Why ? Just over 150 days ago, I committed the first line of code to a project that has since consumed almost every waking hour. What began as an idea quickly grew into an application, and now, a full-featured platform designed to support and empower small businesses - entering its Beta phase with select users this month. The journey since November has been a contrast of excitement, fear, persistence, and deep fulfilment. As we moved from proof-of-concept to pre-production, I found myself reflecting on why I took on such an ambitious build.
And it struck me - the answer hasn't changed since I started my first role as a mainframe application programmer in 1989: The desire to make things better. For me, the satisfaction doesn't come from writing code or designing architecture or even deploying features. It comes from the quiet knowledge that this work might just make someone else's working day a little easier, more efficient, or more empowered. That feeling - knowing I've built something useful - is everything. I'll leave the launch details to the more polished voices in our team, but I will say this: the last 5 months have been the most rewarding of my 35-year career.
In many ways, everything before this feels like it was preparing me for this moment. Whatever the next 5 months bring, I know this - I built this platform with one goal: to help others thrive. And that, for me, is more than enough.