Best wishes to Nick Willis the NZ inventor profiled in this Herald article. However, what attracted Adam’s attention to the piece was the tag about investors in the company Stephen Tindall and Sam Morgan. Good on them for investing.

Yet since when were these two men gurus. Yes, Adam is aware that one can use the word to mean leader, but in a business context he has, perhaps misguidedly, taken the word to mean thought leader. He considers Messrs Tindall and Morgan to be successful businessman, but not gurus.

Perhaps others have a different view. Any comments? Do these two guru it for you? Or is this yet another example of the appropriation of a word from another context and misuse such that the singularity of the original is lost?

Wanaka’s Hillend Station  has a new owner.

Trade Me founder Sam Morgan has bought it from Infinity Investments for $25 million.

“It’s an exciting new challenge for me and I look forward to investing further in the region, while continuing all of Infinity’s good work in preserving the unique beauty and character of the area,” Mr Morgan said.

Infinity owned the property for nine years and had it valued at $33m. It has two consented development options. One is 41 lot farmpark and the other a subdivision into 31 titles of 20ha.

Mr Morgan could pick up either option or continue to run the station as a high country property.

“It is a very exciting opportunity for him. What we have got here is an iconic South Island property,” said Infinity’s general manager Marc Bretherton.

He said $25m was a fair price in the current climate.

The 2,665 hectare station is on the flanks of Mt Alpha and over looks Wanaka.

Aaron Trujillo Defeated Haven Torres via TKO (Punches) at 2:59 in the 1st Round
Turrell Galloway Defeated Brett Tillis via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 1:21 in the 1st Round
Eric Galvin Defeated Jeremy Malaterre via Split Decision (29-28, 30-27, 28-29)
Alan Gomez Defeated Jordan Goodwin via Unanimous Decision (29-28, All three judges)
Drew Dober Defeated Lumumba Sawyers via KO (Punch) at 0:16 in the 1st Round

Main Bouts:

Tyler Toner Defeated Ricky Johnson via TKO (Strikes) 3:44 in the 2nd Round
Michelle Waterson Defeated Tyra Parker via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 1:20 in the 1st Round
Carlos Zevallos Defeated Andre Walker via TKO (Strikes) at 4:48 in the 1st Round
Billy Evangelista Defeated Luke Caudillo via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Donnie Liles Defeated Pete Spratt via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 1:59 in the 3rd Round
Frank Trigg Defeated Falaniko Vitale via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Duane Ludwig Defeated Sam Morgan via Submission (Strikes) at 2:01 in the 1st Round

Ferrit general manager Ralph Brayham was quoted in an article in the NBR yesterday saying:

“If our objective was to make money right now we’d be doing the same thing that Sam Morgan [of TradeMe] did. We’d have three guys in a garage working on a website.“

This really does beg the question… if its good enough for Sam Morgan to start small and its good enough for companies like us, why is it not good enough for Ferrit? Just because Ferrit have access a lot of capital, is that a good enough excuse to well … waste lots of it? Mr Bryham also admitted that it was a matter of “years” before Ferrit could reach break-even.

Does the mega-financing of “businesses” like Ferrit ($12 million per annum is rumoured) actually help them achieve success? No small company has the luxury of “years” to reach break-even? Small guys are forced to develop products, business models and websites that actually work.

Because they have to.

Ferrits web site, while sporting a face-lifted front page, remains rather difficult to use (and the deeper you got he scarier it gets). Some people would suggest that the cash spent promoting Ferrit could have been spent on creating a site that actually works. As my Grandfather once said… “anyone can buy internet traffics[sic]“.

Meanwhile we’ll continue to develop a web site that works and a business model that works… even if we have been out of the garage for nearly three years now. I still maintain working in a garage can be very over-rated.

The next Webstock conference in Wellington will shortly be upon us.

On the Thursday afternoon I have the privilege of hosting a fireside chat with Sam Morgan … you know the slight red-headed fulla who started Trade Me?

Here is how it’s described on the Webstock site:

“Join us at the end of the day for a relaxed Q&A with NZ’s own Sam Morgan.

We’ll share some stories from the very early days of Trade Me through to the sale to Fairfax and beyond. We’ll also talk about what Sam is doing next, including technology investments and social ventures.

Rowan was the first Trade Me employee who didn’t share a surname with Sam, so is well placed to cover the questions that others don’t know or don’t dare to ask.”

Hmmm … I don’t know about that last part, but it should be a fun session nonetheless.

There are lots of things that I’m keen to ask him about, but I also thought I’d get your help and suggestions.

If there is a question you wish you could ask Sam now is your chance!

Just leave a comment below and I’ll see what I can do.

And, if you want to come along to Webstock and see it live and you still haven’t reserved your ticket, time is running out so get in quick.

Cung Le vs. Sam Morgan at Strikeforce 11/16

The big news in the blogosphere this week?

The disappointing but probably inevitable outing of Fake Steve Jobs.

In related news: we’re looking for somebody to be Fake Sam Morgan.

If you’re interested please forward your resume and salary expectations.

My email address is on the sidebar.

Sam spent last week in Monterey California at the TED Conference.

Last night he sent this link to some pictures of some of the speakers. See if you can spot the Kiwi in his Ice Breaker:

http://ted2007.vox.com/speakers/

I can’t believe he got to share the stage with Beaker and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew!

As you can see, this conference attracts an incredible audience including many of the best speakers in the world. Sam was talking about some of the charity work he has got involved in over the last 12 months.

We’ll look forward to hearing some of his stories from what sounds like an amazing week.

P.S. TED is an invite-only conference. You need to apply to attend. If you want to apply to go next year … too late, it’s already sold out!