When the Facts Change Podcast: Building a Global AI Business from Aotearoa

It was great to join Bernard Hickey on the The Spinoff podcast "When the Facts Change" recently to share Contented's story.

As a Christchurch-based AI startup, we've grown from consultants to building a product that now serves over 120 businesses worldwide. For those who didn't catch it, here's a look at our journey.

Our Unexpected Journey

Neither of us started with traditional tech backgrounds. Lucy's journey began during COVID lockdown, learning to code and building her first startup, onyou, a marketplace focused on showing ethical data about products.

Before that, Lucy Pink had worked for a startup called Debtor Daddy where she was inspired by founder Matt McFedries. "Seeing somebody build their own startup from scratch and being along for that ride was incredibly impactful for me," Lucy explained.

Hannah Hardy-Jones switched from corporate HR after facing mental health challenges following the birth of her first child (who's now almost 12). "My dream was to be Chief People Officer of Air New Zealand and I had this plan to get there," Hannah shared.

But that difficult experience made her question her corporate path. She created the Kite programme, a micro-learning wellbeing app initially designed to support new mothers, which eventually expanded into corporate wellbeing and supporting people with eating disorders.

We met while presenting at a startup event called Coffee and Jam in Christchurch, hosted by the Ministry of Awesome. Over coffee, we connected immediately. As Hannah said during the podcast, "Probably both of us felt like it was the first time we met someone really similar to ourselves from a passion and wanting to make a difference with technology."

Finding Our AI Niche

When ChatGPT launched in late 2022, we were already using AI effectively in our existing ventures. Soon friends, family, and businesses began asking how we were getting such good results. This naturally led us into consulting.

"We spent the first maybe six months of that year just going into schools, into law firms and just teaching people how to use ChatGPT," Lucy explained to Bernard. "We saw incredible results because we actually didn't talk about AI, we just talked about the problem, and then used AI behind the scenes to build a solution." This approach meant working with businesses who had real problems to solve, not charging them for expensive AI roadmaps or policies.

We called our initial services "Pain Point Zappers" – we'd go into businesses and map out all their problems, then build tools to solve the ones AI could help with.

What we also discovered was that using AI with our own voices created the most authentic results. As Hannah noted during the podcast:

"When you've got voice as an input, that is the most human part of us." This insight shaped our focus on transforming conversations and meetings into meaningful, actionable outputs.

What Sets Us Apart

Contented transcribes and transforms conversations into outputs people can actually use to drive change. It's not just about productivity. It's about extracting more value from conversations we're already having.

Our customers use Contented in interesting ways:

• CEOs record themselves talking for 15 minutes in the car, which transforms into action lists, department summaries, and blog articles
• Financial advisors turn podcast episodes into educational content for clients and training material for new advisors
• News agencies in the US use our tools to cover local council meetings, helping address "news deserts" in communities

The Palm Springs Post Connection

One of our most exciting use cases came through a chance encounter. We met Peter Loforte who had just retired from Microsoft, on his last day of holiday in Christchurch. He introduced us to Mark, the editor at the Palm Springs Post, who challenged us to build AI capability that could transform five-hour council meetings into accurate news articles. Lucy built it over Christmas, and Mark remains one of our best supporters today.

The success with news agencies using Contented across the US showed us the potential across sectors. If we could handle five-hour council meetings accurately, we could also work effectively with financial conversations and other areas like Health requiring precision.

Now, businesses can subscribe to our marketing module (along with many other modules, like user research, general insights, meeting minutes), which grew out of that initial work with journalists. It allows users to input lengthy meetings or conversations and receive various outputs, from detailed reports to concise news articles.

What makes our approach unique is the layered use of different AI engines. We might use one model for creativity, another for structure and formatting, and yet another for fact-checking and accuracy. This proprietary workflow, combining multiple AI engines with our own software, is where our real value lies.

As Lucy mentioned, "We hardly ever talk about AI when we are working with these businesses." Instead, we focus on the tangible outcomes they need – whether that's a decision log, press release, meeting minutes, or LinkedIn post – all created with their terminology and speaking style baked in.

For larger companies, we create custom outputs, whether it's a change management canvas or a bank-specific mortgage application template.

Growing Globally from New Zealand

Contented now serves about 120 businesses worldwide, with strong adoption in wealth management and financial firms. This growth has happened largely through word of mouth, customers demonstrating the product in cafés, at barbecues, and in business meetings.

"We see ourselves being part of the world's most important conversations," Hannah shared. "For example the United Nations, how effectively are some of these incredible talks and sessions being captured and is anything actually really being done deeply with them?"

The Future

Looking ahead to 2025, we're excited about features that will allow users to draw insights from multiple conversations. Imagine analysing all council meetings to track progress toward specific goals, or identifying patterns across numerous client interactions.

Lucy described the potential: "Think of all those council meetings, being able to actually talk to those and go, 'How far away are we from reaching this LTP goal that we've spent the last couple of years coming up with?' Or being able to dig deep into those insights."

We believe these capabilities will "truly move the needle" for our customers, helping them extract more value from conversations than ever before.

We're also building a diverse team that brings different perspectives to AI development. As Lucy noted, "We're really excited to start to understand what other team members look like that might not ordinarily just come from an IT or tech space because AI lends itself incredibly well to those who think compassionately and creatively."

For example Mia Tian, who's lead software engineer, was a nurse before she was a software engineer. "When she builds, she thinks in an incredible way because she is understanding and trying to think like the customer, and empathy helps with that."

It's been an amazing journey so far, and we're just getting started. If you're interested in how Contented could transform conversations in your organisation, we'd love to connect.

Ngā mihi nui for your support and interest in our story.