NZ entrepreneurs going to town on web

David ten Have, top, and Derek Elley have founded Ponoko.com, an online marketplace for custom-designed products. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Last year's technology headlines may have been dominated by the likes of web giants Google and Yahoo! but New Zealand software start-ups took some promising steps towards international success.

And underpinning all of them lies the internet. The pace of innovative software development has ramped up in this country as business incubators, the universities and established IT companies produce young entrepreneurs who understand the opportunity the web offers Kiwi companies seeking a global audience.

"There are a number of next-generation entrepreneurs kicking it on the international stage," says Wellington entrepreneur and Xero founder Rod Drury.

"They're typically in their late twenties or early thirties.

"They're at the perfect stage in life to go out and try and make a name for themselves."

In exactly that position are David ten Have and Derek Elley, founders of Ponoko.com, an online marketplace for people who want to buy one-off, custom-designed products.

After winning a coveted slot at the TechCrunch conference in San Francisco in September, where 40 software start-ups got to pitch to Silicon Valley venture capitalists and some of the best minds in the US start-up scene, Ponoko has been riding a wave of interest, culminating last month in a profile on the company published in the New York Times.

"That conference has opened a lot of doors for us," says ten Have, who runs Ponoko out of a cramped office in central Wellington.

In the back room is a piece of technology crucial to the Ponoko model - an industrial laser cutter.

The idea is that web users design their own products, from furniture to toys, using off-the-shelf computer design packages, then connect with manufacturers who laser cut the materials based on the designs and ship them to the buyer.

"In the simplest case they're using it to produce jewellery, buttons, iPhone stands and keyrings," says ten Have.

"More experienced people are able to produce quite complex products like tables, sci-fi boomerangs, and lamp shades."

It goes against the pervading trend of one-size-fits-all manufacturing, but takes advantage of the forces of globalisation. Ponoko will either partner with companies or run its own laser cutting labs around the world to ensure there is a manufacturing facility close to its customers.