Michael Carden says it's vital to build a product before chasing investors. Picture / Richard Robinson

Michael Carden says it's vital to build a product before chasing investors. Picture / Richard Robinson

Sonar6 loves to rock the boat. Last month at Chicago's HR Tech, a showcase for all things HR, Sonar6's co-founders didn't rent a booth. Instead they put on loud T-shirts with a printed message close to many employees' hearts: "myperformancereviewsucked.com".

For Sonar6, the T-shirts got it the attention they sought. Never mind the flak it got from some on the blogosphere.

Michael Carden, co-founder of Auckland-based Sonar6, admits the move was controversial, but says the company received high-profile coverage from the online HR community.

Sonar6 is in the business of helping clients carry out performance reviews, using software delivered over the internet, and Chicago wasn't the first time it had challenged convention. In 2006 the company pitched its performance review management system to the globe, rather than taking the traditional route of establishing a successful local market before venturing abroad.

Carden recalls: "We always viewed ourselves, from the beginning, as a global business.

Our mindset has always been: let's build a business that is relevant in different countries."

The company, founded five years ago, was still developing the product when it took it to Britain and soon clinched its first client there, Capital Consulting.

Sonar6 then signed on US customers such as Amylin Pharmaceuticals, L'Oreal USA and Papa Murphy's Pizza, a chain with 1150 stores.

In a recent coup Sonar6 signed a contract with Aggreko, a company that rents out power generators, to use its performance review system across 133 offices in multiple countries. The contract is worth several million dollars.

This year Sonar6 was recognised at PricewaterhouseCoopers' Hi-tech awards, winning the IRL Emerging Company category.

The company is now growing at the rate of one new customer per day, a sign that the HR community has accepted Sonar6's system which is lively and visually appealing - the antithesis of traditional performance review tools. Orders are up by over 100 per cent this year, compared to last year.

Carden believes traditional performance reviews are big yawns because they have become onerous chores that managers do to meet compliance requirements. This, he says, is a real pity because business owners know precious little about their most valuable assets - their people.