$500,000 wasted

The Spinoff has a lengthy story on how $500,000 of taxpayers money was given by MCH to Narrative Muse, a digital arts recommendation platform for books, movies and TV. So what has been the outcome of the $500,000:

• a book club offer that 12 participants signed up to
• 575 followers on X; 2,963 followers on Instagram; 120 on TikTok
• 6,500 registered (not active) users based in NZ
• No member of Booksellers Aotearoa NZ has reported that Narrative Muse has had any discernible, traceable or material impact on book sales at all

Tech startups often don’t succeed, but that is why investors should invest in them, not taxpayers.