Nelson firm wants to see its high-definition webcams used around the globe.
Chris Rodley's father, Dave, couldn't take his eyes off his property in Hanmer Springs, so he installed a $5000 web camera to keep an eye on things from his home in Nelson.
The expensive imported camera wasn't reliable, so Dave began building one of his own. The result is a high-definition web camera, SnapitHD, that has caught the attention of companies such as TV3, the MetService and motel owners.
Through their company, Takeabreak, the Rodleys - Dave, Chris and his brother, Andrew - aim to create more impact with their SnapitHD webcam and hope to see their product in every major city in New Zealand, then all over the world.
"Our first client was the Rotary Club of Greymouth, who wanted our product to show proof that it doesn't always rain in Greymouth," says Chris Rodley, who is chief executive. The product was an instant hit in Greymouth.
Sun Court Motorlodge in Taupo also installed a camera, as has a motel in Doubtless Bay. It had 28 bookings within the first two weeks of installing the webcam, Rodley says.
Rollos, a Nelson outdoor sports company, has been using SnapitHD technology to supply tourists with updated shots - via an in-store LCD screen - of the adventure spots they are heading for. Rodley says he is also in talks with CNN to provide cameras for use in the United States.
One of the features of the webcam, he says, is that it can capture high-definition shots of up to 10 megapixels.
The fact that the image needs little internet bandwidth makes it an efficient way for companies to show real-time events, Rodley says.
More than 30 of the company's cameras have been installed at places including the Eden Park construction site, a Moutere vineyard and at High Peaks Hotel at Mount Cook. Rodley reckons the company has a better product than competitor Earthcam, which has 100 webcams installed worldwide.
"Our product is better. What we need to do is get international locations for our product."
The company is working with Telecom to develop a mobile application which will enable users to capture updated images of their favourite spots while on the move.
Having no preconceived ideas of how things should work is one the Rodleys' greatest advantages.
"When you come from a learning position, you are very different to someone who has had formal training.
"We tend to say nothing is impossible so we go down the route ... it opens up a lot of doors to customers."
Rodley won a mentorship session with the Icehouse, a business growth centre, after he detailed what his company was doing on Steinlager's Pure Futures (Tell Us What You Are Doing) campaign.
Ken Erskine, director of start-ups at Ice Accelerator and Ice Angels, who is involved in the mentorship with Chris and his brother Andrew, describes the SnapitHD team as having "great skills and experience in cost-effectively building and integrating digital still and video technologies into commercial applications.
"The real challenge for them is one of focus and commercial scalability. They have great skills and experience but need to ensure that they spend appropriate time and resource on projects that are scalable on the international stage.
"SnapitHD has international competitors and there is also the risk of building new markets which are taken over by larger, more established competitors or even suppliers, once [the company has] proven that a market exists."
The company needs to meet short-term commitments as well as spending time validating and ranking opportunities for the future, Erskine says.
While Takeabreak is funded by the family, at some stage there may be a need to seek outside investors.
Erskine says before that can happen the company needs to demonstrate that the business is saleable offshore and has the opportunity to provide a five-fold return on invested capital.
Rodley found the Icehouse mentorship useful to keep the company's focus sharp.
"We have to stay 100 per cent focused on the camera element.
"There are different applications for the technology and we have been trying to do too much. We have taken the advice on board."
For the Rodleys, success would mean their webcams broadcasting images of not only off-the-beaten-track places in New Zealand but the Eiffel Tower, the foothills of the Himalayas or the Grand Canyon.
