In March 2024, six months in, we had two clients, no revenue, and a team of seven people who hadn't been paid in three months. I had a call scheduled with our investors for the following Monday that I was dreading. On the Friday before that call, our first institutional deployment went live. By Wednesday, we had our third client. I didn't cancel the Monday call. It became a very different conversation.
The First Year Lessons
Market Fit is Binary: You either have it or you don't. In our case, the fit was "Emergency". Clients didn't just want sovereign AI; they needed it for their survival.
Hiring for Character: Every person we hired in the first six months stayed through the non-payment period. You can't buy that kind of loyalty; you have to hire for it.
The Mission is the Product: We weren't just building software; we were building a future where intelligence is a sovereign right. That mission kept us going when the bank account was empty.Here's to year two.
