RELATED LINKS » Have your say » Subscribe to Archivestuff

High-tech entrepreneurs get Morgo for their ideas

On Wednesday night, attendees at this year's shindig gathered at Taupo's Wairakei resort to scoff their school soup and red roast meat, fuelling up for two days of furious talk.

Their manners are impeccable, their enthusiasm irrepressible. These people are focused, driven, and gregarious to a fault.

Morel has been organising the event for four years now and it has grown to accommodate 110 delegates, all of whom have passed muster as really useful people -attendance at the conference is by invitation only.

Walking into dinner on Wednesday, one chief executive remarked that Morgo was "the best conference I attend - and I go to a lot worldwide".

It's like a club. Last year there was a magician, though he came in for some stick. A delegate this year decided it would be fun to start a rumour that a Morel employee had been fired because of the magician disaster. These guys just can't resist a project.

The serious stuff involves two days of presentation and debate from the stars of the high-tech, high-growth business world -Rakon, TradeMe, Argent, Peace Software, Endace.

Ken Morse, managing director of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Entrepreneurship Centre, was alone worth the price of entry.

With a dry, deadpan style Morse's address drew on his experience as a serial entrepreneur, founding companies such as 3Com and Aspen Technology.

He put an acronym on screen -CFIMITYM. "Who knows what this means?" he demanded. "Cash, Flow, Is, More, Important, Than, Your, Mother."

Another demand. "Who thinks we need to celebrate success? Stand up Sam Morgan".

Morgan, who sold TradeMe to Fairfax for $700 million plus earn-outs, drew loud applause.

Failure was good too - you learn a lot from failure.

In one business, Morse recalled, "we went from 88 employees to four in one afternoon. In Boston there's a lot of start-ups - and a lot of failure. So there's a vibrant market in used furniture."

He spoke about leadership, demanding the best from staff, and about the importance of the elevator pitch.

"Who has the problem and do they have the money? If you can't say that in 55 seconds you don't have a business."

Morgan himself got a chance to talk to the conference later. His comments can't be reported because of conference rules, but it can be safely described as irreverent.

Morgan's impatience with potential buyers who misunderstood TradeMe's business is well-known, and he emphasised that on Thursday. But perhaps of most practical interest was his handling of the sale process, which achieved a full price with a low transaction cost. He did it mostly by handling the deal in-house rather than use a "deal guy" - Morgan's term for an investment banker. As a result, he reckoned, transaction costs were reduced by 90%.

The TradeMe founder is an undoubted hero for these entrepreneurs - they know what it takes to succeed and readily acknowledge the talents of their peers.

That sense of being part of a select, dedicated group was evident on Thursday morning. For one minute, delegates stood in silence to remember Russell Smith, founder of HumanWare, killed last year when his light aircraft crashed off the Canterbury coast as he and his wife returned from Morgo.