Timing is crucial, but it alone doesn’t get you to the pin

• By Charles Miller

Everyone appreciates the sound of a perfect golf drive.

The crack is clean, sharp and decisive, and is the epitome of perfect timing. It puts you well on your way to the pin and ahead of the competition.

In business, timing works much the same way. Get it wrong and it takes significant effort to recover. Get it right and you start closer to the goal and better placed to convert the opportunity into results. The research is clear on this.

Idealab analysed more than 200 companies and found timing accounted for 42 per cent of start-up success, ahead of team strength and composition at 32 per cent, with idea, business model and funding trailing.

Timing and team drive 75 per cent of successful outcomes. I’ve referenced this before, but two current stories make it worth revisiting. In the Scottish Highlands, a 19-metre rocket called Prime sits silent on its deserted launch pad.

Owner Orbex was founded in 2015 with genuine technical edge and £26 million in British taxpayer backing. In 2026 it filed for administration after funding dried up and a rescue deal collapsed. Chief executive Phil Chambers said they were “on the cusp” of first test flights.

Cusps can never be banked – only a track record of successful satellite launches can. The commercial small-launch market Orbex targeted is significant and growing, but Rocket Lab, founded by Invercargill engineer Sir Peter Beck in 2006, had already spent a decade climbing the learning curve, refining materials and production, building infrastructure and securing customers.

Their timing was decisive – explosive growth in data, telecommunications, GIS applications and the demand for low Earth orbit networks created exactly the market Sir Peter had positioned for. Their execution had been disciplined and delivery consistent. By the time Orbex came to the party, the market was mature and their timing late. No amount of execution could recover the position.

Now look to Wellington. Startup Wellumio is developing Axana, a portable neuroimaging device designed to detect strokes within the golden hour, when every minute matters.

They’ve recently raised NZ$7.3 million in preliminary funding. Their timing aligns with ageing populations, overwhelmed emergency rooms, and the global shift towards delivering distributed acute care beyond hospital walls.

The underlying technology has reached the point where scale and affordability can take Axana to market. The tailwinds are strong, but converting that opportunity will still require a team capable of disciplined execution.

A Scottish rocket that never reached orbit. A Wellington brain scanner that may change emergency medicine. Both had great ideas. Both had process and funding. It comes down to the combination of timing and team – the insight and instinct to get right down the fairway, and the grit and discipline to get to the green and sink the putt.

Timing gets you to the tee with a perfect drive. The ability, commitment and executional skill of the team delivers ultimate success.