I’ve spent more than 24 years in construction, running subcontracting businesses across multiple trades. That experience is where Onetrace comes from, and it is why we built the business around solving a problem I had experienced first-hand.
Onetrace is a subcontractor operations and compliance platform designed to capture ‘as-built’ data and streamline the reporting and verification of crucial information relating to the planning, safety, management and sign-off of construction sites. My co-founder Lewis Bird and I launched the business in 2019, and it has grown quickly since.
When we started Onetrace, we did not set out with a specific view on investment. Coming from construction, building a business by generating revenue, creating value for customers and reinvesting in growth felt like the natural approach.
This led to us bootstrapping the business, not because we were against external investment, but because it allowed us to focus first on proving the product, understanding our customers and building something that solved a genuine industry challenge.
We built around a problem we knew existed
The founding of Onetrace felt very organic, as I previously owned a fire protection company, where passive fire work requires detailed evidence and documentation. On one 12-month project, as we approached completion, we discovered that key drawings had been lost. It created a significant challenge, with potential compliance and financial implications.
I called Lewis, a software developer by trade, showed him the manual process we were relying on and asked whether he could help digitise it.
While he was building the system, the Grenfell Tower tragedy brought a renewed focus across the construction industry on accountability, evidence and record-keeping. It reinforced the importance of the challenge we were already trying to solve.
When our digitised reporting later stood up to investigation following a live fire on one project, I knew we had developed something that could deliver real value beyond our own business.
We launched Onetrace in 2019. Because we had built it inside my own company first and tested it on live projects, by the time we brought it to market we already had proof that it worked.
Coming from the sector mattered in another way too. Construction is highly risk-aware and built on trust. When you are asking subcontractors to put their site records and compliance information into a platform, having genuinely worked in their world helps build confidence.
Building sustainably gave us options
Funding the business ourselves shaped the way we operated from day one. It created a strong focus on sustainability, efficiency and making every investment count.
Without external pressure to scale before we were ready, we could focus on making decisions based on what was right for our customers and the long-term future of the business. That discipline has helped shape Onetrace into the company it is today.
There was a trade-off. Building this way required commitment, hard work and plenty of time outside normal working hours. But being self-sustaining gave us the freedom to focus on building a product and business we believed in.
Today, I understand the investment landscape better than I did in 2019. There are fantastic investors helping businesses scale, and for many founders that is absolutely the right route.
For us, the priority was proving the value of the solution first. While we potentially could have sped up some parts of the process through early investment, I know that every decision, every lesson, and every step along the way helped shape the business into what it is today.
Now, Onetrace is in a great place, with a fantastic customer base, having previously been recognised as one of the fastest growing companies in the UK. We’re also operating from our Canary Wharf office with a 48-strong team of highly talented people, with further growth on the horizon.
If we do bring in investment in the future, it will be because we have found the right partner to help us achieve the next stage of growth.
What I would say to other founders
I would not suggest our approach is a blueprint for everyone. Every business has different needs, ambitions and circumstances. However, if you can fund the early stages yourself, it can give you valuable time to understand your customers, prove your proposition and make future investment decisions from a position of strength.
Ultimately, the most important thing is not how you fund a business. It is whether you are solving a real problem for your customers and building something that creates genuine value. For us, putting the customer and the challenge first has made all the difference.