How A Tea Party Inspired A Company's Traditions

Can you provide some background for those who don't know your company?

Can you share a little-known fact about your company?

Several years ago, a team lead at Cleverbit once invited a few developers to join him for tea, and the guest of honour got to choose the blend. What followed was not what anyone expected. The kitchen conversation turned into a genuinely serious debate about boiling points, heat latency and steam temperature, and how each one affects the quality of the tea. A handful of engineers, deep in thermodynamics, over a cup of tea.

There was no hierarchy and no performance, just people thinking out loud together, comfortable enough to get that specific about something so small. Today, this has become one of our traditions. Whenever someone new joins the team, a tea party happens and a debate on physics or maths happens, and somehow this ceremony is exactly the kind of detail that tells you more about our culture than any mission statement could.

What are you currently working on, and what are your plans and strategic priorities for the coming years?

Right now, the software industry is changing at a rapid pace, and that means every business that has software engineers has intense pressures to adapt, to take advantage of new possibilities and to be risk- and governance-aware in this transition. We are currently working heavily with our clients to help them safely make this transition. Today, we are developing strategies around AI governance, creating AI agent monitoring tools, building systems for AI and engineers to communicate more effectively and moving at a pace that only a few months ago would be unthinkable.

We are also expanding our presence across the UK, EU and US, being asked to share what we have learnt and our opinions on the future of software engineering at leading industry events, creating exciting partnerships with online media platforms and deepening relationships with leading AI companies across the world.

Strategically, we are moving away from selling talent toward taking ownership of a client's full delivery pipeline, outcomes included, not just the engineers we place on it.

Are there any projects or achievements of your company that you are exceptionally proud of?

One project we are especially proud of is a business continuity platform we built for the world's leading clinical research organisation ICON plc. When a disruption like a natural disaster or a pandemic affects clinical trial sites, ICON needs to know – fast – which sites are impacted and what needs to be reported to regulators. That used to run through emails and spreadsheets. We replaced it with a single platform that manages the entire process automatically, from flagging an event through to final sign-off, with a complete audit trail at every step. With already tight deadlines, we delivered the solution a month ahead of schedule. It is a good example of what we mean when we say speed and control are not a trade-off. You can have both.

What in your opinion makes Malta an effective jurisdiction to set up a business?

Malta gives a small company genuine reach.  English is a working language here, EU access is built in, and the regulatory environment for FinTech and iGaming is mature enough that clients in those sectors do not need to explain their compliance requirements from scratch. The University of Malta is also producing strong AI talent, which matters more every year as agentic engineering becomes a specialist skill rather than a general one.

BIO:

Simon has founded and/or transformed multiple insurance, banking, gaming and enterprise software businesses across the EU and US, with a focus on accelerating growth from seed to Series A. Today, he is passionate about making software outsourcing a great experience, something he personally struggled with as a client for over 15 years.