A year of momentum, milestones, and just making things happen.
This was a whirlwind year—we were on the go pretty much from day one. If there’s one thing that sums up 2024 for us, it’s this: grab every opportunity by the horns.
We kicked off the year building from a partnership we signed back in November 2023. Q1 was all about developing the MVP of our platform, EIIƎ. That meant a lot of back-and-forth with Intervention Rentals, our early adopters. They were absolutely brilliant—testing features, giving us honest feedback, and helping shape what we were building.
From First Steps to Next Steps
By late spring, I applied for Next Steps 24 by CodeBase—hoping to pick up a few things to help us grow. That turned out to be an excellent decision. I met some incredible founders and quickly realised two things:
- We were actually on the right track with how we were building.
- Founders who’ve been through this are a goldmine of advice.
Let’s be honest, startup life can get lonely. So if you’re in Scotland and thinking about launching your own company, reach out to CodeBase. You won’t regret it.
Listening, Testing, Adapting
During the programme, we started some proper customer research. We wanted to know: would anyone actually want a customisable CRM? So we headed to All-Energy in Glasgow. It’s a solid expo; big enough to meet people, small enough to have real conversations. We got great feedback, which led to one of our best features yet: a customisable dashboard for data and KPIs.
By June, we rolled out MVP1 and got Intervention Rentals to start using it with real data. That’s when we discovered what every dev team learns, fake data doesn’t find all the bugs. Real users using real data? That’s where it gets interesting.
Somewhere around that time, I met Bill, our now fully un-retired team member. He was literally in the garden next door, told me he used to work in IT… and well, now he’s knee-deep in AI development. One conversation turned into full immersion. Safe to say, we don’t believe in coincidences.
Helensburgh, San Francisco & Silicon Valley
In the middle of all that, Techscaler sent around a call for Scottish startups to head to San Francisco for a learning trip. Obviously I applied – and we got one of the spots! Just before that, we held our first annual team review in Helensburgh on the west coast. We’re definitely making that a yearly tradition.
San Francisco was brilliant.
I met incredible people, many of whom I still speak to, and it was especially inspiring to see so many female founders in the group. The one thing I wish? That Bill or Graeme could have come too. If you go to SF, take your tech lead!
I went to every launch and technical session I could. And if you’re wondering whether these kinds of trips are worth it – yes. Even if you don’t come back with customers or investors, you come back with lessons, perspective, and drive. Plus, yes – I squeezed in some sightseeing. Balance matters.
From SF to Dubai: Pivot, Push, Repeat
Not long after I got back, I was off again, this time to WETEX in Dubai. Meanwhile, the team was busy working on major updates like WhatsApp integration and our first AI agents.
Coming back from Silicon Valley really brought one thing home: pivoting is part of the process. So we decided ‘let’s not hide our AI work in the background. Let’s bring it forward and see where it can take us.’
Trade shows, by the way? A brilliant way to learn what people actually want.
A Soft Launch & A Strong Finish
By November, it was time for our soft launch. It was full-on, we worked relentlessly to make it happen, but seeing it come together was honestly emotional. We even created custom IPGN and HAMI lanterns for the event, just for a little fun.
To close the year, we got Innovation Voucher approval to kick off a new partnership with Robert Gordon University, focused on our long-term AI roadmap. (Can’t say much yet – but watch this space.)
Looking Ahead
That was our 2024. A year of building, testing, pivoting, and pushing forward. Some plans changed. Some stayed. A lot of lessons were learned.
Stick around – we’ve decided to share more of what startup life in Scotland actually looks like, through blog posts and little videos.
Thanks to everyone who’s supported us so far.
