Optimus

Richard Olberg began writing code for what would become Optimus in 2009, fresh off selling his previous company to a US public company. Bored and looking for a project to keep himself engaged, he started building software to serve employability contracting organizations—companies helping unemployed people find work. The business thrived during recessions but collapsed when unemployment fell, revealing a fatal flaw: complete dependence on macroeconomic cycles. By the mid-2010s, Richard faced a choice: wind down a profitable but unsustainable business, or find a new market.

The original platform was written in 2009, but the real pivot came in 2016 when Richard identified the UK apprenticeship and vocational training sector as a massive, stable opportunity. The UK government mandates that companies with payrolls over £3 million contribute 0.5% to a training levy—creating a £3 billion annual market with strong regulatory compliance requirements. Richard recognized this was exactly what his platform could solve: operational efficiency, compliance tracking, and data-driven decision-making for training providers managing thousands of learners.

To prove the concept and learn the market intimately, Richard made a bold move: he founded Corndel, a training company that became Optimus's first customer. This wasn't just theoretical validation—he grew Corndel into the fastest-growing training company in the UK, hitting £20+ million in revenue in three years before selling it to private equity in November 2020 for £45 million (approximately $60M USD). By that time, Optimus had already expanded from one customer to dozens.

Corndel served as both proof-of-concept and early growth engine. Four to five months after launching Corndel, Richard began winning other customers. The pitch became: "I've already run a training company using this platform—it works." By 2018, Optimus had grown to seven figures in ARR, prompting a $1.5-$2 million seed round at roughly a $10 million post-money valuation, where Richard sold slightly less than 20% equity.

The company maintained a disciplined target customer profile: medium-to-large training providers with substantial learner volumes. Pricing was simple but elegant: per learner per month, ranging from £3 at volume to £8 at lower volumes. A typical customer paid $40,000-$50,000 annually; large customers hit $300,000+. This model naturally aligned revenue growth with customer success—if Hope Salons trained more learners, Optimus revenue grew.

Optimus achieved consistent, impressive metrics: 170 customers by 2024, ~2.3% gross dollar churn, and four years of 50%+ YoY growth. The $8 million ARR figure represented 20% growth from $6.5 million the previous year. However, the company lacked expansion revenue—there were no additional products to upsell. Revenue growth came almost entirely from new customer acquisition and organic learner growth among existing clients.

The challenging dynamics: the UK apprenticeship market has actually declined slightly year-over-year due to funding pressures, so Optimus had to win market share rather than ride a rising tide. Volume discounts for larger customers created margin pressure. And as the company grew larger, percentage growth inevitably decelerated—adding three to four new customers per month meant less when the base was already $8M ARR.

By 2024, Optimus had raised approximately $8-9 million across multiple funding rounds, including a $2-3 million growth round in August 2022 at a $40 million pre-money valuation. The team had grown to 120 people: 60-70 in product and engineering, five sales reps. Richard projected reaching $9-10 million ARR by the end of 2024.

The real inflection point: Optimus began heavily investing in large language model solutions. Richard believed LLMs represented a potential business doubler for the platform—prompt engineering powered by the rich learner and training data in their database could unlock entirely new capabilities for curriculum generation, personalized learning, and tutor support. This adjacency offered the expansion revenue the company had been missing for four years, potentially transforming the unit economics and growth trajectory.