Founders of the Week: Tom Green and Sam Crosher

• Sam and Tom are the co-founders of Verticode, a startup dedicated to helping entrepreneurs bring their ideas to life by turning them into fully functional MVPs quickly and affordably.
• Verticode was born out of frustration when Tom struggled to find a cost-effective, reliable way to build his own MVP, sparking the idea to make early-stage product development more accessible.
• The company’s mission is to remove barriers for founders, proving that MVPs don’t need to be expensive, slow, or overly complex – they should be the first step to test and validate ideas with real users.
• Verticode’s focus is on speed, affordability and usability, building MVPs that are not only functional but also polished, intuitive and designed with the end-user experience in mind.

 

 

Tell Me About Yourselves and Verticode

 

We’re Tom and Sam, co-founders of Verticode. We help entrepreneurs turn ideas into fully functional MVPs quickly and affordably. Verticode was born out of frustration – Tom had a startup idea but couldn’t find a reliable, cost-effective way to build an MVP. We realised many founders face the same roadblocks, so we set out to make early-stage product development accessible to anyone with a vision.

 

What Inspired You To Start Verticode? What Problem Were You Trying To Solve?

 

We wanted to solve the accessibility problem in early-stage product development. MVPs shouldn’t be a luxury. They should be the first step for any entrepreneur to test their idea without massive risk.

 

 

What Has Been Your Biggest Challenge So Far? How Did You Overcome It?

Convincing founders that building an MVP isn’t as hard, lengthy or expensive as they think was a big hurdle. Many cautious founders approached us after being quoted five times our pricing elsewhere, struggling to understand how we could deliver so quickly and affordably. Shifting that mindset was tough, but showing tangible results with early clients helped break down the barriers.

 

Can You Describe A Pivotal Moment That Significantly Shaped the Direction of Verticode?

 

Seeing our first few clients launch their MVPs and start gaining traction was a defining moment for us. The feedback they received from real users didn’t just validate their ideas, it directly shaped how we approached building MVPs at Verticode. It taught us the importance of creating products that are not only functional but also user-focused, and it guided us in refining our processes to deliver even better, more impactful MVPs.

 

How Do You Define Success? 

 

For Your Business: For our business, success is delivering MVPs that help founders validate their ideas and move forward with confidence.

As Founders: For ourselves as founders, it’s knowing we’re removing barriers and helping smart ideas see the light of day.

 

What Advice Would You Give To Someone Thinking About Launching Their Own Startup?

Start small, test fast, and don’t tie yourself to doing everything yourself. Your MVP doesn’t need to be perfect, it needs to teach you something.

 

What’s Next For Verticode? Any Exciting Developments We Should Watch Out For?

We’re focusing on making the MVPs we build even better by enhancing their UX and UI. This means creating more intuitive, user-friendly interfaces, improving the overall experience, and ensuring that every MVP not only functions well but also feels polished and engaging.

 

 

Want to be featured as TechRound’s Founder of the Week? Find out more about this weekly feature and how to get involved here.

 

Founders’ 5 with Tom Green and Sam Crosher

 

We wanted to know a bit more about the power duo behind Verticode. Here’s Techround’s exclusive Founder’s 5 with Tom Green and Sam Crosher.

 

1. Favourite Business Tool?

The Verticode Portal – it’s used across all teams, from commercial for tracking clients to developers for boilerplate code and generating new code with AI. It’s the whole ecosystem which we operate in – so it’s pretty cool.

 

2. One Lesson You Learned the Hard Way?

 

Don’t try to be the solution for everyone. Understand who your customers are as quickly as possible and optimise towards them. 

 

3. One Future Trend You’re Watching?

The next era of the “Build vs Buy” debate will be fascinating. There’s definitely a sense that companies may be moving away from SaaS subscriptions and building their own tools as it becomes easier to do so.

 

4. One Quote You Live By?

 

“Done is better than perfect.”

 

5. One Book or Podcast You Recommend?

 

“Beyond Entrepreneurship” by Jim Collins.

 

Want to be featured as TechRound’s Founder of the Week? Know someone who deserves to be recognised as a founder making waves in the startup landscape? Find out more about this weekly feature and how to get involved here.