Scaling Intergen to 260% Growth in North America

In 2010, I moved from New Zealand to the United States to lead Intergen's North American operations as CEO. What started as a one-person office became a 30-person team generating consecutive years of 100%+ revenue growth — 260% growth by year four.

What Drove the Growth

Three things made the difference:

1. Product-led partnerships. We didn't just resell Microsoft technology — we productized demo platforms and built cloud R&D partnerships with Windows Embedded and Azure teams. This gave us credibility and deal flow that pure services firms couldn't match.

2. People. I became the top-rated people manager across a 1,000+ person company. In a services business, your team is your product. Hiring well and creating an environment where talented people want to stay is the highest-leverage thing a CEO can do.

3. Innovation as a differentiator. We won Microsoft Vendor of the Year for Innovation — not just for building clever things, but for consistently turning emerging technology into client value.

The Recognition

Winning Microsoft Vendor of the Year validated the approach: lead with innovation, invest in people, and growth follows. It also opened doors to the next chapter — co-founding companies that would push even further into AI and IoT.