Many Kiwis struggle to appreciate the size of the global internetmarket, and how to tap into it says John-Daniel Trask.
The co-founder ofWellington-based
Mindscape
(“We buildfantastic tools for developers”) recently spoke at the
As an aside, the messages/language on Mindscape's web pagesare a model of simplicity and appealing description. Check out the company's
Business, and more particularly digitally-orientedbusiness has been in John-Daniel's blood since high school in Palmerston North, including selling aprogram on a disk that masked other schoolboy's internet search history on their family'scomputer!
Torn between doing a business degree or computer sciencedegree at Massey University, J-D opted for a relatively open-ended computer course – and shoved inas business papers as he could.
He (easily) got a job at IT solutionscompany Intergen , and from day one wasquizzing its bosses about revenues, sales, margins and the nuts and bolts of how it operated.
Not surprisingly he quickly rose through the company; and while he was doing itbought as many shares off other employees as he could.
Soon he was oneof the largest non-founding shareholders, and the option of buying the fourth largest shareholder'sportion came up. This would've made him the largest non-founding shareholder of Intergen by a longmargin. The deal fell through however.
J-D then quietly, and completingthe deals all at once, sold his shares back to other employees within Intergen, pocketing a tidyreturn at the same time.
In 2007, along with Jeremy Boyd, Mindscape wasbrought into life, creating software development tools as its products, concentrating on Microsoft's.NET environment.
Mindscape's main product these days is
This software has had exceptionalgrowth – so much so that Mindscape received a number of inquiries whether it was up forpurchase.
Instead, and boasting real growth and revenue, Mindscaperecently went to the market and raised capital.
J-D and Jeremy Boydstill own 87% of the company – but given that Mindscape's doubled revenues since April, investorsare probably pretty happy.
He says that lessons learned along the way isnot to become too scattergunned in its projects or offers.
“Put yourenergy into one thing,” he says.
He sees a new wave of potential invirtual reality, arguing that the present fixation on the visual component ignores the touch, soundand audio.
In the meantime Mindscape's focused on its revenues, as thiskeeps its future options wide open.
“We could carry out an IPO, wecould be attractive as an acquistion, or we could continue to make a lot of money,” hesays.
This Entrepreneur Club talk was a great example of a well-executedbusiness, firing on all cylinders.
Without doubt, the winner of the