Unicorn: Difference between revisions

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After a little over a year, [[User:Mikepeat|Mike]] realised that he needed more people to service the increasing workload, but that he wasn't really competent to be anybody's employer, so he involved [mailto:carollaskin@hotmail.com Carol Laskin] as well. Carol initially worked as a software developer, but was also a 50% shareholder in the company and was its Managing Director.
After a little over a year, [[User:Mikepeat|Mike]] realised that he needed more people to service the increasing workload, but that he wasn't really competent to be anybody's employer, so he involved [mailto:carollaskin@hotmail.com Carol Laskin] as well. Carol initially worked as a software developer, but was also a 50% shareholder in the company and was its Managing Director.


Now on a sounder footing, the company was renamed '''Unicorn Business Solutions''': both Carol and Mike had previously worked for a ([[DataFlex]] using) company called Phoenix Microsystems (later Phoenix Business Solutions) and had thus had come to believe that all software companies should be named after mythical creatures... at least that was the conclusion of one jolly good night in a restaurant in central London.  Carol had recently bought a cottage in [http://pininthemap.com/1d798559ec1f372e7 Bloxham], near Bambury, called "''Unicorn Cottage''" in "''Unicorn Street''", so the logic of the situation - at leat by the second bottle of wine - was clearly inescapable!
Now on a sounder footing, the company was renamed '''Unicorn Business Solutions''': both Carol and Mike had previously worked for a ([[DataFlex]] using) company called Phoenix Microsystems (later Phoenix Business Solutions) and had thus had come to believe that all software companies should be named after mythical creatures... at least that was the conclusion of one jolly good night in a restaurant in central London.  Carol had recently bought a cottage in [http://pininthemap.com/1d798559ec1f372e7 Bloxham], near Bambury, called "''Unicorn Cottage''" in "''Unicorn Street''", so the logic of the situation - at least by the second bottle of wine - was clearly inescapable!


Unicorn prospered and grew from 1990 to 1998, becoming first a [[DataFlex]] reseller, then, after the collapse of DIIMS (the UK distributor at the time), the provider of technical support to the UK market, then, following the closure of Data Access UK, one of four - later two - UK Data Access distributors, by which time it had a turnover of around £1M and a workforce of around 20 - the majority of whom were software developers.
Unicorn prospered and grew from 1990 to 1998, becoming first a [[DataFlex]] reseller, then, after the collapse of DIIMS (the UK distributor at the time), the provider of technical support to the UK DataFlex market, then, following the closure of Data Access UK, one of four - later two - UK Data Access distributors, by which time it had a turnover of around £1M and a workforce of around 20 - the majority of whom were software developers.


Then the company split, with Carol retaining the original company, while Mike established '''Unicorn Financial Solutions''' to service UBS's biggest and oldest customer - a City of London Stockbroker with an investment administration business based in Farnham, UK.
Then, in 1998, the company split, with Carol retaining the original company, while Mike established '''Unicorn Financial Solutions''' to service UBS's biggest and oldest customer - a City of London Stockbroker with an investment administration business based in Farnham, UK, for whom Mike had designed and written a comprehensive system (in [[DataFlex]], first on CDOS, then Unix) which was the core of their business.


For her part, Carol, tired of herding cats (this problem had been a major factor in Mike's reasons for splitting/leaving as well), down-sized the development arm of the business, switching from employed developers to an independant-consultant business model for servicing those needs.
For her part, Carol, tired of herding cats (this problem had been a major factor in Mike's reasons for splitting/leaving as well), down-sized the development arm of the business, switching from employed developers to an independant-consultant business model for servicing those needs.
(to be continued...)


==Contact==
==Contact==