From Stutter to Strategy: The Making of a Māori Tech Founder
From Stutter to Strategy: The Making of a Māori Tech Founder is a raw, honest, and deeply human story of resilience, reinvention, and purpose.
Born with a speech stutter and raised far from boardrooms and balance sheets, Jay Skipworth grew up learning how to listen before he could speak. That early struggle, once a source of fear and self-doubt, became the foundation of a lifelong strength, empathy, observation, and strategic thinking.
This book traces a journey shaped not by straight lines, but by tides. From a childhood grounded in Māori values of whakapapa (identity), whānau (family), and connection to place, through three decades in global telecommunications, to launching tech ventures later in life, Jay shows that success is not about speed or perfection, but persistence.
Along the way, readers are taken behind the scenes of:
Living with self-doubt while building confidence in silence
Navigating corporate leadership without losing cultural identity
Reinventing yourself when the world tells you it's "too late"
Moving from engineer to entrepreneur in the age of AI
Building businesses rooted in community, not ego
This is not a glossy startup fairy tale. It's a story of missed chances, hard lessons, quiet breakthroughs, and the courage to begin again, at an age when many think the story is already written.
At its heart, From Stutter to Strategy is for:
Founders who don't fit the stereotype
Leaders who've struggled in silence
Late starters, career switchers, and quiet thinkers
Anyone who's ever felt underestimated-or unheard
More than a business book, this is a reminder that your voice matters, even if it shakes. That strategy can be born from struggle. And that it's never too late to turn lived experience into meaningful impact.
If you've ever felt the future calling softly rather than shouting, this book is for you.
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