Celebrating five years of Seeai

Celebrating Five Years of Seeai: Insights from Our Founders

Back in 2021, our founders Saile Villegas and Reo Ogusu set out to create a company developing impactful technology that helps people.

Our first project involved developing an artificial intelligence (AI) solution for the NHS that could detect fractures and increase levels of patient care. Five years later, our mission has evolved to help organizations beyond the healthcare sector. We’re still driven by that same quest to enhance, include, and improve through technology. However, we now do this by acting as the technical team for startups that may not otherwise have access to this area of expertise.

In this article, we celebrate five years of Seeai by catching up with Saile and Reo about their experience as founders. We’ll explore the lessons they’ve learned and the milestones they’ve marked during the first five years of their business, and we’ll share some advice for those embarking on a similar journey.

Congratulations on Reaching Your Fifth Anniversary!

Reo, it sounds like there’s been a lot of change over the past five years.

Reo: Thank you! We’ve done our best to remain agile and respond to market needs and trends. We’re not afraid of change; in fact, we embrace it. But there’s a lot that has stayed the same too, including our ethos.

No matter how busy we are, we always take time to do things we enjoy. There are stressful times, but we have the opportunity and privilege to shape this company the way we want to, so we make sure we are happy by taking on projects we’re passionate about.

If You Had to Summarize Each Year of Setting Up a Startup with One Word, Which Would You Use and Why?

It’s certainly been a busy few years. In fact, it’s difficult to define each year with just one word, but I think there are some key stages we’ve worked through. Of course, not every founder will face the same path, as every business and individual is unique, but I’m sure there are experiences here we’ll all relate to.

• Foundations

In our first year, we focused on establishing our business and what it could be. This involved setting everything up, getting our first grants, and delivering our first project.

• Building

By the second year, we had a bit more clarity, and we’d started developing our product. It felt like we had good traction. We received more grants and got into accelerator programs. Whilst COVID made this year very difficult for many businesses like us, we were pleased to make good progress.

• Diversification

Our next step was to expand our offering as well as the industries we work with. We helped startup founders build all kinds of applications in many different industries.

• Pivot

Our fourth year saw us make our first pivot as a business. Given what we’d learned to date, we decided to switch to offering software development and consultancy services.

• Refinement

In our fifth year, we began to narrow down our audiences. We evaluated what we do and where we can provide value. From here, our focus became helping founders launch their products and becoming a technical team for startups without a CTO.

How Has This Experience Changed the Way You Work to Support Other Startups?

As startup founders, we can relate to many of our customers' experiences and understand their requirements as we’ve walked in their shoes. At Seeai, we started our journey in the particularly complex regulatory world of healthcare with emerging technology. This meant we had a steep learning curve and a lot of challenges to navigate, but our experience was all the richer for this.

We’ve also explored a lot of the opportunities available for founders too, from grant funding to public speaking. And, wherever relevant and possible, we apply all of this knowledge to helping our clients.

Saile, Can You Share Five of Your Greatest Moments on the Journey So Far?

This is a difficult one to narrow down, but for me, there are five memorable milestones that stand out.

1. Getting to Work with the NHS

When we started the company, we submitted a grant proposal to work with NHS Grampian in addressing the problem of fracture misdiagnosis. This was our first big project with the potential to improve healthcare for thousands of people. For this and many other reasons, it will always be an amazing achievement for the business.

2. Reaching Our First Six Figures in Revenue

Hitting six figures in revenue for the first time was a big financial milestone for us. Not just in terms of what they meant for the business, but for the confidence it gave us in our offering. Having come from a background of technical expertise, this achievement helped us to feel secure in the fact that we were doing something right on the business front too.

3. Being Invited to Speak About Our Company at the House of Lords

For two international people to come to the UK, study, found a company, and then be invited to the House of Lords to talk about our journey is a remarkable achievement. It feels like a great recognition of our work and it showcases the diversity within the UK’s entrepreneurial ecosystem too.

4. Our Clients Reaping the Rewards from the AI Solutions We Build

The only thing better than celebrating your own success is celebrating the success of your clients. At Seeai, we pride ourselves on creating solutions that deliver real results for our clients, whether that’s business growth, time saved, or people reached. With every piece of positive feedback we receive, our business blooms too.

5. Going Global!

Offering services to companies based outside of the UK felt like a huge milestone in the Seeai journey. With our first international client, we went from having a small company based in Leeds to offering services to organizations in the United States. Of course, exploring the US market was something we always wanted to do, and we were able to do it much quicker than we’d expected.

Given This Journey, What Five Pieces of Advice Can You Share for Those About to Launch a Startup?

We’ve had a lot of great moments in the business over the years, but it has not been easy or without struggles along the way. From this experience, we have a wealth of advice to share.

1. Don’t Strive for Perfection

No one gets it right the first time, so never delay a launch in the quest for perfection. In our experience, the best businesses move quickly and then remain flexible, adjusting their product or services in line with valuable customer feedback and market trends.

2. Be Prepared to Pivot

In most cases, the company you start will look completely different even two years down the road. Be prepared for changes and adapting. The startup journey is unpredictable, and the ability to pivot in response to market changes or new opportunities can make or break your success.

3.Seek Out Support

Whether it’s from fellow founders, mentors, or incubators, it pays to seek out support and network as early as possible. There are always people willing to help, listen, or share their experiences, and it will make the world of difference to your journey. We’re incredibly lucky to have Leeds’ Tech Ecosystem on our doorstep, but we also get help and advice from further afield.

4. Embrace Boldness and Experimentation

Don’t be afraid of sharing your ideas and experimenting with new approaches for your startup. Take advantage of the fact that this is your company to run, allowing you to make the decisions and move quickly. If you can keep your confidence and push boundaries, there’s so much you can achieve.

5.If You Can, Find Yourself a Co-founder

In our experience, it’s better to share the highs and the lows with somebody than to go it alone. Nobody will understand the exact things you have been through like a co-founder can. But, when picking a partner, make sure it’s a person that you can be brutally honest with and aim to create a balance through complementary skills.

So, What’s Next?

The most exciting thing about working in a startup is that you don’t really know! We certainly have ambitions to scale the business and expand our team. We also know that we’re passionate about technology and can’t wait to see where innovation in AI will lead. The rest is just an adventure we’re yet to have!

If you’re a startup undertaking your own journey, or a business looking to embrace the future of technology, do give the Seeai team a shout.