From a biro-pen fix in the bush to 25 million pests gone (and counting)

Back in 2005, co-founders Craig Bond and Robbie Van Dam were running other businesses just to keep things afloat. By day, they earned a living. By night (and lunch break), they built prototypes in borrowed spaces, testing ideas on the fly and chasing a vision no one else was looking at: pest control that was better for people, animals, and the planet.

Stu Barr joined a year later, and things kicked up a gear. Prototypes were packed into backpacks. Field tests happened between jobs. Every spare moment was fuelled by trial, error, and a total belief that there had to be a smarter, more humane way to deal with pests.

In 2008, three milestones marked a turning point. They hired their first employee, Grant Rutherford. They moved to a “bigger” garage on Cruickshank Street in Kilbirnie, Wellington. And finally, a semi-final prototype came to life, prompting a field test deep in the Orongorongo Ranges, with a field camera borrowed from the Department of Conservation (they couldn’t afford one!).

On arrival, the prototype had snapped in transit. With no spare parts, Craig cracked open a biro pen, cut it down, and jerry-rigged a working connection. The trap reset, and by dawn, it had killed its first rat.

That moment changed everything. They were no longer just trying to make a trap. They were building something that could actually work.

Today, with a team of 40, we’ve shipped over 600,000 traps, now deployed in 60+ countries, all designed and manufactured right here in Wellington. We’ve got a brand-new factory near the Basin Reserve, a pipeline of innovation, and a global community of trappers, from farmers and families to conservationists and pest pros.

We’re twenty. And still just getting started.

The early days

Goodnature began with a radical idea, that pest control didn’t need to be cruel, complicated, or toxic. They were focused on the idea of making the biggest possible impact with the smallest, simplest design.

“What was truly fascinating was spending as much time as possible observing and understanding the animal, then developing a product that could control it effectively, humanely, and with precision.” remembers Robbie.

In those early days, there was no handbook. Every component had to be invented or reimagined. Existing technologies were borrowed and adapted. Everything was kept small because it had to be, but the ride was thrilling.

They were deep in R&D, splitting time between field work, meetings with the Department of Conservation, and late nights in the workshop. Deliveries were done by bike. Early packaging was folded by hand on the couch. Everything, design, manufacturing, sales, happened in one little building.

They got help from some amazing people along the way. One of them was Darren Peters who was Department of Conservation’s and overall New Zealand’s expert in trapping, and brought deep conservation expertise and gave them regular reality checks to keep them grounded (and honest).

It was hard work. But it was electric. There was a real sense they were building something different.

Breakthroughs and hard calls

The first product was the Henry Trap, named after one of Aotearoa's great environmentalists, Richard Henry. It was a revolution…but it didn’t meet their standards in the field. So they made back then one of the toughest calls so far, they pulled it and decided to start from scratch, despite how much sweat and tears they’d already invested.

That decision led to the A24, the world’s first self-resetting, humane, toxin-free trap, engineered to kill 24 times before needing attention.

It was also around this time the company committed to meeting humane standards, at a time when no one else in the industry was bothering. The bar was high, the testing was long, and the cost was enormous (still is). For their first humane testing, an operator from Landcare Research came to Wellington to do the assessment in the workshop, but they had to catch the rats themselves.

Stu remembers: “We knew there was a very ratty park above the terrace tunnel at the time, so Robbie and I set out 10 live capture traps in the evening and went back sneaking around at 1am to collect them and found they were all full! So we stored them safe and warm and reset the traps and by 7am had 5 more. We were driving around Wellington at 1am with a boot-load of (well cared for and warm) rats.”

For Goodnature, it was never just about pest removal. It was about making it better, and respectful, in every way.

Beyond the bush

For a long time, Goodnature was a conservation company. Our traps were deployed by Department of Conservation teams and field workers. Our customers wore tramping boots and debated on what was the best lure.

But we realised that to survive as a business, and to scale our impact, we had to think bigger. So we did. The first conference in the USA was a real moment. Our founders went with unbranded off-tool samples and took the stage to present the product. After the talk, people lined up for over two hours with questions. They knew we were onto something.

That didn’t mean turning our back on conservation. Today, we have a full-time Conservation Manager, and ecology groups are still our eyes and ears in the field. But we also knew our solution could meet the needs of everyday people - homeowners, farmers, schools, pest professionals.

So we shifted. We changed our packaging. We simplified the setup. We learned how to speak to first-time trappers. Today, you’ll find Goodnature traps in forests, yes, but also in attics, garages, paddocks, warehouses, cafes, and even inside vehicles.

As we expanded, so did our target species. Possums, unwanted furry visitors from Australia, were wreaking havoc on native species of fauna and flora. In 2014, after many cold nights spent huddled in Department of Conservation huts watching grainy field camera footage, we launched the A12 Possum Trap. With 12 powerful self-resetting shots per gas canister, it was a beast of a trap, and served conservation groups faithfully for nearly a decade. We retired it in 2022 as our standards for performance and humaneness continued to evolve.

Next came the A18 Grey Squirrel Trap in 2018, our first trap purpose-built for a species outside New Zealand. Grey squirrels are one of the UK’s most invasive pests, and we worked closely with early Goodnature supporter (and now UK distributor) Vance Paines to design something for them. Field testing meant days spent stealthily filming squirrels in London parks. Picture this — grown adults, quietly stalking squirrels for science. And it worked. The A18 became the world’s first automatic squirrel trap, and it’s now part of conservation efforts across the UK and the US.

Building a company that builds things

Only 1.8% of Wellington businesses make physical products. We’re proud to be part of that 1.8%. Every year, we make and ship over 100,000 traps and more than half a million of our homemade irresistible pastes, all from our own factory in Mount Cook.

A few years ago, we doubled down again. Moved into a new facility. Invested in scalable systems. Grew our innovation lab, fondly called “the bunker”. And took our biggest leap yet, creating our first indoor trap, the Goodnature Mouse Trap.

We designed it from scratch. Made it Bluetooth-connected, sleek, and beautifully simple to use. It was our first time thinking like a consumer tech company, and the response proved we were on the right track.

Awards and recognition

In the last 18 months alone, we’ve picked up some really cool awards:

• iF Design Award in Germany (Product Design)

• Gold Pin at the NZ Best Design Awards

• US Fast Company Most Innovative Companies – ranked #6 in Consumer & Household Goods

• US Fast Company Innovation by Design – Small But Mighty winner

• Global Gold & Supreme Winner at the Wellington Gold Awards

We also achieved B Corp certification in 2023, a milestone that affirms our commitment to social, environmental, and ethical impact across everything we do. You won’t find another one (yet) in this industry!

Not bad for a company that started with a biro pen and a hunch.

What’s next

We’ve set our sights on achieving 100 million pest kills by 2030, all without poison. Ambitious? Yes. But we like to be ambitious. Robbie puts it best: “Goodnature has proven that ethical, innovative pest control can exist at scale. But in terms of the bigger goal, stopping biodiversity decline, that’s still a work in progress. It reminds me that success isn’t narrowly defined, rather it’s an ongoing journey toward making a lasting, measurable difference.”

We’ve got new products in development. Tens of thousands of new trappers joining the movement. And a clear mission: build the traps, but more importantly, build the trappers. More trappers mean less pests, and we’re confident people want to do better for their homes, their environment, their wildlife, their kids, and the planet.

So whether you’ve got one trap in your shed or 300 in the bush, whether you’re in Whanganui or Wisconsin, thank you.

Here’s to the next twenty!