NZ Business Podcast - Paul Spain
Jul 31, 2026 · 45 min · 13 segments
Paul Spain sits down with JD Trask, founder of Raygun and AutoHive. JD Trask shares insights from his early passion for computers, his entrepreneurial leap with Mindscape at just 23, and the evolution…
JD TraskGuest
Paul SpainHost
I was born just outside of Palmerston North, up behind Massey there, so kind of rural.
And that meant that I was a long way from town, so I couldn't even go to the local dairy.
So once we got a computer when I was about seven or eight years old, I fell in love with that.
That was kind of my connection to being able to do whatever I wanted with projects.
And the only real limitation was, you know, was my brain good enough to solve the problems to make the stuff I wanted? So I fell in love with computers then.
And so I got a comp sci degree, went and worked for Intogen for three years when I graduated, and then struck out on my own at 23 with a company called Mindscape.
Mindscape built dev tours, but we did a bunch of services work as well to pay the bills because I was, you know, it was not, didn't come into it with a lot of money.
I was born just outside of Palmerston North, up behind Massey there, so kind of rural.
And that meant that I was a long way from town, so I couldn't even go to the local dairy.
So once we got a computer when I was about seven or eight years old, I fell in love with that.
That was kind of my connection to being able to do whatever I wanted with projects.
And the only real limitation was, you know, was my brain good enough to solve the problems to make the stuff I wanted? So I fell in love with computers then.
And so I got a comp sci degree, went and worked for Intogen for three years when I graduated, and then struck out on my own at 23 with a company called Mindscape.
Mindscape built dev tours, but we did a bunch of services work as well to pay the bills because I was, you know, it was not, didn't come into it with a lot of money.
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