Back in 2015 Steve Crick was having a tough year. He and his wife were in the early years of taking on a bigger mortgage, they were going through IVF, and he was heading for a parting of the ways with his employer.

But like the best entrepreneurs and innovators, Steve didn’t look for excuses. In December 2015, he departed his highflying global role with a US producer of water treatment products and on January 1, 2016, he launched his first business.