|
Catalysts was born as a breakaway from another company, a general IBM Reseller, by a group of people who yearned to do their own thing in more specialist fields. After a press launch at the Groucho Club it moved from its parent's location in Hastings to offices in Hove where it soon split in two. One group formed a business around image capture and display on PCs but Catalysts focused on Text Retrieval, which was just beginning to be possible on the humble PC.
The founders, Phil Bacon and Nigel Phelps, got interested in a US software company called Folio Corporation whose product was built into Novell Netware as the means of accessing and searching the Netware documentation online. Phil was the techie - a first rate programmer and sales engineer with a matchless ability to explain complex computer issues and how they translated into business benefits in language everyone could understand. Nigel looked after sales and the admin side of the business. The company was founded initially as Catalyst Electronic Publishing Ltd - later changed to just Catalysts Ltd.
Nigel recalls, "In a manner that seems inconceivable today we called Folio Corporation, in Utah, one evening and spoke to their CEO, Brad Pelo. After a bit of interesting dialogue we asked if Folio had any representation in the UK and whether, if they did not, we could become a Reseller. The next day a fax arrived with an Agreement which we signed and lo and behold we were not just a Reseller but indeed Folio Corporation's UK Distributor!
When we got over the shock we embarked, in all innocence, on a mad adventure of setting up the business, finding customers and making some sales. Folio were amazingly tolerant, helpful and supportive as were our first investors - a trio of entrepreneurs who ran a number of companies together and separately. We met one of them when we rented offices in Tunbridge Wells from him and asked if he was prepared to invest in us. Amazingly, he and his two friends did so which was a fantastic advantage at the stage we were at.
Our first paying customer was Compaq Computer and somewhere we still have their first cheque which we got back from the Bank after it had been cleared. Once in our new offices in Tunbridge Wells, which saved both of us lots of driving time having been commuting across Kent and East Sussex to Hove, we went looking to recruit an administrative assistant. Quickly and luckily we found Kath Anderson looking for a job and she became our Girl Friday and made everything tick most effectively as well as brightening up the office with her smile and cheerful personality.
Our first publishing project, which set the scene for what has been our major focus ever since, was to build a CD-ROM publication powered by Folio Views for Det Norske Veritas. Phil slaved for weeks to import their typesetting files into Folio Flat File with the help, over a few summer weeks, of Nigel's son Mike, on school holiday, who thus became our first contractor - first of a distinguished line."
Whilst Nigel is still with Catalysts, in time Phil, Kath and Mike moved on. |
