He inadvertently led to the development of Banqer, an interactive financial literacy tool aimed at primary school pupils, which claimed the top prize at this year's BNZ Start up Alley competition.
Ms Flutey, who has a commerce degree and a masters degree in entrepreneurship from the University of Otago, was home in Christchurch before a Start up weekend in Wellington last year, when she got talking to her primary school aged younger brother.
Instead of discussions about girls or football, the accountant turned web developer had an ''amazing conversation'' with him as he told her how he was making ''hundreds of thousands of dollars'' and asked her for some business advice.
Eventually, she realised that a teacher at his school, Micah Hocquard, was running what Banqer essentially was, but a paper based system, aimed at teaching financial literacy.
It sounded like an ''awesome'' idea and it got her thinking about making the experience more realistic for children, rather than a manual approach.
Ms Flutey went along to Start up weekend and pitched the idea. Six others joined her and the pitch was successful. Banqer won the competition.
Afterwards, she contacted the others, asking who wanted to commit their time to making the idea a reality. Three were keen while the others had other commitments.
Then she decided there was a gap in the skill base, which comprised two web developers, a designer and an education expert.
A teacher voice was needed, so she approached Mr Hocquard, who teaches at Medbury Preparatory School, and asked if he would be interested.
She was thrilled when he agreed to join the Banqer team.
''I guess this is his baby that's growing up and becoming a real thing,'' she said.
The BNZ Start up Alley competition gave small businesses the opportunity to pitch their business to a panel of judges, in a Dragons' Den style competition, and win prizes.
Banqer won the overall prize of $20,000, along with a return trip for two to San Francisco, to meet web professionals.
Winning the competition had given Banqer a lot of credibility and increased traffic to its site, Ms Flutey said.
People were also starting to appreciate its social underpinning. They were trying to grow corporate sponsorship for schools in need and already some accounting firms were enabling schools to use it.
The potential was ''enormous'' as Ms Flutey also reflected on the impact on society of creating financially literate citizens at a young age.
