Success awaits a US reinvention: adviser

By DANIEL RIORDAN

High-profile software developer and Government adviser John Blackham says New Zealand high-tech companies need to reinvent themselves as American if they are to succeed in the lucrative but fiercely competitive North American market.

And that is why he is preparing to spend much of his time over the next two years overseas, setting up a US office for his company Xsol and looking to tap US capital markets.

Mr Blackham is a Trade NZ director, the Software Association's representative to the Government and a member of Prime Minister Helen Clark's high-powered think tank the Science and Innovation Advisory Council.

He says he always intended Xsol to develop into a US company, although he is confident he can keep his development team in New Zealand.

Xsol employs 12 staff. By the end of next year Mr Blackham hopes to increase that to 45 - half here and half in the US, working for Xsol Corporation Inc.

"Just as New Zealanders would be reluctant to buy software from the Cook Islands, Americans are reluctant to buy from New Zealand."

Eventually, he hopes, that will change, in the way India, Israel or Finland have earned their US reputations as software developers.

Mr Blackham plans to have his American office set up by April, with the company launching to the US market in June or July.

Those plans depend on Xsol's finding venture partners and raising more capital. A Nasdaq listing is a longer-term possibility.

One of the reasons for New Zealand's slowness to establish its international high-tech credentials is the previous Government's lack of support for the sector.

But Mr Blackham says the present Government is showing greater willingness to listen - even Alliance leader Jim Anderton.

He describes the Science and Innovation Advisory Council, formed in June, as the most powerful change agency he has been involved in.

Mr Blackham has also helped to set up a new umbrella group, the Knowledge Industries Council, which represents the electronics, software and telecommunications industries, as well as biotech, crown research institutes and a just-forming venture capital association.

He plans to continue his involvement with his various associations and boards, despite spending much of his time overseas.