The Builder's
Playground.

Building a venture-scale company is usually portrayed as a complex, decade-long grind. Last week at Launchpad, Harvey Lowe showed how he compressed that timeline into three years.

At 21, Harvey is the founder of Arcube. Since starting the company at 18, he has secured a £1.5 million investment round, achieved a £5 million valuation, and signed global enterprise clients.

The session wasn't a celebration of luck; it was a breakdown of strategy. Here are the four core mechanics Harvey used to scale Arcube.

1. The Audacity of the First Sale

The standard advice for early-stage founders is to start small: get a local SME on board, prove the concept, then move up.

Harvey ignored this. At 18 years old, with an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and zero enterprise track record, he targeted Etihad Airways.

He didn't win the contract because of his resume. He won it because he identified a high-value problem that incumbents were ignoring.

The Insight: Enterprise clients are rational economic actors. They do not care about the age of the founder or the size of the office. They care about the solution. If you solve a £100k problem, the market will pay you £100k. Harvey proved that you do not need "permission" or a 50-person team to hunt elephants.

2. Traction De-Risks Fundraising

Raising capital is often viewed as a persuasion game. For Harvey, it was a traction game.

When he approached investors for his £1.5m seed round, he wasn't pitching a hypothetical scenario. He was pitching a business that already had one of the world's largest airlines as a client.

The Insight: Investors are looking to minimise risk. The most effective way to raise money isn't to have a better slide deck; it's to have customers. By securing revenue first, Harvey shifted the dynamic from "asking for money" to "offering an opportunity."

3. Velocity of Learning > Years of Experience

Before Arcube, Harvey ran an eCommerce business that he sold at 17.

While the exit gave him capital, its real value was the iteration cycle. He had already learned how to build, sell, and exit before most of his peers had started university.

The Insight: In the startup world, "experience" is often a vanity metric. What matters is the velocity of learning. A founder who launches and iterates on three projects in two years will often outpace a founder who spends five years planning one. Harvey’s speed of execution was his primary competitive advantage.

4. Leveraging the Ecosystem

During the session, Harvey highlighted how he utilised the Isle of Man’s specific environment to move faster.

He didn't treat the location as a limitation, but as a high-access network. He used the tight-knit ecosystem to get immediate access to decision-makers and high-net-worth individuals, bypassing the layers of bureaucracy found in larger markets.

The Insight: Use your environment. If you are in a smaller ecosystem, use the accessibility to your advantage. Speed of communication often translates to speed of business.

Summary

The Arcube story is a case study in focus. Harvey didn't wait for the perfect conditions. He built a product, sold it to the biggest customer he could find, and used that momentum to fund the next stage of growth.

The roadmap is permissionless.

Watch the full session recording here:

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On December 12, we hosted what became the first ever Supabase meet up in the Isle of Man, bringing together students, developers, founders, and local technology professionals for an evening focused on how modern applications are actually built, deployed, and maintained in real business environments.

Hosted at Launchpad, done by AI & Web Solutions IOM, the event was designed to go beyond surface-level discussions by creating a shared learning space where attendees could see real systems, understand real decisions, and hear directly from people who build and support live products used by Isle of Man businesses today.

Delivered as part of Supabase’s global “Sign Your City Up” initiative in partnership with Supabase and AI & Web Solutions IOM, the session aimed to strengthen awareness of the local tech scene, encourage community connection, and give students a clearer view of what industry-ready development looks like outside formal education.

Why the First Ever Supabase Meetup in the Isle of Man Mattered

The Isle of Man has long been recognised for its strengths in finance, e-gaming, and digital services, yet opportunities for open, builder-led technical learning outside structured programmes have remained limited.

This first ever Supabase meet up in the Isle of Man was intentionally positioned as a practical community gathering rather than a corporate event, allowing students, developers, and founders to learn from a real production system rather than curated demos or theoretical examples.

By hosting the session at Launchpad, the island’s dedicated startup and innovation hub, the event reinforced the role of physical spaces in supporting knowledge sharing and collaboration across the local tech ecosystem.

A Live Isle of Man Project at the Core of the Session

At the centre of the evening was a full walk-through of a live wholesale system built by AI & Web Solutions IOM for a local client, providing a rare opportunity for attendees to see a real production application explained end to end.

Instead of simplifying the example, the team chose to walk through an active system currently in use, which allowed participants to understand how architectural decisions affect scalability, performance, and long-term maintainability.

The system demonstrated included:

• A product database with more than 3,000 items
• A website and mobile application powered by a shared backend
• Supabase managing the database, authentication, and file storage
• Real-time updates demonstrated live

This approach gave students and early-career developers practical insight into how concepts taught separately are combined into a working product.

How Modern Applications Are Built in 2025

A significant part of the first ever Supabase meet up in the Isle of Man focused on explaining modern development workflows in a way that prioritised clarity over complexity.

The stack used throughout the project included Supabase as the backend platform, React and Next.js for the web frontend, Bolt.new for accelerating development, and mobile app integration connected to the same backend services, all of which were explained through the lens of why these choices made sense for the project.

Rather than promoting tools in isolation, the discussion focused on trade-offs, constraints, and decision-making, helping attendees understand that sustainable development depends more on thoughtful architecture than on chasing trends.

What Students Gained from the Session

For computing and software development students, the learning extended well beyond code.

Students were able to see how backend services support multiple frontends, why authentication decisions matter in production systems, and how real-time updates are implemented responsibly without creating instability.

Equally important were the career-focused discussions around freelancing, side projects, and employability, which helped students connect their technical learning with real-world outcomes within the Isle of Man tech sector.

Skills Local Businesses Actually Look For

The session also addressed the skills local businesses actively look for when working with developers, helping close the gap between education and industry expectations.

The discussion highlighted the importance of understanding data flows, explaining technical decisions clearly, working collaboratively, and building systems that can evolve over time rather than short-lived solutions.

For students and junior developers, this insight offered a clearer roadmap for skill development aligned with real market demand.

Community as the Outcome

While the technical content formed the backbone of the event, the conversations between attendees proved equally valuable.

Students spoke directly with working developers, founders shared experiences with freelancers, and discussions continued well beyond the formal session, reinforcing the idea that ecosystem growth happens through consistent, small-scale interactions rather than one-off events.

This outcome aligned closely with Launchpad’s broader mission of supporting connection, learning, and collaboration across the island’s startup and technology communities.

About AI & Web Solutions IOM

The success of the first ever Supabase meet up in the Isle of Man was closely tied to the involvement of AI & Web Solutions IOM, a locally based technology company working with Isle of Man & UK businesses to design and build practical digital systems.

Their work spans web platforms, mobile applications, backend systems, automation, and applied AI, with a strong focus on reliability and long-term maintainability rather than experimental approaches.

By choosing to showcase a live wholesale system built for a local client, AI & Web Solutions IOM provided attendees with a realistic view of how modern tools like Supabase are used in production environments while aligning technical decisions with business needs.

Their participation demonstrated the important role local technology companies play in strengthening the island’s tech ecosystem through openness, mentorship, and knowledge sharing.

Why Supabase Was the Right Focus

Supabase was a natural fit because it lowers the barrier to building functional applications while remaining flexible enough for production use.

For students, it enables faster learning through real projects, while for startups and small teams it provides a solid foundation without unnecessary overhead.

Seeing Supabase used within a real Isle of Man business context helped attendees understand both its strengths and its practical limitations.

What Comes Next for the Isle of Man Tech Scene

This first ever Supabase meet up in the Isle of Man was not designed as a one-off event but as part of Launchpad’s ongoing effort to support community-led learning and collaboration.

For those who were unable to attend, the full session recording is available on Launchpad’s YouTube channel, extending access to the knowledge shared during the evening.

As Launchpad continues to host ecosystem-focused events in partnership with local technology companies, the goal remains to support builders, connect communities, and strengthen the Isle of Man tech scene through practical, experience-led learning.

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The story began when the Isle of Man Chamber of Commerce decided to host their Christmas Party and needed a venue that felt warm, social and a little different from the usual halls and hotels. When Launchpad was suggested, the idea felt both surprising and exciting. A co-working space turning into a festive party venue? It sounded ambitious, but everyone could picture the potential.

The First Signs of Christmas

Weeks before the party, Chamber and us put up the Christmas tree in the lobby to support the Chamber’s charity drive. Clay, one of our members, joined in by 3D-printing custom ornaments which added personality to the tree. The decorations sparked conversations and gave the space a warm holiday feel long before any party setup began. LIBT agreed to sponsor the Christmas Party!

The Transformation Begins

Two days before the event, the team rolled up their sleeves. Launchpad and Chamber members worked together, turning a normal workday into a decorating session.

• Desks were moved aside to clear a dance floor.
• Lights were draped across desks, walls and even the water filter.
• A disco ball was mounted above the central workspace.
• The sound system was tested from every corner.

The Launchpad felt different already. The Christmas tree glowed softly at the entrance, reminding everyone why it had started. And with each decoration added, the space shifted from workplace to party venue.

Party Night

When guests arrived, they paused. Launchpad looked familiar, but not really. The disco ball scattered reflections across the walls. Pizza from Just Pizza & Pasta filled the air. The Wine Cellar set up a bar where founders normally hold coffee meetings. We moved our tables to give DJ Kim Bezance the space to set up the DJ booth and the dance floor.

People danced where they had worked before. They chatted under strings of lights that had gone up only hours before. The Launchpad felt alive.

What Made It Special

The story of this party is not just about decorations. It is about collaboration.
The Chamber brought the idea.
Launchpad brought the space.
Volunteers brought the energy.
Clay brought creativity with their 3D-printed ornaments.
Our providers brought the food, the drinks and the soundtrack.

Together, they shaped a night that felt personal and memorable.

The Memory That Stays

If you were there, you know the moment when the music, the lights and the atmosphere clicked into place. Launchpad didn’t just host a party. It became part of the story—part of the celebration and part of the community that made the evening happen.

And if you missed it, picture a room lit by a glowing charity tree and a spinning disco ball, filled with people who came together to turn a co-working space into a festive kitchen disco for one unforgettable night.

More photos in the Chamber website: https://www.iomchamber.org.im/photos/chamber-christmas-party-2025/

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