After Five Founder

The Journal

Building in public, one lesson at a time.

The honest running log of After Five Founder — what I’m learning helping real small businesses go digital, starting with my mum’s. The wins, the dead ends, and what it all costs.

Strategy2 September 2026 · 1 min read

Why I built the software instead of buying it

Every off-the-shelf tool was too much, too dear, or too complicated for a small team. So I built GobyGO.

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Strategy29 August 2026 · 1 min read

Refreshing a brand that's nearly 20 years old

How do you make a brand feel modern without throwing away 20 years of recognition? Carefully.

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Systems26 August 2026 · 1 min read

Madrin's real problem wasn't technology — it was spreadsheets

Before you can automate anything, you have to see the whole messy process, end to end. Here's what we found.

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Strategy23 August 2026 · 1 min read

Where do we put the time and effort?

Look at a small business properly and you find a dozen problems. With limited time, the real skill is choosing which one to fix first.

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Systems21 August 2026 · 1 min read

Use the apps you're already paying for

Before you buy new software, look at what you're already paying for. Microsoft 365 came with a whole toolbox we weren't using.

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Systems19 August 2026 · 1 min read

The first thing we fixed wasn't software — it was Office 2010

Before any of the clever stuff, my mum's Outlook kept crashing. The culprit? Software from 2010.

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Mindset12 August 2026 · 1 min read

Why I'm building this after five

I'm not trying to be an influencer. I'm trying to see if someone with the right skills — and the right intentions — can actually help.

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