Happy 1st Birthday to Origami Labs!
This month marks the 1st year of operations of Origami Labs and what a year it’s been! We’d like to share some reflections on our journey so far and look to the future as we blast into Year 2.
The appropriate place to start is with a huge thank you to our customers, partners, suppliers, and all those who have supported us with their time and wisdom so far. Starting a new venture is as terrifying as it is exciting, but the fantastic community of people and organisations of all different shapes and sizes has made it a very soft landing. We hope to return the many favours and pay it forward over the coming years.
Engineers to Imagineers
The first year has been a whirlwind, working on a diverse array of projects related to aircraft carriers, submarines, future combat aircraft, ISR, and concepts straight out of a sci-fi novel. In line with our ethos of taking low-TRL technology into the field early, we worked with a fantastic SME partner to deploy emerging technology on exercise with the Royal Marines. Cornwall in March can be bleak, but the value of working with the user community and the camaraderie of trials helped stave off the wind and rain!
We’ve had the pleasure of presenting at the Thales Complex Autonomous Systems Symposium, Dstl’s AI Fest and the UKNest Achieving Artificial Intelligence at Scale Conference. The eagle eyed will also spot some of our work and hear our name being dropped around this week’s DSEI event.
All of this contributed to a year far beyond expectations with strong growth (expertly enabled by our software guru Matt Dunn!) and a healthy order book to catapult us into year 2. Over the coming weeks there’ll be announcements revealing our 4th team member and publicising our research contributions to a high-profile programme. To say we’re excited is an understatement as we continue to punch above our weight!
Making the Leap
Starting a business feels like stepping off a cliff and building the parachute on the way down. We were fortunate enough to have the grounding from our past careers to feel confident(-ish!) in making the leap. We set out to:
Rapidly deliver valuable and exploitable R&D by getting out of the lab and considering issues beyond the technology at an early stage.
Be collaborative and operate with integrity to deliver the best outcomes for our customers and stakeholders.
Provide work-life balance for our whole team, respecting that everyone has a different perspective on what that means.
By growing organically and not answering to investors we’re able to meet all of those objectives. Sure, we could grow faster and be more financially driven, but we believe in contributing to an ecosystem where everyone can succeed and have a positive impact on society. The SME community is thriving on the whole and larger players are recognising our value. There’s still work to do with government procurement models to capitalise on the incredible capabilities of the UK SME community but that’s another blog post…
As a business owner, work-life balance is often the first thing that goes out of the window. It takes effort to force the balance, but to us having the time to spend with our families is more important than making a little more money.
If you’d like to find out more about Origami Labs, discuss collaboration opportunities, or are perhaps considering starting your own business and want a friendly ear, please get in touch at hello@origamilabs.co.uk