Rowan Simpson is a passionate entrepreneur, software developer and investor who creates great products that people love to use.
Rowan founded flathunt.co.nz and sold it to New Zealand’s biggest internet success Trade Me a year later. He was with the auction and classifieds site for its NZ$750m exit six years later. Rowan went on to invest in and develop product strategy for online accounting service Xero through its meteoric growth and IPO.
In 2010 Rowan co-founded Southgate Labs, a software studio specialising in web and mobile applications, with Michael Koziarski and Amnon Ben-Or.
He continues to invest in and advise a number of early-stage ventures, including Vend, Fishpond, Sonar6 and SMX.
“It’s great to be part of a program that is running at such a scale. New Zealand has a dynamic startup scene but is constrained by our small population and remote location. At JFDI the whole region is contributing to building startup companies – mentors and startups are coming from all over the world as opposed to one city or one country – and that is an exciting experience to be a part of.”
