Go beyond
This Summit is our own dream, and we built it to put New Zealand's next generation of founders and operators on the map.
Built by Startup Club New Zealand, the Summit is the room we wish existed when we walked onto campus for the first time. Across three days in Auckland, headline founders, operators, and investors share the stories that shape what is possible, through fireside conversations and hands-on workshops. This is a room for everyone with the drive to build, the founders starting companies and the operators who join them, scale them, and make them work.
In pictures
Three days, one room, and every seat taken. This is what the Summit looked like.
Three days. One room.
Apex panels are all-in — everyone in one room, nothing else runs. Speaker panels, workshops, and the SCNZ International room run in parallel.
Doors · registration & arrival
Opening speech
SCNZ Executive team · flows into the Lift-off panel
Lift-off
Nathan Taylor + James Hurman · 70 minutes · everyone in the room
Food & networking
No other sessions run
Friday is the launch night, so nothing runs alongside the panel. The parallel programme — speaker panels, workshops, and SCNZ International — begins Saturday.
Doors · registration, coffee & networking
Roaming · explore the stalls & settle in
Silicon Valley to Aotearoa
Bowen Pan + Vignesh Kumar · all-in · nothing else runs
Lunch & networking
Backing the Dream
James Palmer · Mason Bleakley · Jonathan Tan · 55 min
Break · transition
For the Greater Good
Jotinder Singh · Rebecca Barclay-Cameron · Lloyd Clark · 55 min
Sumthin's cooking
Shane Liu + Chef Simon Gault · all-in · nothing else runs
Break & networking
The Great Disruption
Noor Syed (Health Sector CTO, Microsoft NZ) + Scott McLiver (Chief AI Officer, PwC) · all-in
Chat with Pene
Penelope Barton · 55 min
Networking drinks
Until 9:00pm
Doors · registration, coffee & networking
Roaming · fast check-in & settle in
Titans of Business
Mike Horne + Steve Jurkovich · all-in · nothing else runs
Lunch & networking
Million Dollar Playbook
Iyia Liu · 55 min
Gather · rooms to livestream
Who Run the World?
Maya Pan · Cheree Kinnear · Melitta Adam · all-in · nothing else runs
Break
Protected window · holds to 4:20
SCNZ International session
50 min · alongside networking & office hours in the Foyer
Gather · rooms to livestream
Purpose
Sam Stubbs + James Smejlis · all-in · nothing else runs
Young Founders
Steph (Co-founder, BerryMe) + Ally Tang (Founder, PIXEL) + more to be announced · all-in
Break · transition
Closing Summit Panel
The send-off · 20 minutes · wraps by 7:45pm
End of event
Every headline slot runs 55 minutes, in a fireside chat and talkshow format. Tap any room tag to open it on the venue map.
Backed by the best
Platinum
Gold
The speakers
The founders, operators, and investors taking the stage across the weekend, here to show every builder in the room what is possible.
Sam Stubbs
Founder of Simplicity
Apex · Purpose · Sun
Penelope Barton
CEO, Crimson Global Academy
Chat with Pene · Sat
Shane Liu
Founder of Sumthin Dumpling
Apex · Sumthin's cooking · Sat
Simon Gault
Celebrity chef & restaurateur
Apex · Sumthin's cooking · Sat
Mike Horne
CEO, Deloitte New Zealand
Apex · Titans of Business · Sun
Steve Jurkovich
CEO, Kiwibank
Apex · Titans of Business · Sun
Noor Syed
Health Sector CTO, Microsoft NZ
Apex · The Great Disruption · Sat
Scott McLiver
Chief AI Officer, PwC New Zealand
Apex · The Great Disruption · Sat
Iyia Liu
Founder, Brewé & Make It Happen
Keynote · Million Dollar Playbook · Sun
Nathan Taylor
Co-founder, Partly
Apex · Lift-off · Fri
James Hurman
Founder, Previously Unavailable
Apex · Lift-off · Fri
Bowen Pan & Maya Pan
Founders of Growth NZ
Apex · Silicon Valley to Aotearoa · Sat
Vignesh Kumar
Co-Managing Partner at GD1
Apex · Silicon Valley to Aotearoa · Sat
James Palmer
Principal at Blackbird
Backing the Dream · Sat
Mason Bleakley
Principal at Icehouse Ventures
Backing the Dream · Sat
Jonathan Tan
Senior Investment Analyst at GD1
Backing the Dream · Sat
Cheree Kinnear
Content Creator
Apex · Who Run the World? · Sun
Melitta Adam
Founder & CEO, Melitta Skin
Apex · Who Run the World? · Sun
Jotinder Singh
Co-founder, Mushroom Material
For the Greater Good · Sat
Rebecca Barclay-Cameron
Ventures Director, EnviroStrat
For the Greater Good · Sat
Lloyd Clark
Environment & Sustainability Design Manager, Meridian
For the Greater Good · Sat
James Smejlis
Founder, Hack Aotearoa
Apex · Purpose · Sun
Steph
Co-founder, BerryMe
Apex · Young Founders · Sun
Ally Tang
Founder, PIXEL
Apex · Young Founders · Sun
Every speaker appears in the agenda above — see who is on, when.
Hands-on sessions
Five practical workshops run alongside the speaker panels, in OGGB4 (260-073) and Case Room 3 (260-055). Seats are intimate — arrive early.
AI and Marketing
Patrick Dodd
Saturday · 2:35 – 3:30 · OGGB4 · 260-073
Community from Day One
Attention Seeker
Saturday · 3:35 – 4:30 · Case Room 3 · 260-055
From Idea to Delivery: Building Zappy from the Ground Up
Zappy
Saturday · 7:00 – 7:55 · OGGB4 · 260-073
From Brief to Impact
ICG
Sunday · 2:15 – 3:10 · Case Room 3 · 260-055
Protecting your Startup Idea: Legal Basics
AUT Startup Club
Sunday · 4:20 – 5:10 · Case Room 3 · 260-055
SCNZ International
A segment running throughout the Summit weekend, reserved for the truly great entrepreneurs and influential figures who have shaped the world.
These are pre-recorded conversations with the people who changed the world. You submitted your questions, we asked them on your behalf, and the conversations screen in OGGB3 (260-092) across the weekend — the same room that livestreams every Apex panel.
Dr Sven A. Beiker
Lecturer, Stanford Graduate School of Business
Dedicated session · Sunday 4:20 – 5:10 · OGGB3 · 260-092
Find your way
The Summit runs across two levels of the Owen G Glenn Building (OGGB), University of Auckland Business School, 12 Grafton Road. The interactive map covers every room, level by level.
Main entrance on Level 1 from Grafton Road · open in Google Maps
Built by students
The Summit was imagined, funded, and run end to end by the Startup Club NZ executive team.
Shaheer Rizwan
President
Jaasleem Kaur
President
Charlize Bungara
Treasurer
Mahek Dave
Secretary
Community
Cathy H Wang Director
- Taranveer Singh
- Alaiz Kassibawi
- Sumit Swaraj
- Mihir Ojas Rallapudi
Marketing
Sahil Kirpalani Director
- Harry Chhay
- Richky Lim
- Tilak Wadhwani
Partnerships
Irene Cho Co-Director
Abdullah Pathan Co-Director
Events
Skye Ryan Director
- Maadhav Arora
- Ansh Panjabi
- Abby Sathyendran
- Vaibhav Kannan
- Bazaan Ghaznavi
- Kashish Saini
The road to August
The Announcement
The Summit is revealed.
Tickets Live
Tickets go on sale.
The Build-Up
Speakers, panels, and workshops announced through the lead-up.
The Summit
Three days at OGGB. 650+ tickets, 20+ speakers, one room.
That’s a wrap
The Summit 2026 is done — 650+ tickets, three days, one room. Thank you, Auckland. The climb continues.
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