Beyond the Gate #1 – What We've Done in the Past Six Months

Last time I did this was 20 years ago. Now, here we go again.

I truly didn't remember what a massive task it is to start a new company. Even this post was supposed to be written last fall, but somehow half a year just flew by — it took that long to get the team together and the business truly up and running.

Over 20 years ago, I was one of the founders of Systems Garden Oy as a spin-off. It grew into a prominent 20-person software house and digitalization consultant in its field, and continues its journey in the capable hands of Jussi Rautjärvi. I'm especially happy that our solution was also a good thing for Systems Garden — helping clarify its focus.

Last summer, we spun off Gate Apps Oy from Systems Garden when the work permit system we offered as a SaaS solution — Gate — began to grow too big to be just a side project. We decided to become the leading player in our field (which we might already be in Finland!) and to grow into the best digitizer of work permit practices in the world.

Quite the six months — they flew by like nothing.

Even if you've done this before, as a startup entrepreneur, everything new feels like a small adventure:

• Contract structures, legal stuff, and financing details related to business transfers and spin-offs.
• Admin, accounting, contract management, and everyday routines — everything needs to run daily.
• Setting up our own IT systems from scratch, including ERP systems, without disrupting operations.
• Migrating the SaaS infrastructure, including server transitions, cybersecurity, and GDPR compliance.
• Invisible infra like email, websites, phones, office space, internet, tools.
• Delivery and production processes with a new team, brand, and systems. In six months, we've served clients in Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, and Norway.
• Customer service processes. We quickly learned it's not about how tickets are listed, it's about actually resolving them.
• Marketing and refining our message.
• At the turn of the year, we established a Customer Success practice and recruited for it.
• The product itself needed some love.
• And all kinds of other things: new office, relocation, onboarding a new board, creating a growth strategy.

We also raised our first funding round to get things up and running.

Along this journey, I've learned to deeply appreciate well-established processes, functioning governance models, existing systems, and especially the quiet knowledge embedded in organizational habits — and in the people who ultimately make up the company.

So remember to thank your admin, your bookkeeper, your IT support — anyone in your organization who makes your workday possible.

Gate Apps is alive and well! And finally, we have solid routines and a startup team in place. Now we're shifting into growth mode.

– Pirkka / CEO