Through uncharted waters and an economic storm: Sharktower celebrates first year.

This week, Edinburgh-based AI-driven project management software company Sharktower celebrates its first year operating as an independent business.

From building strong foundations within data consultancy Mudano (now part of Accenture), the leadership team could never have anticipated the challenges this first standalone year would bring.

Through the choppy waters of 2020, with co-founders Craig Mackay and Lynsey Taylor at the helm, Sharktower has weathered the storm.

As Chief Customer Officer Lynsey explains:

“We launched Sharktower as a standalone business just before the pandemic, almost exactly one month before the first lockdown. We’ve had a year of ups and downs, and although there have been difficult decisions to make and challenges to overcome, we are incredibly proud of what we and the team have managed to achieve.”

Previous to creating Sharktower, both Mackay and Taylor  worked in project leadership and delivery roles; and had become increasingly frustrated about the failures in traditional project management.

As CEO Craig states:

We were painfully aware of how outdated methods and tools were no longer fit to deliver the rapid change needed for businesses to survive. It was crucial then, and it’s even more vital now as the economy recovers. The acceleration of remote working has opened up global opportunities faster than we had expected, and we’ve had trials and demos with companies in the US, Europe and India in the last week alone.”

In just 12 months, and with a small team, the business has propelled itself to some impressive successes, such as:

• Carried out a complete rebrand of the business and its customer channels, launching direct to market as a B2B SaaS offering for the first time. 
• Achieved global reach with clients in the recruitment, energy and retail sectors, enabling the business to collaborate across territories. With project teams now using Sharktower to deliver projects every hour of the day across the world. 
• Built key partnerships with a number of professional services, education and charity organisations, helping them delivery a diverse range of change outcomes. 
• Pushed forward with product development to increase Sharktower’s project allocation and budget management capabilities and increase our data-driven portfolio insights. 
• Selected for The University of Edinburgh’s new 2021 Post-COVID Accelerator Programme for AI-driven companies with global high-growth potential
• Highlighted by Scottish Business Insider magazine as one of the top 15 Rising Stars for 2021

Sharktower carried out a complete rebrand  to help the business stand out in a challenging market

Despite their list of achievements, Sharktower’s co-founders insist this first years’ successes are all down to the people they’ve encountered along the way.

As Lynsey put it:

“Throughout this first year we have met some amazing people, work with some incredible organisations and taken part in some fantastic opportunities. We have a great network of project professionals across the world promoting Sharktower and collaborating on our work in leading the application of AI in project delivery. We want to thank everyone who has helped us along the way!

As for the birthday party, well, as ever, the business is planning to make the best of a less-the-ideal situation. Craig told us:

“It’s a shame we can’t celebrate with our team and customers in person, but we are celebrating in video conference style of course. And we plan to make up for it big time when lockdown is over!”

For more information about Sharktower, contact info@sharktower.com