High-flying Ponoko takes off

Wellington-based Ponoko is arguably the country's most promising internet start-up, chipping away at an international market at the moment.

If you don't know anything about the company check out this piece on Ponoko which ran in this month's Wired magazine.

For some of the back story to the company and its founders you might also want to check out this Idealog piece I wrote about Ponoko which is in the current issue.

Ponoko has just undertaken a major revamp of its service and has shifted things up a gear with the opening of an office in San Francisco that will serve as the company's head office.

This makes sense. Apparently over half of the traffic to Ponoko.com is from California and founders Derek Elley and David ten Have are looking to the Silicon Valley investors for the funding injection that will take them to the next level.

Importantly, Ponoko now also has a laser-cutter in San Francisco which gives them a hub to supply the North American market with pieces cut from the design specifications sent in by Ponoko members. Ultimately, if Ponoko takes off internationally, there'll be dozens of these manufacturing hubs all over the world so that the pieces for your coffee table or lamp will only ever be a short courier delivery away.

The upgrade to the website is important as it adds e-commerce via PayPal so people can browse a showroom of designs from the Ponoko community and have the pieces cut for them. Consumers can also tweak the plans to customise them to their preferences.

Ponoko also has scored Treehugger.com founder Graham Hill as an advisor which is a bit of a coup. Treehugger is a portal focused on green technology, environmental initiatives and discussion.

It was bought last August by Discovery Communications (owner of the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet) for US$10 million.

Treehugger shares more than a few traits with New Zealand's own Celsias.com, a popular blog about climate change and online community for those interested in getting involved in environmental initiatives.

Early days yet, but things are looking promising for both Ponoko and Celsias, who are tapping into the sustainability movement at just the right time.

Meanwhile, the ANZA Technology Network which does a lot of good work on behalf of Australian and New Zealand technology companies trying to break into the US market, is looking for kiwi high-tech, biotech/medtech, clean tech, Web 2.0, IT and new media companies to participate in free 30-minute consultations that will help them 'bridge' their businesses into the US market.

ANZA will be in Auckland on May 26 to hold a networking event for companies and everyone who registers for the event (US$25 cover charge) will get a half-hour consultation with ANZA where you can throw any questions at them about your US market entry strategy. Check out the ANZA website for details.