Bootstrapped a Significant Software Company to Exit

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When we spoke in 2015, Emagine CEO Dave Peters had managed to bootstrap a significant software company from Australia.?The focus was on TELCO churn management, and the customer base was primarily Australian,?Asian, and African. Read this interview to learn more of the nuances. In September 2017 Emagine was acquired by Comviva.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your story. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?

Dave Peters:?I’m Australian. I grew up in a little town of 8,000 people, about five hours west of Sydney. It was a farming community and my father was an Anglican minister. That’s a pretty unlikely starting point for an entrepreneur.

Sramana Mitra: Where did you do your schooling?

Dave Peters:?High school was in that town, but I went to University of New South Wales for college. I left home and moved to Sydney. I did a Bachelor of Commerce degree with a major in Marketing. My background actually is in business, commerce, and marketing rather than technology, but I was always interested, from about the age of 14, in software. At that time, that was when everything was just starting in the computing world.

Sramana Mitra: After university, what was the immediate next thing that you did?

Dave Peters:?The first thing I did was play in a band for a year. I was the lead guitarist in a band which was playing around Sydney. I put my degree in my pocket and followed that passion for a year.

Sramana Mitra: What kind of music were you playing?

Dave Peters:?Pub rock – AC/DC, Pink Floyd. I was the manager and we were going around Australia getting gigs. I did that for a year until I realized that it was a long way to the top. I decided to leave that as a hobby. Then I got a role in a telecom company. I worked in two of the largest telecommunications companies — Telstra and Optus. Optus was a startup in the telecom industy. I was responsible as the product manager for launching GSM, which is digital mobile in Australia. I was there for a few years and then I got a role in Paris with a telecom startup there. I was Director of Customer Marketing there for three years. That took me to about the age of 29. At that point, I wanted to have my own business. It was in that role that I saw the opportunity that I eventually wanted to go into.

Our conversation continues here.

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