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IT high-flyer Guy Haddleton is back in the country and keen to help businesses fulfil their dreams of global expansion.
The former SAS captain is largely unknown in the local business community, but last year he sold his US-based business forecasting software company Adaytum for US$160 million to Canadian rival Cognos.
It was the third time Cognos had tried to buy Adaytum.
Haddleton is not talking about his New Zealand business activities yet, but it is understood he will shortly join the board of EDIS International, a start-up working on electronic billing systems.
Venture capitalist Jenny Morel's No 8 Ventures put $2.85 million into EDIS International in March.
"I want to share my experience with New Zealand companies," Haddleton told an audience of IT entrepreneurs last week at Morgo 2004, a Wairakei conference put on by investment bankers Morel & Co.
Haddleton's recipe for success seems on the face of it quite simple - know your competitors, have simple goals and recruit good talent.
Haddleton left the Army after eight years to complete an MBA degree at Otago University. But the Army training better prepared him for entering business.
"All the [MBA] taught me was the language of business," he said.
"What you learn in the Army is the power of talent. You are surrounded by absolutely extraordinary talent," said Haddleton, who in business likes to build small, focused teams - much how the SAS operates.
In Britain, he made his break when he was put in charge of an ailing stationery distribution company.
"We threw out the executive and took it to turnover of £50 million returning 10 per cent in 18 months."
He then served a stint as managing director of pay TV operator TV Direct.
Adaytum, founded in 1990, was built with fellow Kiwi Sue Strother in Haddleton's apartment in Bristol. The business started with a £49 advert in the Financial Times for a guide to profit-and-loss spreadsheets.
Following those humble beginnings came a spell of rapid growth as Adaytum took shape. But for much of the early nineties the company barely survived.
The company really blossomed when Haddleton met George Kunzle, a retired IBM systems engineer who brought with him some advanced financial planning software. He took a half share in Adaytum, which Haddleton moved to Minneapolis in 1996.
He wanted to attack the US market "under the radar" and chose the mid-West over the tech and financial hotspots on the east and west coasts.
"One of the reasons we succeeded was because I went to the US; we didn't contract it out," said Haddleton.
Offices were opened in Denmark, Canada and Australia and Adaytum began to pick up big clients.
Toyota, Lockheed Martin, Kellogg's, Pfizer, 3M and American Express were all using Adaytum's business modelling and planning software to save money.
Adaytum sales staff had OBO - the "one big objective" - imprinted on their minds. That was to win 100 clients among the Global 2000 list of top corporates.
When Cognos bought Adaytum last year, its executives said the combined forces of the companies would allow Cognos to compete against major software players Oracle, PeopleSoft and SAP.
Haddleton had a US$300 million price in mind for the company. Cognos started with an offer of US$60 million. They met somewhere in the middle.
Haddleton then took a well-earned break. "I didn't realise how tired I was. I took last year off and indulged."
Part of growing involved giving a large chunk of the company away. Haddleton had no shortage of suitors with investors 3i, St Paul Venture Capital and Accenture among those who bought in.
Co-founder Strother also profited greatly from her 12-year ride with Adaytum.
Last year, she made the Mail on Sunday's list of the 10 highest-paid women in Britain, thanks to the Adaytum sale. She came in at number seven with £19.6 million.
Haddleton has invested in a new start-up, operating in the US.
"I have a new company. It also starts with 'A'. I won't be involved operationally."
He will divide his time between Minneapolis and New Zealand, where he is building a house in Takapuna.
With his expertise, Haddleton is keen to impart his wisdom.
"Where I can add value to companies going global or trying to get into the US, I'd like to help."
© The New Zealand Herald |
