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Sue Wilkinson and Graham Dockrill reckon work for overseas clients will
account for about 30 per cent of the turnover of their Christchurch-based
website and programming company this year.
Next year? "It's a big world out there," says Dockrill. "We
think it will continue to grow."
Hairy Lemon Web Solutions is one of a new breed of high tech companies,
nurtured through Canterbury's business networks, growing rapidly, and
bringing in increasing amounts of foreign exchange by exporting its talents
and ideas.
Dockrill and Wilkinson, aged 27 and 28, are just catching their breath
after a month in which they got married and honeymooned in Australia,
and moved their business from a cramped room at home to spacious first
floor premises in Riccarton.
Hairy Lemon has five full time staff, two part-time, and two contractors.
Two staff work remotely-one in Carterton and one in Dunedin.
They're looking to hire another graphic designer and another programmer
in the next three months, but say it's hard to find good programmers when
they are competing for talent with the many big IT and electronics companies
headquartered in Christchurch.
The new staff could find themselves working on website or programming
projects for West Coast councils, Environment Canterbury, or for any one
of the overseas clients that come to Hairy Lemon through referrals and
networks of expat Kiwis.
Hairy Lemon was born two years ago and last year Dockrill and Wilkinson
went looking for assistance to get the business on track for growth.
"We're big planners," says Wilkinson. "And we're ambitious
for the business, but we were doing al lot of firefighting."
Canterbury Development Corporation's mentor-matching service got them
started on a business planning process and then, says Wilkinson, they
were "very lucky" to be accepted into the CDC's Hi-Tech Launch
Platform run as a series of weekly meetings over 14 weeks.
They were then matched with Christchurch software veteran Keith Cowan
of Jade. "He's a fantastic mentor, and we still keep in touch,"
says Wilkinson.
She says Cowan made them focus on growth. "He convinced us we had
to think big, target large clients. He was a great source of advice on
just about everything."
It helped that Cowan was in the same sector as them, and he has also
come up with referrals that have helped them gain extra business. The
associations they formed with other start-up companies during the hi-tech
launch programme have also proved fruitful, leading to collaborative projects.
Wilkinson and Dockrill said a key point that was hammered home during
their mentoring sessions was the value of using experts to ensure their
business was properly structured and adequately protected.
"We've got legal protection in place when we deal with offshore
clients," says Wilkinson. "We needed convincing, but we realised
we had to set aside a certain amount to cover the costs."
She says working for overseas companies requires trust on both sides,
but Hairy Lemon attempts to minimise risk by setting milestones when it
embarks on new projects, and insisting on progress payments when it meets
those milestones.
"We communicate with the clients, posting work in progress on our
test server where possible so they know we are delivering"
At present payments are arriving in Japanese yen, Irish pounds, and US
dollars. And while Dockrill says the high value of those currencies compared
to the New Zealand dollar is a bonus, it's not the main reason for their
pus to export Hairy Lemon's talents.
"Sue and I want that feelgood feeling that we're bringing work into
the country and helping to keep our mates here."
[PHOTO:David Hallet - The world's their oyster: the Hairy Lemon team
, from left, Sue Wilkinson, Graham Dockrill, and Simon Winter.]
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