It marks a year since the launch of our central London office. The last 365 days have been filled with big and small moments that played a part in getting us to where we are today and will no doubt positively impact what comes next. We started new projects, travelled globally, collaborated with our international colleagues, and made strides in building new relationships and nurturing existing ones. It’s safe to say that we are here to stay.
Opening a new office is a time for patience, planning and pivoting. We devoted resources to studying the UK market and figuring out how to best position ourselves here, compared to how we do things in Montreal and Nantes. Meeting both Osedea teams on-site was invaluable to this work.
Our learnings with our initial sales and prospecting were crucial to the growth of the new office, and it must be remarked that understanding the local market will help you in the beginning and connect with everyone you can. Moving into phase two of our strategy requires solid and effective lines of communication. We realised that trying to sell without fully understanding where our services/product fit would have been more complex and creating our Ideal Client Profile helped us identify the clients who were the right fit. We learned how to create a constructive and inclusive environment for this last year working internationally whilst being able to support our UK-based partners on the ground.
Reflecting on and celebrating key moments from our first year:
- Received two strategic partner project referrals
- Established a UK network for Quebec-headquartered businesses through our relationship with the Quebec government
- Participated in London Tech Week to promote our UK entity
- Collaborated with Plantec and Villa Hotels in the Maldives, doing a discovery week on-site
- Visited with the team in Nantes
- Defined our UK Market strategy through critical activities in the first half of the year, as we felt the market begin to sustain itself
- Organised our first event in November, a tech fireside chat in collaboration with the London Tech network - a huge thank you to our fantastic speakers and our guests who turned out en masse to learn about Osedea
- Closed our first development project on-site in Montreal in December
- Closed two more projects in Q1 of this year, thanks to our marketing efforts and strategic partnerships network.
As for personal achievements, being responsible for scaling the office has helped me build and maintain my self-confidence and improve my patience and resilience. Thanks to my colleagues, I’ve also learned new skills, such as using online tools and designing with Figma. The culture of supporting and enhancing each other at Osedea has helped me overcome personal obstacles and feel supported when facing challenges.
I want to thank Martin Coulombe and Ivana Markovic for the opportunity to take on this challenge with you. Gregory Paul, Thierry Marcoux, Phil Trépanier and Bea Sanchez-Gody for helping me embed into the company culture. For the strategies and brainstorming, Charles Ste-Marie, Laurent Naitza, Sébastien Moreau, and Arthur Lopez. Louise Schaffner, Shereen Zangana and Robbie Scott for the new Figma skills and support in the sales processes. Alizée Gottardo, for our weekly French lessons. There are many others at Osedea that I just couldn’t fit in, but I appreciate you all.
Beyond the team at Osedea, Kirsten Hurley, Melanie Murphy, Kelston Smith and James Suchy, thank you for the support this year in kicking off our projects, talking about our markets and growing together. Jo Lee, Oz Arie and Andy Milton, you have also played a part in helping me understand the industry changes in your respective fields.
Here's to another year of growth and success! And remember, we’re always available for a coffee!
