Hey there,
Some weeks feel like maintenance. Others feel like building. And then there are weeks like this one, where you suddenly realise the ecosystem around you has expanded in ways you couldn't have orchestrated. The first week of 2026 was that kind of week. A series of conversations that, taken together, have quietly set up the entire year ahead.
Seeds Return
Back in November, during my last Tallinn trip, several seeds were planted.
One evening I found myself at a cyber meetup where I met Tiia, who works at Tal Tech (Technological University of Tallinn). We talked about subsidy opportunities for the things we are both working on and agreed to explore a proposal together. The next day, while taking out the dog after returning home, I ended up in a fun conversation with Susanne. Who works as a fractional CFO, and as I shared what we're building with Askara, she mentioned a client of hers. A software development company called 23G that might be a fit for what we're building. At the time it felt like another synchronicity in a string of magical days. The day before we finished an accelerator workshop on Ideal Customer Profiles, and here was Susanne describing a company that matched ours almost perfectly.
But what made the moment stick wasn't the offer itself. It was her dog's name. The same name as my late mother. One of those small signs that stops you mid-sentence. A reminder that sometimes help arrives from unexpected places.
But there's always a wait-and-see quality to how these things materialise.
This week, those seeds returned.
Starting with a meeting with Susanne about actually helping us out on the financial front aswell. Which feels like another trusted person entering the Askara orbit, bringing expertise we genuinely need. The next day I had a follow-up with Tiia, mapping out the next steps for the funding calls we want to participate in. With no other meetings scheduled afterwards, I fell into a great flowstates. She asked for a one-pager, and suddenly hours disappeared. Ending up with the basis of a pitch-deck we need for a subsidy match-making event at the end of this month.
And 23G? The meeting was everything you hope for in a first conversation. With a surprising twist. Cause they were just as interested in our approach to programming with AI, as our actually ISO270001 core product. As a software development company, they're essentially doing similar work to us. But they're larger, with more legacy, which means they can't pivot as quickly toward AI-native ways of working. Our small team, starting fresh with these tools, suddenly becomes valuable to an organisation like this. The owner grasped our process immediately and within minutes was pointing out efficiency opportunities we hadn't even spotted ourselves. That kind of mutual exchange in a first meeting is rare. There was a familiar feel of clicking. This will definitely go somewhere.
Roots Deepen
While new connections were sprouting, existing relationships showed their strength.
Ritwik called to share something that filled me with quiet pride. Over the holidays, without any prompting, he had taken one of the functionalities we'd prototyped together and rebuilt it properly in code. We'd made it first by using n8n and Airtable, as we do with most early experiments. He converted it into Python, FastAPI and Pydantic AI. Not just a translation but a genuine evolution. Fully aligned with our tech stack. Deeply understood in its underlying principles.
During the call, he mentioned how much he'd loved working on all of this over the past year. Hearing that out loud, not assumed but spoken, landed differently. This is what trust looks like when it compounds. You invest in people, give them space, and eventually they start building things you didn't know you needed.
The week closed with a car ride to the office alongside Jeroen. A catch-up to orient each other to the year ahead. He remains a trusted ambassador, willing to help financially where needed. Another root holding firm.
Ground Fertile
Looking back at these five days, what strikes me is not any single conversation but how they weave together. Susanne bringing financial expertise. Tiia opening doors to funding. 23G emerging as a client who gets what we're building. Ritwik demonstrating what trust produces. Jeroen confirming his continued support.
None of this was orchestrated. You can't manufacture an ecosystem. But you can prepare the conditions for one to emerge. The hard work before the holidays. The relationships built over the past year. The willingness to notice synchronicities and follow up on them.
I believe money is a following energy. Position the trust and the ecosystem well, and the financial feasibility follows. This week felt like proof of that principle. Not through one dramatic breakthrough, but through the steady accumulation of people who believe in what you're building and want to help it grow.
The ground is fertile. The year is just beginning.
With care, Ben