An Alumni Evening with Rowan Simpson
27 Oct 2011 - 15:14:20 in Event
The Faculty of Engineering was delighted to host a presentation entitled "The Mythical Startup" by alumnus Rowan Simpson (BSc in Computer Science).
Rowan, who graduated in 1997 is an experienced software developer passionate about creating great products that people love to use.
In 1999 Rowan Simpson built and launched flathunt.co.nz, which later became part of Trade Me Property.
Rowan worked at Trade Me from 2000 and saw the site grow from 10,000 members to 100,000 in just over 18 months.
He then worked in London, and travelled through Europe, before returning to Trade Me in 2004 to lead
the growing software development team and then the product team.
From 2007 until 2008, Rowan was employed by Xero in a product strategy role.
In 2010 Rowan co-founded Southgate Labs, a software studio specialising in web and mobile applications.
He continues to advise a number of early-stage ventures, including Vend, Fishpond, Sonar6 and SMX.