Two years of Canary Innovation: Finding my wings
- Sally Potter
- 8 hours ago
- 9 min read
In May 2024, I founded Canary Innovation.
Two years is still early days for a small business, but it is a milestone worth acknowledging: Stats NZ business data suggests that about 30% of new businesses in New Zealand do not survive to the two-year mark. I couldn't have done it without the support of my clients, friends and research colleagues, mentors, my wider network, and my family - thank you!
Canary Innovation began at a time when the research funding situation in New Zealand felt very uncertain. It still does. There were also major changes on the horizon for the science system, including the merger of GNS Science and NIWA, which has since become Earth Sciences New Zealand. For people working in natural hazards, forecasting, climate, and environmental science, this was not just an organisational change - it was part of a wider period of uncertainty about how research would be funded, supported, and connected to the people and communities who need it. For me, there was also a particular concern about the support for social science in that system.
Natural hazards research is not only about monitoring, modelling, or forecasting physical processes. It is fundamentally for people. It is about how communities understand risk, how organisations communicate it effectively, how warnings are interpreted in a variety of contexts, and how decisions are made before, during, and after an event. Social science helps connect technical information with human action. Yet, at the time I left, it was becoming harder to see how that work would be supported in a sustained way.
Alongside all of that was a quieter, more personal question that had been sitting in the background for a long time: would I regret it if I never tried to build my own business? I was curious about what the private sector was like, how businesses are set up and run, and keen to learn and innovate more, with freedom and flexibility.
Eventually, those things came together. The uncertainty in the science system. The desire to keep doing meaningful and creative work. The wish to stay connected with communities, decision-makers, and international partners. And the sense that, if I was going to try working independently, the time was now.
What made starting my own company possible
Starting Canary Innovation was not so much a leap into thin air as a calculated step. Several things made it possible.
The first was having a strong network. I had existing connections across New Zealand through years of applied research with councils, emergency management, science agencies, and other end users. I also had international networks, particularly through work connected to the World Meteorological Organization World Weather Research Programme High Impact Weather project and wider warning and risk communication communities.
Those relationships meant I had a solid starting platform. I was stepping out with a clear sense of the kinds of projects to look for and potential clients I could work with to improve how forecasts, warnings, risk information, and scientific evidence are communicated and used.
The second thing was having a financial cushion. I do not think this should be romanticised or glossed over. The pipeline of independent work can have holes in it, and the gaps between projects can be long. In New Zealand, the Christmas and summer period can feel especially slow, making this a good time to work on existing projects (or hanging out with children during the school holidays!), but not so good for finding new work.
Having enough financial breathing space to get through those periods is important. It does not remove the uncertainty, but it makes it possible to make thoughtful decisions rather than rushed ones.
The third thing was support at home, particularly from my husband. I have two children, and running a business has to fit around the rest of our lives. Sometimes that means travelling for work. Sometimes it means working intensely for a period. Sometimes it means deliberately not taking on too much during school holidays. That flexibility has become one of the most valuable parts of working independently.
The concept of risk in being self-employed
One idea that helped me early on came from some of the many books I read on starting up a business: when you are employed, you effectively have one client - your employer. That can feel secure, but it is also a concentration of risk. You have just one pipeline (or 'stream', if you will) and you are exposed to that employer's decisions and upstream funding structures.
In a small consultancy, the risk is different. You need to keep finding work, and there is no guaranteed 'stream'. But you can also spread your work across different clients, sectors, topics, formats, countries, and opportunities to bring in different tributaries to your stream. As one project ends, another continues. If one area slows down, another may open up (or crucially, you can dig channels and make the opportunity yourself).
As someone who works in risk, I found that concept useful. It helped me see self-employment as not necessarily being 'more risky' than having a full-time job as an employee, but as a different risk profile that is manageable.
There are still hard moments. Having periods of low flow upstream can be stressful because it has a direct impact on your future income. But I also enjoy the challenge and the sense of responsibility that it's up to me to get things moving. When things are looking quiet, I know I need to look outward, follow up conversations, connect, innovate, and make opportunities more visible. When there is enough work, I can pull back from the hustle and focus on doing the work well.
The quiet satisfaction of building the machinery
One of the things I am most proud of over the past two years is not especially glamorous. In the early days, I spent time setting up the company properly. Registering the company and becoming a 'director'. Sorting bank accounts. Registering for GST and figuring out tax. Setting up accounting software and Standard Operating Procedures. Battling IT problems. Thinking through legal templates, policies for health and safety and travel, environmental considerations and AI use. Setting up this website, and maintaining stakeholder networks. It was a lot, with no directly related income attached to it.
But it created a strong foundation. It meant that once the chargeable work started, I was not rushing through decisions and figuring out how to make things work. I had working systems to lean on.
I have also learned a great deal about the business side of work: finding my ideal balance of overhead time versus chargeable hours, cash flow, sending invoices, how to pay myself, and understanding what it actually takes to keep a small company moving. These things are rarely the visible part of consultancy, but they are the machinery that supports my outward facing work. I was looking forward to learning about running a business when I set up Canary Innovation, and I can say I've learnt a lot. I find it quietly satisfying. Except for when something breaks, then I find it frustrating and I call Geeks on Wheels and/or the Microsoft IT people.
Balancing research and consultancy (and travel)
I have enjoyed finding a balance between longer term research projects and consultancy projects.
Longer-term research contracts have been incredibly valuable, especially in the early stages of the business. They provide stability and continuity, while allowing me to keep contributing to work that can improve forecast communication, warnings, and natural hazard resilience in New Zealand. I also get to work with my former colleagues and friends, keeping that team environment for each project.
One example is my social science research with the Hōretireti Whenua Sliding Lands research programme. This is a five-year MBIE Endeavour-funded research programme, led by Earth Sciences New Zealand and Massey University, that is developing national-scale landslide models to forecast where rapid and dangerous landslides may be triggered by rainfall or earthquakes. This work has provided a strong foundation for growing our knowledge about how to best communicate landslide hazard and impact forecasts to meet user needs.
I also get to work with wonderful clients on short-term consultancy projects. This work is often grounded in the duties of government agencies, councils, and operational science agencies, and reflects community needs. This provides an actionable pathway to implementing the underpinning evidence that supports the project findings. I am extremely grateful for the support of these clients over the past two years.
Last year I had the honour of working with the World Meteorological Organization on a couple of projects. One was in Cambodia and Lao PDR, leading the end-of-project evaluation of the CREWS development project on their flood and drought warning system. Another was developing a framework with WMO and UNDRR for evaluating the effectiveness of warning systems to support the UN Early Warnings for All by 2027 initiative.
I have also enjoyed working with New Zealand councils, such as Environment Southland on their flood warning system, and Auckland Council reviewing trends in natural hazards for a business case to help improve the public's safe navigation during a hazardous event.
I've been lucky enough to travel over the past couple of years for work, including to Germany, UK, Switzerland for the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction and various WMO project meetings, as well as to Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Japan. I'm pleased this aspect of my work has been able to continue, as it is often a highlight to see new places and make new connections.
The creative side of independence
Something I have really enjoyed is the creative freedom of having my own business.
I can write blog posts. I can design and update my own website. I can create new tools and resources to support projects and help when facilitating workshops. I can talk to the media. I can follow ideas that feel useful, timely, or interesting. I can work with clients in New Zealand or overseas, across different hazards and different decision-making contexts. I can explore the use of artificial intelligence in becoming more efficient, and in its potential application to warning systems.
That creative freedom matters a lot to me and has helped provide a foundation of innovation for my work.
The biggest surprise
In some ways the biggest surprise is that I could do it (at least, so far).
I had spent my career in public service and science institutions. I come from a family of teachers and government employees. Starting a company was really quite outrageous and brave for me.
So, reaching the two-year mark feels significant.
There have been ups and downs, and there will be more. But Canary Innovation is still here, and I'm still self-employed. It has supported meaningful work, interesting collaborations, research, consultancy, travel, flexibility, creativity, and a different way of thinking about what a career can look like. That feels worth celebrating. I've heard it's important to celebrate milestones and achievements, and I will be doing just that in this long weekend ahead.
Looking ahead
From what I have heard, the first two years of a business are often full of uncertainty. There are questions about whether the work will continue, whether enough contracts will come in, whether the model is sustainable, and what should come next.
It seems that things are beginning to smooth out. Perhaps not completely, and not forever. I imagine running a small businesses will always involve a bit of weather-watching (so to speak). But the foundations and processes feel stronger now than they did at the start.
The next two years look promising and exciting.
I am looking forward to working with new clients and continuing to support the efforts of previous clients who are exploring new initiatives. We have some exciting work planned for our longer-term Endeavour research programmes (e.g., on community participatory mapping around volcanoes, and on providing guidance on acting on landslide forecasts) and have the Natural Hazards Resilience Platform on the horizon. I hope to continue travelling around New Zealand to support the work of councils and emergency management groups, and to do more work in Australia and the Pacific. I have enjoyed doing programme evaluation work too and welcome the chance to do more, helping to ensure risk reduction initiatives are being as effective as possible.
I am also interested in carefully exploring the role of artificial intelligence in workflows, as well as for communicating forecasts and warnings. It's not a magic solution, but it is something that could, if used responsibly, help improve the way complex hazard and risk information is tailored, communicated, and acted on.
At its heart, Canary Innovation is still about the same thing it was set up to do: helping people communicate about natural hazards and risks in more meaningful ways.
Two years in, I am grateful. Grateful for the clients, collaborators, mentors, friends, and family who have supported this Company of One getting off the ground.
And no matter what happens in future, I am proud that I gave it a go.
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