Some tech start-ups are born in garages and others in college dormitories.
But Seefleet started on a ski lift.
On his way up the mountain a little more than a decade ago, Eirik Lied met a sale-and-purchase broker and started probing him about problems on the job, hoping it could inspire a new programming project.
“He’s like, ‘Yeah, it’s really painful. We have this really old school system,’” said Lied, recounting the conversation.
Lied recalled the broker telling him he had to make spreadsheets to keep track of ships, their particulars and status as sales candidates.
“I learned over time that whenever somebody starts making their own spreadsheets, that’s usually an opportunity,” he said.
The relationship between Lied and the broker, co-founder Gustav Andre Steimler, would form the basis for Seefleet.
Lied started working on the project in his spare time, only incorporating the company in 2013 when he had to start sending out invoices to users — eventually making enough money that the company has been able to expand on income alone.
“It kind of grew piece by piece; this was our hobby for some time. Then we started looking; let’s make a real company out of this,” he said.
“We got a couple of clients here in Oslo, and we could see that it was actually sustainable.”
Seefleet operates as a private shipping database for users, pulling in and organising outside data and allowing users to search through the global fleet, keep notes on ships, maintain contact lists and share information across their teams.
The cloud-based system allows users to access their database on desktop or mobile. It can also generate reports and statistics.
If users connect their email accounts, Seefleet can pull lists of relevant ships based on characteristics described in messages.
Lied said the system and functionality were built up over time with plenty of feedback from early users.
Seefleet said the company continues to solicit feedback, even as the outfit has grown considerably since Lied began work on the project following his chance meeting on the mountain.
“I spend at least a couple hours each week just doing interviews with clients, thinking about ... how can I make a product better,” said Olav Meburg, a developer and one of the company’s early employees.
“It’s crucial to spend that time with the clients trying to figure out those paths we want to take into the future.”
The company’s user base has diversified beyond just brokers, with shipowners and shipyards signing on and Seefleet claiming word of mouth as the primary way the company has grown its user base.
Lied said those referrals are important, and given that the company’s collaborative approach is critical, it has not taken any outside investments.
Those companies can set grandiose goals, like remaking how shipbroking is done.
“That’s, that’s a big bet. I would say,” he said. “That’s definitely not our approach. I think we’re more about helping people become really good at their jobs.”
That arrangement comes with its benefits, Lied said, but he stressed he would certainly hear out investors if they were interested.
“We definitely want to grow,” he said.
“So far, we’ve chosen to work within these healthy boundaries of our current revenue and income that we are making from the set of customers we have today. We have to prove to ourselves; we can’t hire more people until we increase revenue. That’s hard. That’s really hard. But it’s super rewarding.”
