2025 Founder Reflection From AI Workshops to Building ReplyFabric

A Year Worth Reflecting On

End of year reflections can feel artificial, but 2025 truly deserves one.

It was a special year.

I started the year by running AI discovery workshops through Aigentel, a division of Lemento, the company I founded 25 years ago. These workshops were eye opening every single time.

Some participants were incredibly fast and already deeply familiar with AI. Others were far behind, sometimes struggling with the most basic digital steps.

One small anecdote captures it perfectly.

During a ChatGPT demo, I explained how to disable data sharing with OpenAI by navigating to settings and data controls. One participant kept complaining that my explanation was unclear. He simply could not find the option.

By coincidence, it was the CEO.

One of his employees glanced at his screen and immediately saw the issue. He was not logged in.

That moment taught me a valuable lesson. I will never be a classic trainer. I instinctively skip the basics and assume too much.

Diversity as a Signal

In those same workshops, other participants asked advanced questions about retrieval augmented generation and token optimization.

Every session showed the same contrast. Beginners and early adopters in the same room.

What could have been frustrating became insightful. I learned what companies truly need, where confusion lives, and where opportunity starts.

ReplyFabric was born during those sessions. Not from theory, but from real conversations.

From Workflows to a Platform

In the second quarter, I started building solutions with Make.com and n8n. Since most clients were Microsoft based, I also experimented with the Power Platform.

I built an MVP in Power Automate.

It felt like my first hello world moment in the 90s.

It worked.

That success forced a choice. Either keep copy pasting and adapting workflows or build something scalable. The answer was obvious.

So I started programming.

I underestimated the journey. The early ideas were good, but far removed from what I am finishing today. In hindsight, that ignorance helped me start.

Building Beyond Code

2025 was not just about development.

I spent time on strategy, brand building, website design, writing, and storytelling. I visited startup events, met investors in London, traveled to VivaTech in Paris, and Slush in Helsinki.

Being accepted into startup programs from Google, Microsoft, AWS, and NVIDIA gave me confidence. Selection for the Hubs4Growth incubator and securing a first friends and family investor meant even more.

Entering the Final Stretch

As the year closes, we are in the last straight line.

There is still work ahead, but confidence is growing. The beta launch feels close.

2026 is the year of truth.

I have no idea what it will bring or who I will meet, but I strongly believe it will be a fantastic year.

I will let you know in 365 days.

Happy New Year.