Raygun has the tech weapon but needs footsoldiers
About six years ago, two internet troublemakers came to me with an idea for an online tool that they reckoned would be a pretty useful piece of kit in the nascent world of website intelligence software.
These two – nicknamed JD and JB – had done the hard yards setting up shop in a tiny office above a drug rehabilitation clinic on Thorndon Quay in Wellington.
Existing mainly on two-minute noodles and odd commissions for infrastructure software coding, they had a plan for a piece of software that would enable webmasters to find and zap bugs in their live websites.
They named the company Raygun and never looked back.
Today that company runs a cloud-based software performance platform with three kinds of tools – crash reporting, real user monitoring and application performance monitoring. Basically, telling companies when customers are having crappy software experiences.
Two weeks ago it announced it would be tripling its Wellington headcount, taking it up to 70 people and investing almost $15 million into the regional economy.
Pretty good going for a couple of digital troublemakers and the cadre of smart women and men they’ve built around themselves in Wellington and Seattle in the United States.
Like most good software, the technology itself is seamless to the end user. Chances are you’ve never heard of Raygun but that doesn’t mean you haven’t used it.
Any time you order a pizza from Domino’s, Raygun is in there. Any time you book a car rental with Avis globally, Raygun is in there. And any time you’ve looked for a job on Seek anywhere in the world, Raygun is in there.
And all going well, the fact that you completed that transaction in a speedy and hassle-free way is testament to its functionality.
The biggest challenge for Raygun isn’t technology or product market fit or capital. It’s people. It’s got some great people and wants more. Although it has strong growth aspirations and the positive earnings to ramp headcount, finding those great people is going to be tough.
In the case of Raygun, that means participating in the Summer of Tech internship programme for tertiary students, and becoming an accredited employer with Immigration New Zealand. But directionally it’s unlikely to be enough to fuel its growth.
Clearly I’m biased, but I still see Wellington as the internet hub of New Zealand with a fertile ecosystem for doing deals and getting stuff live.
It’s one of the reasons that e-commerce giant Shopify recently chose it as its regional home and also why the biggest local online companies are based there.
Companies such as Weta Digital, Datacom, Trade Me and Xero – all great companies, and all competing to attract and retain talent. Add to that a public service that has strong appetite for the digital-first approach and it’s a real bunfight sourcing good bods.
Part of it is simply a preparedness to enter into wallet fights, but part of it is a real supply constraint and that means education.
If my two teenage daughters are any datapoint, there seems to be a lack of understanding by curriculum developers as to how important technology is to a student’s future trajectory in the labour market.
Raygun is already doing its part in the local community, sponsoring organisations such as Rails Girls, developer bootcamps and educational programmes, but more needs doing.
Currently, technology is not compulsory for years 11, 12 or 13. In an age where artificial reality and the internet of things is predicted to do away with 20 per cent of jobs by 2037 (according to PwC), it seems madness to me not to increase the tech literacy of all students.
Software coding is mandatory for new asset management staff at JP Morgan Chase, an investment bank in the US. Learning the Python programming language is now part of their first year.
Closer to home, technology and cyber investigation is now standard curriculum for all police recruits. Earlier this year, the Labour Party dusted off its ‘‘Future of Work’’ programme and created an updated forum to look at the impacts of software automation and fluidity of work processes.
It’s timely if we are going to reorient the roles that are going to be killed by software to those that will be created.
And it’s vital if New Zealand is going to realise its potential, moving tech from being our thirdlargest export earner to our first. It’s also crucial if your kids are going to get jobs in five years’ time.
So all going well, the next time a couple of internet troublemakers hit you up for money or time to help grow their great idea, they might actually be related to you.
Mike ‘‘MOD’’ O’Donnell is a professional director and e-commerce adviser. His Twitter handle is @modsta and he’s worried his daughters are unemployable. MOD is a director of Raygun.