By ADAM GIFFORD
As a top executive at design software maker Autodesk, Dominic Gallello was notorious for holding management meetings at 6 am on Saturdays.
It was one time none of his team could find a legitimate excuse for not being available.
"I was accused of having all the disadvantages of being in a start-up and none of the benefits," says Mr Gallello.
He fixed that by leaving his job as executive vice-president of Autodesk's design solutions division to head a spin-off company, RedSpark, which aims to connect designers, manufacturers and suppliers in the engineering world supply chain.
The shift meant a 70 per cent cut in salary. In start-ups, cash is precious and stock options are the preferred currency.
But he won the chance to build a company from the ground up, including writing its mission, its vision and its culture.
Since opening its doors on April 1 RedSpark has gone from three people to more than 50.
Two recruiters are on the staff to find and woo the talent needed to make the business happen. RedSpark's first product, an internet-based Request for Quote service, should go live this year.
Another Autodesk spin-off, Buzzsaw.com, has been live since last November, providing a way for architects, builders and suppliers to collaborate online. It has already hosted 17,000 projects.
Some 15 per cent of those projects have been outside North America, despite no marketing being done outside the US.
Buzzsaw.com's marketing vice-president, Chris Bradshaw, says at least 15 of those projects have been in New Zealand.
Because manufacturing is even more of an international business than construction, Buzzsaw.com will have even greater relevance to New Zealand firms.
It will allow mechanical engineers and designers to collaborate across the internet to get products designed and manufactured.
The site will also handle the e-commerce functions required.
RedSpark and Buzzsaw are examples of a new breed of hybrid start-ups, spun off from established companies to go places in the online world where their parents might not be able to get to.
Although they are separate companies, they show that Autodesk is seriously addressing the business-to-business marketplace. It is not going to be left behind as a package software vendor.
"There is a lot of pressure from Wall St and industry analysts who are asking how you are moving your company to this new arena," says Mr Gallello.
RedSpark and Buzzsaw have the nimbleness of new companies, their flat management structures and the ability to innovate.
"I will never go back to having an office," says Mr Gallello, who occupies one of a cluster of workstations in the main RedSpark office.
"I have my administration manager across the aisle, my vice-president general counsel beside me, my head of business development, my vice-president sales and development and financial controller.
"If I need to have a meeting, we just do it there."
The spin-offs also have what venture capitalists call "unfair advantage."
That can mean simple things, such as getting relatively cheap office space in the headquarters of Autodesk's multimedia division in downtown San Francisco.
Monthly recruiting parties are held in the building's rooftop cafeteria, where prospective staff can see the company has more substance than the garage-based entrepreneurs also competing for their skills.
With 200,000 unfilled positions in Silicon Valley, any advantage is critical.
Coming from "an Autodesk venture" gets Mr Gallello in the door at billion-dollar corporations to discuss the partnerships and alliances needed to make the business work.
Those doors just don't open to newly minted dot.coms without the right introductions or brand behind them.
"By week 13 we were talking about joint ventures with multibillion-dollar companies," says Mr Gallello. "So brand is hugely important."
While Autodesk is investing some cash, RedSpark has to find its own money.
Mr Gallello says it will be looking for between $US10 million and $US15 million in its first round.
He says that when Autodesk started in Mill Valley in 1982, the money needed to create a software business was minimal - just a PC to work on and something to make the tapes on which programs were sent out.
"Eighteen years later the net world is like being back in traditional business.
"The amount of capital investment needed to start a business is huge again.
"On day one, when I go live, I have to have 53 servers. I need to think about reliability, availability, security."
Because manufacturing is more of an international business than construction projects, RedSpark needs to launch its site with an international presence.
It is talking to potential partners around the world who will be able to provide the sort of infrastructure required.
RedSpark is not a new channel to sell Autodesk Software but a start-up committed to finding new business and ways of doing business.
Its engineers are developing new products.
"We are about reducing the cycle time from design to manufacture," says Mr Gallello.
Autodesk will provide a hosted environment where design engineers can get their models and prototypes built without the communication problems between design and purchasing departments and suppliers which add time and cost.
That could have a dramatic effect on price.
* Adam Gifford visited Redspark as a guest of Autodesk.
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