Unexpected changes can bring unexpected benefits. When you find a choice has been made for you, you still have the choice to see where it leads.
Forget the plan. Seize the opportunity.
This past Friday, 30 October 2026, we had found HackAotearoa* Auckland a temporary new home at Kaiba AI — an agentic transformation company who have been specialising in legacy modernisation long before we first got access to ChatGPT.
Kaiba was a natural fit for our co-working community; with breakout rooms jamming away on Claude while others found a quiet space to build side-by-side, together. Sitting around the couches for the end of day demos felt like we were all part of one mixed-matched company; getting inspired by adjacent ideas and helping to lift each other up.
Being able to host this particular day was particularly special as a little over a month prior, I had been talking with Kaiba’s founder, Martin Pratt, a about hosting HA* and other events at his office, should we ever need to. As it turned out, we did.
When James Smejlis, our HA* founder and City Lead for Auckland informed me during Auckland Startup Week that GridAKL would be unavailable to us for decisions outside of our control, I immediately dialed Martin. The rest, as they say, was history. Very recent history, but history nonetheless and a great step forward for our community—proving that our young social enterprise has resilience to withstand our first residency hurdles, not to mention a team of co-hosts ready to take over for the day like I did (as James had family obligations to attend to).
It’s all well and good to talk about what felt well to me, but it’s what our community shares afterwards that sticks most, such as the following message received from Mohammed H.T. in our WhatsApp group and the warm smiles seen as the group trickled out from the building.
“It was my first time attending HackAotearoa with my team, and we genuinely had a great time. Everyone was incredibly welcoming and supportive, and we got to learn so much throughout the day. Definitely looking forward to the next one!”
While I may not be able to host or attend these fortnightly Friday co-working sessions as often as I’d like [as I only have so many annual leave days to spend], I find myself looking forward to the next HackAotearoa day before the current one has even ended. Being surrounded by all these creative, collaborative, and intrinsicly-motivated individuals in this vibey type of home-and-office environment is my happy place, and I’m intent on putting the pieces in place to let me do more of this type of thing daily.
HackAotearoa isn’t just for ‘entrepreneurs’ and other technical, funded or incorporated startup founders. If you’re building, creating, or making something in New Zealand, you too belong in the room. We’ve got HA* days now running Wellington and in the South Island too, so we’ll see you there or in Auckland!
