on the subject, The Case for Creativity and Future Demand and brings deep real-world experience as founding partner of Previously Unavailable and co-founder of high-profile New Zealand companies, including Tracksuit and AF Drinks.

Phoebe leads design for New+Improved, where her highly creative team at Previously Unavailable build distinctive identities for New+Improved’s ventures. The team specialise in working with early-stage companies, using design and brand in parallel with product work streams to scale them at speed. The team's track record includes Tracksuit and Ideally, where strong design was embedded from the beginning. Phoebe has extensive experience building and shaping brands for a range of start-up and scale-up companies. Her team's work can be seen across the whole start-up ecosystem in Aotearoa and Australasia, companies including Extraordinary, Levno, Lumos, Bustle, Ārepa, Taxi, Education Perfect, Tracksuit, Ideally and more.