Chief Technology Officer, 2005 – 2012

Co-Founder / Chief Executive Officer / Chief Operating Officer, 2003 – 2005

Smart AV was a Sydney based company designing and manufacturing patented control surfaces for digital audio and video workstations.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Winning Best Product in “Desk Controller category” for “Tango 2”, Resolution Awards, 2012

2011, Developing Tango 2, a second generation touch screen based control surface, from concept to production prototype in a 9 month period.

2008, Developing Tango, a touch screen based control surface, from concept to production prototype in a 9 month period.

2005, Developing the Professional Series Smart Console from concept to production prototype in a 9 month period.

Winning Best product of show for The Smart Console at AES, San Francisco, October 2005.

Winning an Australian Design Award for The Smart Console, April 2005.

Winning an Award for Innovation in Media for The Smart Console at NAB, Las Vegas, April 2005.

Developing the Elite Series Smart Console from concept to production prototype in a 12 month period, 2003.

RESPONSIBILITIES AS CTO

Technology Evaluation and Management including: Evaluating technologies, components and systems for use in our current and future products. Considering and planning for product life cycles and finding suitable replacement components and sub systems.

Research and Development management including: Product specification and design including software, electronic, mechanical, ergonomic and UI design, Project planning, alpha and beta test coordination, as well as supervising documentation and technical support.

Software interface management and development including: Liaising with Digital Audio Workstation manufacturers, engine interface communication and protocol specification and development and debugging.

I’m also very hands on with software and responsible for all physical and virtual UI development.

Main programming languages: C, C++

RESPONSIBILITIES AS CO-FOUNDER / CEO / COO

Company Establishment including: Initial company set-up, locating and fit out of premises, budget and cash-flow preparation.

Sales and Marketing management including: Preparation of marketing materials , trade show planning and attendance, product demonstration, establishing international dealer network.

After the successful console launch I wanted to focus exclusively on product development so my founding partner and co-founder took over as CEO/COO and I became CTO.

Technical Business Consultant

Macquarie University’s Centre for Lasers and Applications (CLA) was established in 1988 as an Australian Commonwealth Special Research Centre. It is one of Australia’s leading research organizations. Research interests within the CLA range from fundamental laser and optical physics, through laser technology and engineering, and on to related applications.

RESPONSIBILITIES

I performed a business analysis for the development of a business plan for the medical commercialisation of a patented Yellow Laser system developed by the Centre for Lasers and Applications at the university.

The business analysis included: market analysis including market size and segmentation, competitor analysis along with a detailed product review and drafting of the product specification.

I also performed a systems engineering analysis with estimated costs and timetables to take the product from its current state to full production.

Co-Founder / Chief Technology Officer, 1999 – 2001

Co-Founder / Managing Director, 1991 – 1999

Digital Studio Processing (dSP) was a pioneering player in the global digital audio post-production market. Its primary product was the Postation, a combined hard disk based audio editor, video player and mixing control surface.

DSP Media was the post venture capital form of Digital Studio Processing. It was a global company with offices in Los Angeles, London and Sydney with over 40 employees.

ACHIEVEMENTS

I managed the growth of the company from 6 staff with an annual turnover of $500k (from primarily Australian sales), to a company with 25 staff and an annual turnover of over $4M from a global distribution network.

Successful capital raising to grow the company further.

Developing two new products in very fast turnaround times. The core team consisted of 6 software engineers, 4 electronic hardware engineers, 3 mechanical engineers, 2 documentation engineers and several external consultants and manufacturing and design companies.

The main product was our second generation audio production station, Postation II. It was developed in a record time of 9 months from first concept to delivery of the first production unit.

We also evolved our disk based video recorder to be a standalone product called V motion. The V motion was redesigned in a 6 month period using a newly developed hardware video board.

Winning an Australian Design Award for Postation II, April 2002.

RESPONSIBILITIES

As Managing Director I was responsible for developing the strategy for growing the company, particularly getting the company established as an exporter. I setup distribution channels in Japan, UK, Germany and the USA.

The company applied for three successful government R&D grant applications (totalling around $1.5M over four years). In addition to my managerial duties I also led the R&D team and was a lead programmer. I continued to attend trade shows and travelled extensively for both product demonstration, sales, installation and on site research and development catering for specific customer requirements.

During 1999 we decided that additional capital was required to grow the company and I was heavily involved in preparing the information memorandum and securing the deal to raise $2M capital for expansion.

Upon successful capital raising, I moved to full time CTO to allow me to focus solely on new product development.

Product germination, product and design specification, project timelines, budget and cash-flow preparation, liaison with external design and production consultants, R&D staff management, along with programming and debugging.

Main programming languages: C, C++

In addition to my technical duties, I had sales and marketing duties both in preparing technical marketing materials as well as product demonstration at both trade shows and clients facilities.

Finally, I also had boardroom responsibilities, both reporting to and chairing board meetings, and I was also heavily involved in the raising of a second round of finance (US$4M) for the company’s continued growth.

Spinifex Technologies was setup as a software consultancy / contract company.

Co-Founder / Managing Director / Lead Programmer, Dec 1990 – June 1995

In June of 1995, the founder of Digital Studio Processing Pty. Ltd. passed away and I was asked by the remaining shareholder to take over as Managing director. I accepted and this was the reason I withdrew from my PhD studies.

Development of the software for a world class audio product from initial concept through to commercial product while undertaking PhD studies in Laser Flow Cytometry.

As Managing Director and Lead Programmer, I was responsible for contract negotiation, design specification, allocation of tasks to the two other programmers, liaison with potential customers, application debugging, trade show attendance and product demonstration.

Main programming languages: C

JMC Academy of Audio Engineering was a Sydney based Audio Engineering school, and now a global media education business.

Digital Audio Course Developer / Lecturer, Nov 1991 – Dec 1993

I developed, wrote and taught JMC’s first digital audio engineering course and delivered the lectures and tutorials.

Time Delay Studios was an owner operated recording studio based in Sydney.

Owner/ Audio Engineer, Nov 1988 – Dec 1992

As well as successfully managing my first small business, during this period I also designed and developed a computer music midi sequencer for use in the studio which evolved into digital audio workstation software that was to become the basis for Digital Studio Processing’s Digital Audio Workstation.

Set up and management of a small recording studio, primarily for recording demonstration tapes for unsigned recording artists and groups.

Capital purchase decisions, studio design and wiring, studio acoustic design, audio engineering, music composition, advertising and bookkeeping.