We are a team of experienced entrepreneurs, researchers, strategists and designers using a human centred design-led approach. Connor joined Previously Unavailable in 2020 upon returning to NZ after five years of scaling kiwi growth companies globally. He has deep experience running and growing enterprise saas and direct-to-consumer businesses having been COO of Mish Guru and Head of B2B and Business Development for Noissue. Connor started his career as a corporate lawyer at Bell Gully before earning his startup chops working with the Icehouse to launch and run Auckland’s first accelerator program, Lightning Lab. Despite being a bit of an operations nerd, Connor views the world through a creative lens. He truly loves diving into good ideas and turning them into great businesses
Contact connor@gotracksuit.com http://linkedin.com/in/connor-archbold Chris joined Previously Unavailable in late 2022 as an Innovation Project Coordinator, bringing with him a wealth of experience and knowledge in business operations. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Marketing and Operations & Supply Chain Management from the University of Auckland, and his previous experience as an Operations and Inventory Manager has given him a practical understanding of streamlining processes to maximise efficiency. Chris is passionate about exploring new ideas and pushing boundaries, and he enjoys working collaboratively to bring creative concepts to life.
Contact ce@previously.co https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-edwards-63a32b146/ James founded Previously Unavailable in 2014, chasing his passion for helping innovative companies use insightful strategic thinking to create products and brands that become sustainably successful. He chose the name ‘Previously Unavailable’ simply because he loves bringing new things into the world. James was formerly a strategic planner in the advertising industry, where he specialised in innovative marketing and the branding of innovative products and companies. In 2013 he was named the world’s #1 strategic planner. James is the author of The Case for Creativity, a book about how creativity creates business success that The Coca-Cola Company described as ‘beautiful words of wisdom’ and which has been reprinted several times in several languages. He’s also the author of two landmark marketing effectiveness studies, The Effectiveness Code (on behalf of Cannes Lions and WARC) and The B2B Effectiveness Code (on behalf of Linked In’s B2B Institute).
Contact jh@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/jameshurman/ Chris joined Previously Unavailable in 2016 following 4 years in London at the UK’s leading Innovation Consultancy ?What If! Innovation Partners, where he worked with a range of global businesses including EA Games, Jaguar Land Rover and Crowne Plaza to set, invent and execute their innovation and venture strategies. Formally trained as a mechanical engineer, Chris enjoyed the first 5 years of his career designing products at Fisher & Paykel Appliances before moving into the Management Consulting and M&A world with EY, both in Auckland and London. Chris thrives on bringing these creative and commercial threads together with a healthy dose of entrepreneurial spirit to help our most ambitious and innovative companies create the future.
Contact cp@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/chrispaykel/ Hannah joined the design team at Previously Unavailable in 2020. In 2019, Hannah embarked on a career-changing journey with the World's Greatest Internship Programme. With six other interns from around the world, she interned at three leading brand agencies: Koto London, Prophet New York, Character San Francisco and participated in a workshop at the school for creativity, Factry in Montreal. Hannah is obsessed with the craft of typography. She is passionate about exploring how 3D and motion design can enhance her graphic design practice.
Contact hs@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/hannah-small-designer Harry Burt is a key leader in the Venture Studio team, working to design and develop start-up brands and digital and visual assets, and leading digital delivery projects for PU. Prior to joining Previously Harry worked across music, architecture, hospitality, lifestyle and tech as a brand, graphic and digital designer. Harry has been making brands that connect and add to culture his entire career. From launching the digital presence for Parrotdog; to brands, websites and album covers for Sony music artists; to festival branding; to co-founding Blink - the leading print, design and production studio. Over the last five years Harry has delivered and led on a range of PU and portfolio company website and creative asset projects, including for Tracksuit, AF Drinks, GD1 and 10PM.
Contact hb@previously.co http://www.linkedin.com/in/harry--burt/ Madie joined us at Previously midway through 2021, bringing her enthusiasm to learn and work in the startup world. She carries a strong belief that great brands are built from great ideas — achieved through a unique brand strategy first, and then beautifully executed second. Madie began her design journey at AUT, studying Communication Design with a major in Branding and a minor in Creative Entrepreneurship. Her final year project won her a Gold Pin at Best Awards in 2018 — which kick-started her career and led her to work as a designer at acclaimed studio, Alt Group. For the following 3 years, Madie worked on a variety of cultural and corporate brand projects, both large and small scale. She is hugely passionate about wellness and helping to define a healthy and leading workplace culture.
Contact mf@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/madie-ford Lauren joined the Previously design team at the end of 2021, straight after completing her Bachelor of Design with Honours majoring in Visual Communications at Massey University in Wellington. She is a member of the International Society of Typographic Designers. Lauren has a broad range of passions, spanning from creating tangible deliverables to exploring digital areas of design. She enjoys problem solving and creative collaboration, and is excited by the vast range of projects that come through the door.
Contact lk@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/laurenkjestrup Tom joined Previously in 2021 as General Manager. Graduate of Parsons The New School for Design in New York, Tom majored in managing creative organisations, and has been on that road for the last decade. Passionate in project management, systems and operations, Tom has helped many companies to streamline their operations and manage the day to day work.
Contact tp@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/tompek Phoebe's breadth of experience spans design, advertising and design education. She joined the Previously Unavailable team after working as head of strategy at Wrestler creative agency, collaborating with brands such as Allbirds, and a range of start-ups, businesses and government organisations. Phoebe holds a masters degree in design specialising in design thinking, and spent four years lecturing at Massey University College of Creative Arts. She has also applied her creative skillset living and working in Los Angeles, San Diego, and China. Underlying Phoebe's experience is a motivation to create a positive impact in the world, and she passionately takes a purpose-driven approach to every creative problem she works to solve.
Contact ps@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/phoebe-j-smith Ed joined Previously Unavailable in 2017, following a diverse career centred on harnessing insights to influence behaviour and drive innovation. His experience includes using co-design to solve big social issues with agency Curative, working with some of New Zealand’s largest retailers like The Warehouse and Z Energy to design and implement new customer-centric service strategies, and devising award-winning creative and digital strategy at Air New Zealand. Ed is no stranger to the start-up world either, as the co-founder and brand-lead on one of New Zealand’s buzziest arts collectives, Snort Comedy. This wide-ranging experience culminates in a passion and talent for helping clients hone their vision for the future and execute in ways to engage and excite their customers.
Contact ed@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/edward-j-dever Matt is one of the Co-CEO's of Previously Unavailable’s latest venture, Tracksuit – a brand tracking SaaS platform that enables businesses to understand how marketing activity impacts growth and success. With six years’ experience in developing young tech companies, Matt helped launched Uber into Christchurch in 2016 and went on to lead the business development of Mish Guru across APAC for 4.5 years in Sydney before returning to New Zealand. Stepping into the role of General Manager of Tracksuit in early 2021, Matt brings high energy, tenacity and a great attitude to the Previously Unavailable team.
Contact matt@gotracksuit.com http://linkedin.com/in/herbertmattj Henry joined Previously Unavailable in 2022 having spent the last 15 years as a strategist in advertising agencies in London (Fallon & Adam&EveDDB), and most recently Auckland (ColensoBBDO). He spent that time helping some of the world’s biggest companies, and some of the smallest, define and take to market their brilliant brands. He’s a firm believer in the power creative thinking has in solving almost any problem, and it’s this focus that brings him to the brilliant team at Previously Unavailable.
Contact hk@previously.co https://www.linkedin.com/in/henrykozak/ Simon leads up Venture Studio and Brand Fund 1 for Previously, working with startup brands to define, grow, build and fund brands in innovative ways. Prior to joining PU in early 2018, Simon led global brand, creative and communications for Vend, from under $2m ARR to over $20m ARR. Vend recently exited for NZD~$500m. Simon started his career in media & politics reporting and TV production, before becoming a senior brand advertising creative. Simon is co-founder at fashion label Ingrid Starnes and hosts the entrepreneur-focussed Business is Boring podcast for The Spinoff, winner of best business podcast at the 2021 NZ Podcast Awards. Since joining Previously Simon has led brand and positioning work for Compostic, Seachange, GD1, Timely, Starshipit, Brancott Estate, and many other great companies. Areas of specialty include SaaS, high-growth tech exporters, retail, FMCG, wine into international markets, financial services and venture.
Contact sp@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/simonpound/ Susie has a diverse range of experience across industries and skill sets having started in strategy and operations for the KPMG management consulting team and shifting to starting her own successful business in the hospitality industry. She brings both future-thinking ideas and business pragmatism to the way she approaches problems. Susie is passionate about regenerative farming and the role of food in connecting communities and cherishing memories. She strongly believes in celebrating the real value coming from small-scale innovative agricultural products by helping businesses to grow vertically and tell genuine brand stories. Susie loves discussing human behaviour and coming up with new ideas. Having experienced first-hand the ingenuity of New Zealand entrepreneurs she is interested in policy and projects focused on bringing small scale sustainable manufacturing back to New Zealand.
Contact sw@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/susiewangnz/ Phoebe brings brand design passion and expertise to Previously Unavailable, leading a highly creative team who collaborate with all parts of the studio portfolio — from venture and early stage start-ups, established businesses wanting to reinvent, and new product development for corporate clients. Phoebe has been fortunate enough in her career to work at some of the world’s best design companies such as Red Antler in New York and Alt Group here in Tāmaki Makaurau. Phoebe has a long standing relationship with AUT (Auckland University of Technology), contributing her time as a tutor and mentoring undergraduate students. She has been selected as a judge for the DINZ (Designers Institute of NZ) Best Design Awards and the AGDA (Australian Graphic Design Association) Awards.
Contact pd@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/phoebe-devine-95a01952 Mikayla is Customer and Marketing Lead of Previously Unavailable’s latest venture, Tracksuit – a brand tracking SaaS platform that enables businesses to understand how marketing activity impacts growth and success. Mikayla's background is in brand marketing, most recently as Chief Marketing Officer at NZs luxury Cosmedicine and Training centre, The Face Place. Mikayla has also successfully scaled her own venture, Her Career, a digital network that helped women across apac grow their career, money and network. Here she grew an engaged online community, hosted a #1 ranking business podcast and connected senior leaders with aspiring entrepreneurs to help them grow their career.She is fanatic about cats and building purpose led brands.
Contact mikayla@gotracksuit.com http://linkedin.com/in/mikayla-hopkins Hamish leads the growth function at Previously Unavailable’s latest venture, Tracksuit – a brand tracking SaaS platform that enables businesses to understand how marketing activity impacts growth and success. After starting his career at law firm Russell McVeagh, Hamish has since worked in roles spanning technology, early-stage finance and commercial real estate. After seven years working in Europe for venture-backed firms, Hamish returned to New Zealand in 2021 to join Tracksuit in it’s infancy. Hamish takes particular enjoyment tackling the pressure and demands building and executing sales engines for high growth organisations.
Contact hamish@gotracksuit.com http://linkedin.com/in/hamishmathieson Ria joined the Previously team at the beginning of 2022, starting her internship. Ria is in her third and final year at The University of Auckland, completing a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Innovation/Entrepreneurship and Marketing. Ria's past roles have seen her working in the digital marketing space, and she currently supports and manages the PU social media channels. She loves learning as much as possible and is passionate about creative strategy and collaboration.
Contact rs@previously.co https://www.linkedin.com/in/riajsharma/ Connor joined Previously Unavailable in 2020 upon returning to NZ after five years of scaling kiwi growth companies globally. He has deep experience running and growing enterprise saas and direct-to-consumer businesses having been COO of Mish Guru and Head of B2B and Business Development for Noissue. Connor started his career as a corporate lawyer at Bell Gully before earning his startup chops working with the Icehouse to launch and run Auckland’s first accelerator program, Lightning Lab. Despite being a bit of an operations nerd, Connor views the world through a creative lens. He truly loves diving into good ideas and turning them into great businesses
Contact connor@gotracksuit.com http://linkedin.com/in/connor-archbold Ed joined Previously Unavailable in 2017, following a diverse career centred on harnessing insights to influence behaviour and drive innovation. His experience includes using co-design to solve big social issues with agency Curative, working with some of New Zealand’s largest retailers like The Warehouse and Z Energy to design and implement new customer-centric service strategies, and devising award-winning creative and digital strategy at Air New Zealand. Ed is no stranger to the start-up world either, as the co-founder and brand-lead on one of New Zealand’s buzziest arts collectives, Snort Comedy. This wide-ranging experience culminates in a passion and talent for helping clients hone their vision for the future and execute in ways to engage and excite their customers.
Contact ed@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/edward-j-dever Chris joined Previously Unavailable in late 2022 as an Innovation Project Coordinator, bringing with him a wealth of experience and knowledge in business operations. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Marketing and Operations & Supply Chain Management from the University of Auckland, and his previous experience as an Operations and Inventory Manager has given him a practical understanding of streamlining processes to maximise efficiency. Chris is passionate about exploring new ideas and pushing boundaries, and he enjoys working collaboratively to bring creative concepts to life.
Contact ce@previously.co https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-edwards-63a32b146/ Matt is one of the Co-CEO's of Previously Unavailable’s latest venture, Tracksuit – a brand tracking SaaS platform that enables businesses to understand how marketing activity impacts growth and success. With six years’ experience in developing young tech companies, Matt helped launched Uber into Christchurch in 2016 and went on to lead the business development of Mish Guru across APAC for 4.5 years in Sydney before returning to New Zealand. Stepping into the role of General Manager of Tracksuit in early 2021, Matt brings high energy, tenacity and a great attitude to the Previously Unavailable team.
Contact matt@gotracksuit.com http://linkedin.com/in/herbertmattj James founded Previously Unavailable in 2014, chasing his passion for helping innovative companies use insightful strategic thinking to create products and brands that become sustainably successful. He chose the name ‘Previously Unavailable’ simply because he loves bringing new things into the world. James was formerly a strategic planner in the advertising industry, where he specialised in innovative marketing and the branding of innovative products and companies. In 2013 he was named the world’s #1 strategic planner. James is the author of The Case for Creativity, a book about how creativity creates business success that The Coca-Cola Company described as ‘beautiful words of wisdom’ and which has been reprinted several times in several languages. He’s also the author of two landmark marketing effectiveness studies, The Effectiveness Code (on behalf of Cannes Lions and WARC) and The B2B Effectiveness Code (on behalf of Linked In’s B2B Institute).
Contact jh@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/jameshurman/ Henry joined Previously Unavailable in 2022 having spent the last 15 years as a strategist in advertising agencies in London (Fallon & Adam&EveDDB), and most recently Auckland (ColensoBBDO). He spent that time helping some of the world’s biggest companies, and some of the smallest, define and take to market their brilliant brands. He’s a firm believer in the power creative thinking has in solving almost any problem, and it’s this focus that brings him to the brilliant team at Previously Unavailable.
Contact hk@previously.co https://www.linkedin.com/in/henrykozak/ Chris joined Previously Unavailable in 2016 following 4 years in London at the UK’s leading Innovation Consultancy ?What If! Innovation Partners, where he worked with a range of global businesses including EA Games, Jaguar Land Rover and Crowne Plaza to set, invent and execute their innovation and venture strategies. Formally trained as a mechanical engineer, Chris enjoyed the first 5 years of his career designing products at Fisher & Paykel Appliances before moving into the Management Consulting and M&A world with EY, both in Auckland and London. Chris thrives on bringing these creative and commercial threads together with a healthy dose of entrepreneurial spirit to help our most ambitious and innovative companies create the future.
Contact cp@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/chrispaykel/ Simon leads up Venture Studio and Brand Fund 1 for Previously, working with startup brands to define, grow, build and fund brands in innovative ways. Prior to joining PU in early 2018, Simon led global brand, creative and communications for Vend, from under $2m ARR to over $20m ARR. Vend recently exited for NZD~$500m. Simon started his career in media & politics reporting and TV production, before becoming a senior brand advertising creative. Simon is co-founder at fashion label Ingrid Starnes and hosts the entrepreneur-focussed Business is Boring podcast for The Spinoff, winner of best business podcast at the 2021 NZ Podcast Awards. Since joining Previously Simon has led brand and positioning work for Compostic, Seachange, GD1, Timely, Starshipit, Brancott Estate, and many other great companies. Areas of specialty include SaaS, high-growth tech exporters, retail, FMCG, wine into international markets, financial services and venture.
Contact sp@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/simonpound/ Hannah joined the design team at Previously Unavailable in 2020. In 2019, Hannah embarked on a career-changing journey with the World's Greatest Internship Programme. With six other interns from around the world, she interned at three leading brand agencies: Koto London, Prophet New York, Character San Francisco and participated in a workshop at the school for creativity, Factry in Montreal. Hannah is obsessed with the craft of typography. She is passionate about exploring how 3D and motion design can enhance her graphic design practice.
Contact hs@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/hannah-small-designer Susie has a diverse range of experience across industries and skill sets having started in strategy and operations for the KPMG management consulting team and shifting to starting her own successful business in the hospitality industry. She brings both future-thinking ideas and business pragmatism to the way she approaches problems. Susie is passionate about regenerative farming and the role of food in connecting communities and cherishing memories. She strongly believes in celebrating the real value coming from small-scale innovative agricultural products by helping businesses to grow vertically and tell genuine brand stories. Susie loves discussing human behaviour and coming up with new ideas. Having experienced first-hand the ingenuity of New Zealand entrepreneurs she is interested in policy and projects focused on bringing small scale sustainable manufacturing back to New Zealand.
Contact sw@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/susiewangnz/ Harry Burt is a key leader in the Venture Studio team, working to design and develop start-up brands and digital and visual assets, and leading digital delivery projects for PU. Prior to joining Previously Harry worked across music, architecture, hospitality, lifestyle and tech as a brand, graphic and digital designer. Harry has been making brands that connect and add to culture his entire career. From launching the digital presence for Parrotdog; to brands, websites and album covers for Sony music artists; to festival branding; to co-founding Blink - the leading print, design and production studio. Over the last five years Harry has delivered and led on a range of PU and portfolio company website and creative asset projects, including for Tracksuit, AF Drinks, GD1 and 10PM.
Contact hb@previously.co http://www.linkedin.com/in/harry--burt/ Phoebe brings brand design passion and expertise to Previously Unavailable, leading a highly creative team who collaborate with all parts of the studio portfolio — from venture and early stage start-ups, established businesses wanting to reinvent, and new product development for corporate clients. Phoebe has been fortunate enough in her career to work at some of the world’s best design companies such as Red Antler in New York and Alt Group here in Tāmaki Makaurau. Phoebe has a long standing relationship with AUT (Auckland University of Technology), contributing her time as a tutor and mentoring undergraduate students. She has been selected as a judge for the DINZ (Designers Institute of NZ) Best Design Awards and the AGDA (Australian Graphic Design Association) Awards.
Contact pd@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/phoebe-devine-95a01952 Madie joined us at Previously midway through 2021, bringing her enthusiasm to learn and work in the startup world. She carries a strong belief that great brands are built from great ideas — achieved through a unique brand strategy first, and then beautifully executed second. Madie began her design journey at AUT, studying Communication Design with a major in Branding and a minor in Creative Entrepreneurship. Her final year project won her a Gold Pin at Best Awards in 2018 — which kick-started her career and led her to work as a designer at acclaimed studio, Alt Group. For the following 3 years, Madie worked on a variety of cultural and corporate brand projects, both large and small scale. She is hugely passionate about wellness and helping to define a healthy and leading workplace culture.
Contact mf@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/madie-ford Mikayla is Customer and Marketing Lead of Previously Unavailable’s latest venture, Tracksuit – a brand tracking SaaS platform that enables businesses to understand how marketing activity impacts growth and success. Mikayla's background is in brand marketing, most recently as Chief Marketing Officer at NZs luxury Cosmedicine and Training centre, The Face Place. Mikayla has also successfully scaled her own venture, Her Career, a digital network that helped women across apac grow their career, money and network. Here she grew an engaged online community, hosted a #1 ranking business podcast and connected senior leaders with aspiring entrepreneurs to help them grow their career.She is fanatic about cats and building purpose led brands.
Contact mikayla@gotracksuit.com http://linkedin.com/in/mikayla-hopkins Lauren joined the Previously design team at the end of 2021, straight after completing her Bachelor of Design with Honours majoring in Visual Communications at Massey University in Wellington. She is a member of the International Society of Typographic Designers. Lauren has a broad range of passions, spanning from creating tangible deliverables to exploring digital areas of design. She enjoys problem solving and creative collaboration, and is excited by the vast range of projects that come through the door.
Contact lk@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/laurenkjestrup Hamish leads the growth function at Previously Unavailable’s latest venture, Tracksuit – a brand tracking SaaS platform that enables businesses to understand how marketing activity impacts growth and success. After starting his career at law firm Russell McVeagh, Hamish has since worked in roles spanning technology, early-stage finance and commercial real estate. After seven years working in Europe for venture-backed firms, Hamish returned to New Zealand in 2021 to join Tracksuit in it’s infancy. Hamish takes particular enjoyment tackling the pressure and demands building and executing sales engines for high growth organisations.
Contact hamish@gotracksuit.com http://linkedin.com/in/hamishmathieson Tom joined Previously in 2021 as General Manager. Graduate of Parsons The New School for Design in New York, Tom majored in managing creative organisations, and has been on that road for the last decade. Passionate in project management, systems and operations, Tom has helped many companies to streamline their operations and manage the day to day work.
Contact tp@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/tompek Ria joined the Previously team at the beginning of 2022, starting her internship. Ria is in her third and final year at The University of Auckland, completing a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Innovation/Entrepreneurship and Marketing. Ria's past roles have seen her working in the digital marketing space, and she currently supports and manages the PU social media channels. She loves learning as much as possible and is passionate about creative strategy and collaboration.
Contact rs@previously.co https://www.linkedin.com/in/riajsharma/ Phoebe's breadth of experience spans design, advertising and design education. She joined the Previously Unavailable team after working as head of strategy at Wrestler creative agency, collaborating with brands such as Allbirds, and a range of start-ups, businesses and government organisations. Phoebe holds a masters degree in design specialising in design thinking, and spent four years lecturing at Massey University College of Creative Arts. She has also applied her creative skillset living and working in Los Angeles, San Diego, and China. Underlying Phoebe's experience is a motivation to create a positive impact in the world, and she passionately takes a purpose-driven approach to every creative problem she works to solve.
Contact ps@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/phoebe-j-smith Connor joined Previously Unavailable in 2020 upon returning to NZ after five years of scaling kiwi growth companies globally. He has deep experience running and growing enterprise saas and direct-to-consumer businesses having been COO of Mish Guru and Head of B2B and Business Development for Noissue. Connor started his career as a corporate lawyer at Bell Gully before earning his startup chops working with the Icehouse to launch and run Auckland’s first accelerator program, Lightning Lab. Despite being a bit of an operations nerd, Connor views the world through a creative lens. He truly loves diving into good ideas and turning them into great businesses
Contact connor@gotracksuit.com http://linkedin.com/in/connor-archbold Harry Burt is a key leader in the Venture Studio team, working to design and develop start-up brands and digital and visual assets, and leading digital delivery projects for PU. Prior to joining Previously Harry worked across music, architecture, hospitality, lifestyle and tech as a brand, graphic and digital designer. Harry has been making brands that connect and add to culture his entire career. From launching the digital presence for Parrotdog; to brands, websites and album covers for Sony music artists; to festival branding; to co-founding Blink - the leading print, design and production studio. Over the last five years Harry has delivered and led on a range of PU and portfolio company website and creative asset projects, including for Tracksuit, AF Drinks, GD1 and 10PM.
Contact hb@previously.co http://www.linkedin.com/in/harry--burt/ Ed joined Previously Unavailable in 2017, following a diverse career centred on harnessing insights to influence behaviour and drive innovation. His experience includes using co-design to solve big social issues with agency Curative, working with some of New Zealand’s largest retailers like The Warehouse and Z Energy to design and implement new customer-centric service strategies, and devising award-winning creative and digital strategy at Air New Zealand. Ed is no stranger to the start-up world either, as the co-founder and brand-lead on one of New Zealand’s buzziest arts collectives, Snort Comedy. This wide-ranging experience culminates in a passion and talent for helping clients hone their vision for the future and execute in ways to engage and excite their customers.
Contact ed@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/edward-j-dever Phoebe brings brand design passion and expertise to Previously Unavailable, leading a highly creative team who collaborate with all parts of the studio portfolio — from venture and early stage start-ups, established businesses wanting to reinvent, and new product development for corporate clients. Phoebe has been fortunate enough in her career to work at some of the world’s best design companies such as Red Antler in New York and Alt Group here in Tāmaki Makaurau. Phoebe has a long standing relationship with AUT (Auckland University of Technology), contributing her time as a tutor and mentoring undergraduate students. She has been selected as a judge for the DINZ (Designers Institute of NZ) Best Design Awards and the AGDA (Australian Graphic Design Association) Awards.
Contact pd@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/phoebe-devine-95a01952 Chris joined Previously Unavailable in late 2022 as an Innovation Project Coordinator, bringing with him a wealth of experience and knowledge in business operations. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Marketing and Operations & Supply Chain Management from the University of Auckland, and his previous experience as an Operations and Inventory Manager has given him a practical understanding of streamlining processes to maximise efficiency. Chris is passionate about exploring new ideas and pushing boundaries, and he enjoys working collaboratively to bring creative concepts to life.
Contact ce@previously.co https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-edwards-63a32b146/ Madie joined us at Previously midway through 2021, bringing her enthusiasm to learn and work in the startup world. She carries a strong belief that great brands are built from great ideas — achieved through a unique brand strategy first, and then beautifully executed second. Madie began her design journey at AUT, studying Communication Design with a major in Branding and a minor in Creative Entrepreneurship. Her final year project won her a Gold Pin at Best Awards in 2018 — which kick-started her career and led her to work as a designer at acclaimed studio, Alt Group. For the following 3 years, Madie worked on a variety of cultural and corporate brand projects, both large and small scale. She is hugely passionate about wellness and helping to define a healthy and leading workplace culture.
Contact mf@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/madie-ford Matt is one of the Co-CEO's of Previously Unavailable’s latest venture, Tracksuit – a brand tracking SaaS platform that enables businesses to understand how marketing activity impacts growth and success. With six years’ experience in developing young tech companies, Matt helped launched Uber into Christchurch in 2016 and went on to lead the business development of Mish Guru across APAC for 4.5 years in Sydney before returning to New Zealand. Stepping into the role of General Manager of Tracksuit in early 2021, Matt brings high energy, tenacity and a great attitude to the Previously Unavailable team.
Contact matt@gotracksuit.com http://linkedin.com/in/herbertmattj Mikayla is Customer and Marketing Lead of Previously Unavailable’s latest venture, Tracksuit – a brand tracking SaaS platform that enables businesses to understand how marketing activity impacts growth and success. Mikayla's background is in brand marketing, most recently as Chief Marketing Officer at NZs luxury Cosmedicine and Training centre, The Face Place. Mikayla has also successfully scaled her own venture, Her Career, a digital network that helped women across apac grow their career, money and network. Here she grew an engaged online community, hosted a #1 ranking business podcast and connected senior leaders with aspiring entrepreneurs to help them grow their career.She is fanatic about cats and building purpose led brands.
Contact mikayla@gotracksuit.com http://linkedin.com/in/mikayla-hopkins James founded Previously Unavailable in 2014, chasing his passion for helping innovative companies use insightful strategic thinking to create products and brands that become sustainably successful. He chose the name ‘Previously Unavailable’ simply because he loves bringing new things into the world. James was formerly a strategic planner in the advertising industry, where he specialised in innovative marketing and the branding of innovative products and companies. In 2013 he was named the world’s #1 strategic planner. James is the author of The Case for Creativity, a book about how creativity creates business success that The Coca-Cola Company described as ‘beautiful words of wisdom’ and which has been reprinted several times in several languages. He’s also the author of two landmark marketing effectiveness studies, The Effectiveness Code (on behalf of Cannes Lions and WARC) and The B2B Effectiveness Code (on behalf of Linked In’s B2B Institute).
Contact jh@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/jameshurman/ Lauren joined the Previously design team at the end of 2021, straight after completing her Bachelor of Design with Honours majoring in Visual Communications at Massey University in Wellington. She is a member of the International Society of Typographic Designers. Lauren has a broad range of passions, spanning from creating tangible deliverables to exploring digital areas of design. She enjoys problem solving and creative collaboration, and is excited by the vast range of projects that come through the door.
Contact lk@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/laurenkjestrup Henry joined Previously Unavailable in 2022 having spent the last 15 years as a strategist in advertising agencies in London (Fallon & Adam&EveDDB), and most recently Auckland (ColensoBBDO). He spent that time helping some of the world’s biggest companies, and some of the smallest, define and take to market their brilliant brands. He’s a firm believer in the power creative thinking has in solving almost any problem, and it’s this focus that brings him to the brilliant team at Previously Unavailable.
Contact hk@previously.co https://www.linkedin.com/in/henrykozak/ Hamish leads the growth function at Previously Unavailable’s latest venture, Tracksuit – a brand tracking SaaS platform that enables businesses to understand how marketing activity impacts growth and success. After starting his career at law firm Russell McVeagh, Hamish has since worked in roles spanning technology, early-stage finance and commercial real estate. After seven years working in Europe for venture-backed firms, Hamish returned to New Zealand in 2021 to join Tracksuit in it’s infancy. Hamish takes particular enjoyment tackling the pressure and demands building and executing sales engines for high growth organisations.
Contact hamish@gotracksuit.com http://linkedin.com/in/hamishmathieson Chris joined Previously Unavailable in 2016 following 4 years in London at the UK’s leading Innovation Consultancy ?What If! Innovation Partners, where he worked with a range of global businesses including EA Games, Jaguar Land Rover and Crowne Plaza to set, invent and execute their innovation and venture strategies. Formally trained as a mechanical engineer, Chris enjoyed the first 5 years of his career designing products at Fisher & Paykel Appliances before moving into the Management Consulting and M&A world with EY, both in Auckland and London. Chris thrives on bringing these creative and commercial threads together with a healthy dose of entrepreneurial spirit to help our most ambitious and innovative companies create the future.
Contact cp@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/chrispaykel/ Tom joined Previously in 2021 as General Manager. Graduate of Parsons The New School for Design in New York, Tom majored in managing creative organisations, and has been on that road for the last decade. Passionate in project management, systems and operations, Tom has helped many companies to streamline their operations and manage the day to day work.
Contact tp@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/tompek Simon leads up Venture Studio and Brand Fund 1 for Previously, working with startup brands to define, grow, build and fund brands in innovative ways. Prior to joining PU in early 2018, Simon led global brand, creative and communications for Vend, from under $2m ARR to over $20m ARR. Vend recently exited for NZD~$500m. Simon started his career in media & politics reporting and TV production, before becoming a senior brand advertising creative. Simon is co-founder at fashion label Ingrid Starnes and hosts the entrepreneur-focussed Business is Boring podcast for The Spinoff, winner of best business podcast at the 2021 NZ Podcast Awards. Since joining Previously Simon has led brand and positioning work for Compostic, Seachange, GD1, Timely, Starshipit, Brancott Estate, and many other great companies. Areas of specialty include SaaS, high-growth tech exporters, retail, FMCG, wine into international markets, financial services and venture.
Contact sp@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/simonpound/ Ria joined the Previously team at the beginning of 2022, starting her internship. Ria is in her third and final year at The University of Auckland, completing a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Innovation/Entrepreneurship and Marketing. Ria's past roles have seen her working in the digital marketing space, and she currently supports and manages the PU social media channels. She loves learning as much as possible and is passionate about creative strategy and collaboration.
Contact rs@previously.co https://www.linkedin.com/in/riajsharma/ Hannah joined the design team at Previously Unavailable in 2020. In 2019, Hannah embarked on a career-changing journey with the World's Greatest Internship Programme. With six other interns from around the world, she interned at three leading brand agencies: Koto London, Prophet New York, Character San Francisco and participated in a workshop at the school for creativity, Factry in Montreal. Hannah is obsessed with the craft of typography. She is passionate about exploring how 3D and motion design can enhance her graphic design practice.
Contact hs@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/hannah-small-designer Phoebe's breadth of experience spans design, advertising and design education. She joined the Previously Unavailable team after working as head of strategy at Wrestler creative agency, collaborating with brands such as Allbirds, and a range of start-ups, businesses and government organisations. Phoebe holds a masters degree in design specialising in design thinking, and spent four years lecturing at Massey University College of Creative Arts. She has also applied her creative skillset living and working in Los Angeles, San Diego, and China. Underlying Phoebe's experience is a motivation to create a positive impact in the world, and she passionately takes a purpose-driven approach to every creative problem she works to solve.
Contact ps@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/phoebe-j-smith Susie has a diverse range of experience across industries and skill sets having started in strategy and operations for the KPMG management consulting team and shifting to starting her own successful business in the hospitality industry. She brings both future-thinking ideas and business pragmatism to the way she approaches problems. Susie is passionate about regenerative farming and the role of food in connecting communities and cherishing memories. She strongly believes in celebrating the real value coming from small-scale innovative agricultural products by helping businesses to grow vertically and tell genuine brand stories. Susie loves discussing human behaviour and coming up with new ideas. Having experienced first-hand the ingenuity of New Zealand entrepreneurs she is interested in policy and projects focused on bringing small scale sustainable manufacturing back to New Zealand.
Contact sw@previously.co http://linkedin.com/in/susiewangnz/
Our Ponsonby studio space was designed by the Previously team to enhance the wellbeing, mood & productivity of the people within it — using thoughtful lighting, planting, scent, sound and spatial design.
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