Software boss stops drinking, starts running 1000km

I do a crazy goal every year. 

So far I have:

• Stopped reading newspapers, news websites and TV news media for a year. That was a few years ago and (close your eyes for a moment, readers - Editor). I haven’t resumed media consumption since 
• Cycled the length of New Zealand solo, from the bottom up. Uphill. 
• Started a startup. 
• Gone from watching five+ hours of rugby a week to none.
• Done a year of not being a consumer.

And some other weird but interesting challenges.

Last year I was a little late in starting. At the beginning of August, I kicked off a dry year - 12 months of no alcohol. 10 months in and I can report some interesting findings.

Firstly, wow! Is alcohol really a big part of our life and culture or what?

You don’t really realise this until you step outside and look in.

The simple gesture of sharing a drink with someone is the thing I miss the most, and it is really hard replacing the significance of this with some other social interaction.

Mostly, people expect you to have a beer with them after doing a deal, or completing a project, or hitting a milestone. And when you suggest an orange juice, there is that awkward “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you had a problem with drink” or "Are you some religious fundamentalist?" situation where you have to explain that it is a dry year just for the challenge, and no other real reason other than "just because."

Going to a party and watching everyone progressively turn into morons over the course of the evening is quite surreal, and highly amusing.

I can’t rate this high enough for it’s entertainment value.

But sometimes I miss being a moron.

So, two months to go and not sure if I will resume my habit of a glass of pinot in the evening. Running has become my new wind down tool.

About that running
This year’s goal is to run 1,000km - the "1kk" as it has been dubbed.

That's roughly 3km a day, or 20km a week.

I picked 1,000km as it is specific, measurable (with your iPhone or a GPS watch), achievable, realistic (anyone can run 3km, you just need to do it every day) and time-bound with one year to do it.

That makes it a SMART goal. Or something. Like my goal from four years ago to ride NZ solo, it comes down to being able to do something really achievable (run 3km, ride a bike for six hours) and repeat it on a daily basis.

In the first month I wondered if I could ever run 5km without stopping or puking.

Now I can run 15km without any pause.

It's crazy to think I went from desk jockey to serial runner so quickly.

I now can’t wait to get out for a run. I love it.

I am 39% through on my 1,000 and on track to complete it by 31 December.

I do a couple of 5km runs during the week then do a big 15+km run on the weekend.

This works the best. I tried running 3km every day, then 6km every second day, but have settled on my current regime and it means if I feel like it I can push for a 20km run on the weekend.

A secondary goal for the year is to do a half marathon.

The other thing I am running is my startup Vend - my goal from three years ago to do a startup my way.  Well, not 100% my way; I am not inventing anything new here. But 100% how I want to do it, and so far I have learnt my approach is not conventional, at least in New Zealand anyway.

Vend is going exceptionally well.

There are many ways to measure the success of Vend, depending on your point of view.

We are not cashflow positive yet, which seems to be to some the only way to measure success. Obviously that’s the endgame, the same Xero and other high-growth companies.

In point of fact we have been cashflow positive twice. The first time it lasted a day until we bought a new laptop. We were a handful of people then.

The second time, we hired four new people, and havent stopped hiring since. We are, as Rod so eloquently puts it, "not going to swim to the side of the pool."

I think of us as going from the “Medium” speed swim-lane to the “Fast” lane. We want to grow as quick as we can to capitalize on the opportunity we have to establish Vend as the #1 platform for bricks and mortar retailers globally.

We have been doubling, tripling, quadrupling the value of the company every year, supported by our customer and revenue growth. We are growing between 10% and 20% month on month.

We have won a bunch of awards. 2011 Innovator of the year, Xero add-on partner of the year, Best Workplace 2012 in the Small Business category, 2013 Hi-tech Exporter of the Year (under $5m), 2013 Best Service Product, and others. I am proud of every award my team has earned. It is great recognition that we are doing amazing things, and will continue to.

Our team has gone from 1, me in 2010 to 11 at the end of 2011, 40 today and heading for 140 people as soon as we can find them, in three countries as we roll out our teams to the US, Australia and Europe. If you are looking to be part of something big, get in touch.

When I started, I wondered what it would be like to have 10 people on board. Then 40. Culture is a big part of our success. We have fun, work hard, and are passionate about retailers. We have built an amazing team who all feel like they have always been on board. That tells me we are doing something right when your team feels like one big family. 140 people will be the next cultural challenge for us, something we are not attempting lightly.

Not that there are rules around how you build a startup, but we feel we are writing our own in a way.

Everything from our focus on culture, how we have raised capital, our global approach, and our product strategy. We are aiming high and pulling the slingshot back as far as the team can pull it, and are launching into the stratosphere.

Exciting times. Super busy times!

I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Vaughan Rowsell is founder and CEO of Auckland-based company Vend, which sells cloud-based retail software around the world.