I met Rod Drury a few years ago in conjunction with the work he was doing at Aftermail, which he subsequently sold to Quest Software. After that sale, he started beavering away at his next project – an online accounting service – called Xero.

Anyway, Rod and Xero won the supreme award at the Wellington Gold Awards last night:

“The Gold Awards are the region’s premier business awards and this year recognised nine companies for business excellence.

In addition to the supreme award, Xero was also the winner of the global gold award for exporters and service companies.

…

Xero was started in 2006 and made an audacious float on the sharemarket the following year, raising $15 million based largely on the reputation of its entrepreneurial founder, Rod Drury. Today those original $1 shares are worth $4.10 each.

The strategy was to build enough capital to develop and market from scratch a product that let small businesses manage their accounts on line.“

What a great New Zealand story. Congrats to Rod and the team.

Read more: From Xero to hero for making book-keeping fun