Digital Business Strategy
Over the last few years, I ve spent a lot of time at the intersection of complex business data and custom business software. Building version one of the Icehouse Ventures investor portal meant taking financial data that had lived in Excel and Microsoft Access for years and turning it into a database that could power real Continue reading The Five Deadly Sins of Business Data in Excel The post The…
Over summer, I ve been experimenting with more autonomous coding agents. In our work at Icehouse Ventures, I basically read every line of code that we commit to production and we optimise heavily for security and stability. We do use a lot of AI tooling, but we keep it on a much tighter leash than a Continue reading Semantic Rebase The post Semantic Rebase appeared first on Peter J Thomson .
New software is often tested through a variety of methods such as unit testing, feature testing and integration testing. Recently we ve been making some major upgrades to the Icehouse Ventures investor portal and we ve wanted to be sure that the changes to the software don t change the business logic. I think the style of testing Continue reading Domain Testing The post Domain Testing appeared…
Script from the launch of the Icehouse Ventures mobile application at the Annual New Zealand Startup Showcase at Spark Arena on 21 August 2025. We had some tech issues on the night, but it was great to share what we ve been working on with so many people, and so far the reaction from users has Continue reading Icehouse Ventures Mobile App Launch The post Icehouse Ventures Mobile App Launch…
As technology becomes central to modern business functions, professionals in marketing, finance, and operations increasingly want to tackle projects traditionally reserved for software developers. Having transitioned from corporate law to marketing and then to software development, I ve gathered tips to make the journey into vibe coding easier and more enjoyable. Modern AI tools significantly…
So I wanted to give a quick update on the insolvency situation with the skifields on Mount Ruapehu. You might have noticed today in the press that the valuation seems to be settling in for what the life pass holders votes would be worth at the watershed meeting in terms of voting on the outcome Continue reading Ruapehu Skifields Insolvency The post Ruapehu Skifields Insolvency appeared first on…
Modern product design is a mix of user interface design, user experience, graphic design, design thinking, research and data visualisation. There are a few videos that have influenced my thinking over the years on what great design looks like the the way that we can create products and services that meet people s needs in surprising Continue reading Product Design Videos The post Product Design…
I spend most of my time at the coal face of new product development inside tech startups. But I m occasionally called on to help with the broader application of technology throughout a medium-sized or larger organisation. I love seeing how improving their digital tools and systems can make an entire organisation more customer focussed. Some Continue reading Digital Transformation for SMEs The post…
Laracon is an ongoing series of conferences and events about the Laravel software development framework. We use Laravel pretty heavily at Icehouse Ventures because it powers our Investor Portal. I ve learned a lot over the years from the various Laracon conference recordings. The topics range from basic coding best-practises to advanced systems architecture, database design, Continue reading Top…
For the upcoming Icehouse Ventures investor portal we chose to build the application using Laravel, which is a php framework. Frameworks like Laravel speed up the development process by providing a lot of the scaffolding that you need for a modern web app. We started off looking at using off-the-shelf tools such as venture capital Continue reading Using JavaScript with Laravel through Inertia and…