Steve O'Connor
General Manager | BSC, BCA
E: steve.oconnor@creativehq.co.nz
P:
About Steve
Steve has a diverse and successful track record in building businesses and driving their growth – and he draws on that experience daily as he helps New Zealand start-ups navigate a path to success.
In the United Kingdom from the early to late 1990s, he worked for a number of multi-national broadband telecommunications companies experiencing colossal growth, including NASDAQ listed NTL (now Virgin Media) where he was Head of Pricing. During Steve’s first 18 months with NTL, it grew from 60 employees to over 10,000. It was an exciting, fast-moving, swift-learning environment and Steve gained valuable senior management experience and exposure to various aspects of the business by being part of the small team that got NTL off the ground.
"How to spin a company out of an existing one, and more importantly, some things you wouldn't do"
"I saw first-hand the opportunities you get in big markets and the stretch marks you get with that kind of growth.”
Back in New Zealand, Steve was looking for a different kind of challenge so took leadership of his statistician brother’s small data mining services business Datamine, and applied his business acumen to build it into an award-winning (Deloitte Fast50), multi-million dollar business. He then helped launched a spin-off products company, Marketview, and supported this as an Executive Director towards its eventual MBO. It was with Marketview that Steve learnt the most: ‘How to spin a company out of an existing one, and more importantly, some of things you wouldn’t do.’
In a more recent role, in a General Management function with Meridian Energy Steve was given the freedom to dream and scheme and pitch to the Meridian board for investment in new innovations and spin-out ventures. This was a creative environment, again with great venture growth opportunities, and with the backing and funding to make it happen.
Steve then took on responsibility for business development and growth at one of these spin-outs, Arc Innovations, taking on the challenge and successfully driving the introduction of innovative products in a slow moving industry that are now being adopted across the New Zealand energy sector.
Steve learnt first-hand the challenges in driving innovation and transformation in established industries with big players. Steve then focused on successful international expansion for the business.
Steve says his most difficult experiences have become tangible examples for the entrepreneurs within the Creative HQ incubator.
“The kick I get out it more than anything else is the pure daring. We’re kind of living vicariously through them; we get our fixes riding shotgun and standing pretty tall with them when we need to.”
