Software developer taking New Zealand to the world

massey-university

Tue Mar 01 2016 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

Software developer taking New Zealand to the world

Tuesday, 1 March 2016, 9:50 am
Press Release: Massey University

Most nine-year-olds don’t know what they want to be when they grow up, but John-Daniel Trask wasn’t like most nine-year-olds.

The Massey alumnus is taking the software world by storm with his company Raygun (formally Mindscape), with more than 6000 customers in 100 countries, including industry giants Microsoft, Xero and Dropbox.

He makes the move to Seattle later this month, but is currently back in New Zealand to receive the Massey University Distinguished Young Alumni Award at the Defining Excellence Awards to be held in Auckland March 10.

Mr Trask grew up in an entrepreneurial family in Manawatū, and attributes much of his success to his parents. “My dad’s always had a keen interest in new technology. We got a family computer, and we were given an hour a day on it. I worked out I could buy my siblings’ hours for $1 each so I got more time on it. With that time, I taught myself how to write software on it at the age of nine.

Both my Mum and Dad were very supportive of my interest in software development.

“My parents ran their own business from home. We talked about finance around the dinner table, my father was also an active share investor, and we would take family holidays after investments paid off.

The whole business side of things and the impact of money was pretty upfront. I started trading shares at 14, because that’s what dad did. Looking back, I recognise that’s pretty weird!”

In 2004, after graduating from Massey with a Bachelor of Information Sciences, Mr Trask moved to Wellington, and took up a job with Intergen. Three years later he started his own company, Mindscape, which more recently became Raygun. The company employs 25 people, and has offices in Wellington, San Francisco and soon a third office will open in Seattle.

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“We are a tight squad, but will likely double in size this year. I’m a strong believer that software product companies shouldn’t have thousands of people working on a product.” He hopes to expand even further next year, possibly opening an office in Dublin, Ireland.

Mr Trask, who celebrates his 33rd birthday on Thursday, was also the technical partner, through his company, in creating philanthropic fundraising website Givealittle. “It’s really exciting to see it go from strength to strength. It’s a fantastic asset to the country now.”

This year’s Defining Excellence Awards take place at a black-tie gala dinner at Auckland’s Rendezvous Hotel on March 10, with comedienne and singer Jackie Clarke as the master of ceremonies.

Started in 2010, the awards recognise Massey University’s researchers, teachers and graduates that have achieved major successes in their careers, or have made outstanding contributions to their communities.

Defining Excellence Awards 2016 event details:

Date: Thursday 10 March

Time: 6.30pm – 11.00pm

Venue: Rendezvous Hotel, 71 Mayoral Drive, Cnr Vincent Street, Auckland

Tickets: Gala dinner tickets are $85 + GST per person, or $850 + GST for a table of ten. You can purchase tickets here up until March 7.

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