ABOUT

Established in December 2010, Trigger Happy develops cutting edge software for content creators on iPads. Essentially born from a merger of executives from two well established Auckland digital content creation companies; Kangoo Animation (known most famously for “The Gingerbread Haka”) and Massive Software (the intelligent crowd simulation software developed for Lord of the Rings and now used extensively across the screen industry).

Trigger Happy’s first product Toon Hero was released in August 2013.

Toon Hero

Toon Hero makes expressing yourself through visual storytelling easy and fun. This first-of-its-kind iPad app allows people of all ages to easily create their own animated stories using world-famous characters without any training or artistic ability. This highly intuitive platform makes it fun to share these creations through social media and virtually anywhere on the Internet.

Co-founders

Shona Grundy CEO, Co-founder and Company Director
Shona spent six years in the UK music industry where she gained an in-depth understanding of strategy, talent management, catalogue creation and IP development. For the past nine years, she has specialized in animation television production and is an award-winning, international selling children’s book author. In 2009, she was nominated for the Veuve Clicquot NZ Business Woman of the Year and for the Women in Film and Television Entrepreneur of the year. In 2011/2012, she was the Executive Chair of the Auckland Screen and Digital Content Leadership group; representing the industry as she worked with central and local government on their 10 year industry strategy and policy implementation.

As CEO, Shona has been the driving force behind the growth and strategic implementation of the Trigger Happy Business plan. Within the space of 12 months she has secured two rounds of VC investments and substantial government grants; growing the team from 5 to 17 full time staff, while also lodging provisional patents, securing licensing agreements with international studios and forming strategic partnerships.

Israel Cooper Chief Financial Officer, Co-founder, Senior Vice President and Company Director
A specialist in finance, business economics and corporate strategy, Israel comes from Rex Bionics after serving as Director of Finance for Massive Software. Prior to Massive, Israel spent five years as a finance and corporate strategy specialist at Price Waterhouse Coopers, where he led the firm's Media and Entertainment practice.

Karl Butler Chief Product Officer, Co-founder and Senior Vice President
With a unique cross over from visual arts and animation into computer programming, Karl is the head conceptual designer and creator behind Trigger Happy and TOON HERO. Over his 15 year career, Karl has directed and managed teams of artists and programmers. He has been nominated and credited for several NZ screen awards and is credited as the inventor on the US Patents Pending for Trigger Happy.

Cathy Butler Co-founder and Company Director
Including her role as director and head of technical operations at Kangoo Animation, Cathy has over 14 years' experience in business within the digital content industry. Over the past nine years of working with Shona and Karl within Kangoo Animation and Trigger Happy, Cathy has managed both company's hardware and software requirements, along with production management.

Board of Directors

Malcolm Johns Chairperson and Independent Director
Malcolm has a passion for innovation, thought leadership, Kiwis and their place and performance on the world stage. With a strong governance record, including five years as Deputy Chair (and Chair of Audit) for Tourism New Zealand, Malcolm provides Trigger Happy with a wealth of knowledge and guidance focusing on navigating and maximizing emerging opportunities both within New Zealand and internationally. Malcolm is currently Chief Executive of Intercity Group, a role he has held for over eight years.

Darren Green Independent Director
Darren has held senior management positions across the software, entertainment, telecommunications, and broadcast media industries. He is the co-founder and former CEO of SmallWorlds, a world leading, web accessible, 3D online virtual world and social game platform with 10m+ users and a 50+ international team. Darren is currently CEO of Razoo Games, a social and mobile game startup, and the creator of WordBlitz.

Darren's experience in developing products in the social media and gaming arenas, and the management of large scale, complex software development projects allows him to provide invaluable 'solution focused' guidance to the TOON HERO development teams.

Dennis Jones Director
Passionate about building and growing businesses from the ground up, Dennis brings over 35 years of experience to Trigger Happy's board. Currently a co-owner and Director of iStore in Takapuna, Auckland, previously Dennis was the initial master franchisee, co-owner and Managing Director of Burger King New Zealand from 1993-2009. During this time, Dennis won the Worldwide Burger King Franchisee Brand Leader award back to back in 2006 and 2007. Prior to this, Dennis held senior management positions within the Burger King Corporation, including Managing Director Asia Pacific and was responsible for start-up operations in eight Asia Pacific countries. For the last 20 years, Dennis has been on several boards including the New Zealand Breakers Basketball Team.

Shona Grundy CEO, Co-founder and Company Director

Israel Cooper Chief Financial Officer, Co-founder, Senior Vice President and Company Director

Cathy Butler Co-founder and Company Director

Additional Advisory

Will Baker Engineering and Architect Advisor
Will Baker earned his degree at Otago University in computer sciences and has since developed his career in the computer engineering industry with positions held at Massive Software, Binary Star, Navman, Serato Audio Research and is currently at Game Loft, Auckland.