PC Direct founders 'succeed for the second time'

By Aimee McClinchy

Friday 30th June 2000

TOP TRIO: Mark Loveys (left), David McKee Wright and Maurice Bryham

Founders of computer retailing trailblazer PC Direct expect to make an initial public offering in their new e-commerce company Exo-net and list it early next year.

They expect the company, which makes accounting and e-commerce software, will outperform the early growth of PC Direct.

Chief executive David McKee Wright said Exo-net had trebled its March 2000 year projections, would easily double this year's projections and would list in either of their key markets of Australia or Singapore.

"An IPO in Singapore would be the gateway to Asia," Mr McKee Wright said.

"It took us 10 years to build PC Direct to the strength of what Exo-net is now.

"I look around for what's left of PC Direct - and there is nothing you can see. The beauty of Exo-net is it is going to be around for a long time," he said.

Mr McKee Wright is partner in server, hardware and accounting software company Exo-net with PC Direct founder Maurice Bryham, former manager Mark Loveys and 35% investor IT Capital.

The Exo-net senior management team has been built almost exclusively from the senior ranks of PC Direct managers - minus Sharon Hunter, who now owns gourmet supplier Continental Foods.

The team believes its "chemistry" has fast-tracked Exo-net's growth.

Mr McKee Wright would not disclose profit figures but said Exo-net, trading since August last year, was already one of the country's largest private software companies.

A decision in March by two offshore management teams to buy into Exo-net for an overall stake of 5% for $1 million would now value the company at $20 million.

Mr McKee Wright was back in the country for one week after six months overseeing expansion in the Taiwan, Singaporean and Hong Kong markets, where Exo-net has signed the first of a series of $1 million deals to tailor its software to regional dialects.

Singapore is a massive market for Exo-net's accounting and e-commerce software, where it has deregulated and the government offers $60,000 to each small business to adopt e-commerce. Exo-net has signed 27 resellers there.

Mr McKee Wright is now moving to Australia, where next month's introduction of GST should mean an explosion in business for software that is GST compliant.

"We see Australia as the biggest part of our market next year and Singapore the year after," Mr McKee Wright said.

He expected Singapore to be the first market to accept applications service provider (ASP) models, of which Exo-net planned to release a "pure ASP" next year. "So far that [ASP] has been all hype but it will happen," he said.

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