Our Mission
The creators of Ask Astro are on a mission to Optimise the Business World. We believe in a future where more businesses reach their goals, as we all win when people feel confident, driven and aligned with the mission they are on together.
But it's not just about more BI dashboards – it's about effortlessly understanding the full picture and making great choices at the right time, whether as a SMB business owner, an advisor, or a leader growing a business.
Our vision
A truly great place to work has a strong purpose, a compelling mission and exciting momentum. It has engaged, confident, bold leaders, making timely, and impactful decisions with confidence. While many companies strive to reach these ideals, achieving all aspects at a high level is challenging and rare. They face challenges such as unclear metrics, prioritisation issues, and adapting to market changes.
We believe that helping business leaders and their advisors to make their relationships and decisions more impactful will mean everyone in the organisation will benefit. Healthy SMB’s are any country’s biggest assets, so working with these important businesses to grow and become more successful will do good for society.
Our Values
Curiosity - We continuously explore new ideas and approaches to improve business leadership. This means staying at the forefront of AI technology and implementation practices, always asking "what if?" and "how might we?" as we work with clients to solve their most pressing operational challenges.
Integrity - We ensure secure and ethical handling of confidential business data. Trust is paramount. We build encrypted per-organisation databases, implement consent-based access controls, and maintain the highest standards of data protection because we understand the sensitive nature of the information you share with us.
Simplicity - We make complex AI technology accessible and user-friendly. AI shouldn't require a PhD to understand or use. We translate technical capabilities into practical solutions that solve real problems, delivering measurable outcomes without overwhelming you with jargon or complexity.
Challenge the Status Quo - We question traditional practices and seek innovative solutions. Just because something has always been done a certain way doesn't mean it's the best way. We help you reimagine your processes and find better approaches using AI-powered tools.
Amplify Human Agency - We do not want to remove the human from the equation. We want to amplify their capabilities rather than replace them. We encourage critical thinking, supported by AI, and strengthen cognitive muscle by design.
Our founders
Diana Minnée
Diana has been looking for ways to scale what she does as a COO for many years now. She has worked in startups and larger tech organisations such as Arcanum AI, Tapi, JRNY, Common Ledger, Silverstripe and Trade Me since 2010. She moved to Fractional COO’ing in 2019, as one way of bringing value to many, but always wanted more! Diana’s brain is now embedded in Ask Astro, and her COO intuition captured, to help other businesses at scale.
Sam Minnée
Sam is an experienced technology CTO and CEO and serial founder (starting Silverstripe with his friends at 16 years old). Since moving to the board, he has worked in and mentored startups to support the local ecosystem. He loves getting deep into code, building tech teams, and working out how businesses can make decisions. He thinks 2023 was a watershed year for AI and is excitedly diving into the Ask Astro to see how these new tools can solve some crunchy problems.