Marine consultant rides the waves

Dr Shaw Mead runs his privately owned marine consultancy from the Waikato-based seaside town of Raglan, mainly so he can indulge his passion for surfing. The company does 80% of its work offshore and has two other offices, in India and California. Apart from marine research, the company makes artificial reefs which help prevent coastal erosion and can also alter wave patterns to create a good surf break. Growing up in the backwaters of Auckland’s harbours, Mead spent much of his childhood swimming, fishing and boating. That, along with his love of Jacques Cousteau television programmes, sparked his on-going love affair with the sea. Mead last year sold just over half the business he started in 1997 to Californian investor Sealutions to raise capital to carry out reef projects from initial design to completion.

What gets you out of bed in the morning?
The sound of the surf and getting out of bed for a morning session [surfing].

What has been the most difficult obstacle you have overcome?
Keeping up with the capital needed to cope with the company’s growth. Then you have cashflow on top of that as the business is growing. We’ve dealt with that by using cashflow very well and strictly, and more recently by getting more investment in. I now own a third of the company and we had a major buy-out of the company last year which included a cash contribution as part of the deal and we got some [capital] through other investment from overseas.

What is your company’s competitive advantage?
We’re top of the heap in a couple of niches. We do state-of-the-art technical advice for coastal work and numerical computer modelling of the marine environment. Most of our senior staff have doctorates [and/or masters degrees] in coastal oceanography. A lot of the companies we partner with do not have that level of expertise inhouse. In our other niche – making multipurpose artificial reefs – we are the only company doing that worldwide and we have patents to protect that. It is one of our company’s big growth opportunities.

Who is the business leader you admire the most?
Bob Jones, because of his straight-up attitude and the way he does things. I liked the way he was on Dragons’ Den a few years back.

What is your number one tip for managing people?
Very clear and constant communication – and we always have board meetings – surf board meetings.

How do you create and sustain company growth?
We create growth by pursuing opportunities as they are available through a number of partnerships with our high-end expertise. That’s been growing very fast, particularly in the European market. And with the multipurpose reefs, it [that approach] is coming of age because people don’t want rocks and concrete on the beach any more.

Is there a lesson you have never forgotten?
There’s probably heaps, but I can’t define one that stands out as the most important. But one that springs to mind is whatever you’re doing, the foundations are really important. Whether you’re building a partnership or a project, the foundations have to stand up.

What are your business goals?
To see our current knowledge and tools for oceanography and coastal oceanography applied to projects here and offshore instead of the outdated and outmoded ways of the past that don’t work in harmony with nature.

What is the best piece of advice you’ve had?
I can’t remember who said it to me but it is ‘‘to treat every day as a holiday’’ – that’s a pretty good one. I try to follow it. We work extreme glide time here in the office and if the surf is up, the office is empty.

What’s your greatest regret?
I guess lost opportunities. I regret the opportunities that I didn’t try to take for various reasons – money or they were just at the wrong time. For instance, 12-15 years ago in Raglan you could have bought up lots of land pretty cheaply; you’d have become a millionaire by now if you had.

How do you reduce stress?
Surf, exercise and kicking back in the spa pool.

How do you think your competitors would describe you?
As a threat.