Funding or just doing it?

It’s true, I’m not the best at finding the time to write my thoughts. But this morning, I was up early and felt compelled to get some of these ideas out of my head, especially around one pressing issue facing GreenCloud right now:

💸 Funding — Or Just Doing It?

I’ve seen a lot of startups.

I’ve worked in them, helped them succeed (LoveFilm?), and watched businesses repackage old ideas, slap on a shiny front end, land funding — then disappear within 12 months.

With GreenCloud, the plan was always different:
Create something. Prove it works. Show you can take it to market.

Just like open source empowered a generation of software developers, why can’t we do something similar with hardware?

These devices in our pockets, bags, and on our desks are incredibly powerful to the point that I can no longer fully grasp how fast they are.

And yet, we continue down a path where technology that could change everything ends up… doing nothing.

That’s the narrative I’ve always wanted to break. And along the way, I’ve learned some things that made me reassess everything.

👥 People

People don’t like change.
Back in 2017, many software developers scoffed at the idea of “the cloud”. Placing your company’s IP in some remote “bit barn”? Dangerous. Risky. Naive.

Yet here we are, in 2025. Cloud is ubiquitous — and dumb.

It’s just mainframe computing rebranded, running in aluminum warehouses powered by zero-hour contracts. And somehow, we’ve accepted that as “modern”.

So, how did we get here?

Let’s be clear: AWS led the way.

Amazon funded AWS for nearly 9 years before they even mentioned it in their financial reports.

They started with S3 and EC2, built up a portfolio, and promoted it through AWS Heroes, free tiers, and good old-fashioned word-of-mouth. Then came Microsoft. Then Google.
Even Apple gave up.

In short:

🟢 Big money, siphoned from communities, created a computing tool that revives a paradigm from the 1950s — when compute was scarce and interconnectivity non-existent.

And slowly but surely, people adopted it.
Budgets shifted. Developers realised you could do this.

That’s where GreenCloud, HiveNet, HeatA, and others now find ourselves.

We’re just not cool… yet.

💼 The Finance People

When I graduated in 1997, I joined my dream company: Superscape.

Founded by Ian Andrew, it was a visionary business trying to bring 3D graphics to everyone.

And yet, it lost money — constantly.

How did it survive?

It went to The City, pitched its vision to wealthy investors, and received funding. Not once, not twice — but four times.

To someone from the Midlands, this was shocking.
I believed business meant:

  • Customers
  • Revenue
  • Margin
  • Balance the books

Not spinning wild stories and hoping cheque books would open.

Yet that’s what tech startups do. And with each wave — Web 2.0, Web3, NFTs, crypto — come the VCs, chasing the next unicorn.

🧵 Our Funding Journey

We’ve spent 18 months trying to raise capital for GreenCloud.

And we’ve paused. For now.

  • We’ve chased leads.
  • Attended endless meetings and pitch events.
  • Pitched to analysts who didn’t last 6 months.
  • Fielded blank stares and forced smiles.
  • One VC told us to “dumb down” our deck so he could understand it.

We tried. Really tried.

Earlier this year, with the amazing support of Eleanor Akers, we thought we had a shot.
✅ Pitch reviewed
✅ Passed first meeting
✅ Moved to next stage

But nope.

“Too much of a conflict” with another portfolio company.

Then… nothing.

Just last week:

“Great to hear from you please send the pitch.”
We had. A month ago. Attached to the same email thread.

🏛️ Government Funding

We turned to government funding a space that’s helped us before.
FastStart funding allowed us to stand up GreenCloud technologically three years ago.

Now we’re applying again.

But this week, a curveball:

❌ “Your company is not in an eligible economic zone. You’re excluded from this round. No appeal.”

Except we were. We checked. Multiple times. We had emails and links.

Three days later, another email:

✅ “We’ve rechecked. You are in the zone. Your application will be reinstated.”

It’s exhausting. But there’s hope.

If we secure this round, it could benefit over 30 British companies and place GreenCloud at the heart of sustainable AI services.

Exciting, huh?

🧭 What Now?

Back to the grind.

GreenCloud has some loyal, supportive customers.
And we’ve reshaped the business:

  • New business model ✅
  • Recurring revenue ✅
  • Support contracts ✅
  • Implementation fees ✅

We’ve talked to forward-thinking CTOs who get it.
They want in. They see the vision.

We started with a fiscally weak model because we had to. Competing against tech giants giving their product away? Tough.

We were hoping for more community support.
It hasn’t materialised. Yet.

But with new independent sustainability research on our side (more on that soon, I promise ), we’re ready to show that GreenCloud is not just good for the planet — it’s good for your bottom line.

So…

👇 Why Aren’t You In?

Written from a quiet kitchen, early in the morning, powered by coffee and conviction.

Written on June 28, 2025