First Monday of July. Half-year. The customer-portfolio operational picture has been demanding through Q2 (MOVEit, Storm-0558) but in a more measured way than 2021's Q2 (the Colonial-Ireland-Kaseya sequence) was. The EmilyAI commercial position has held strongly through the v3.2 launch in May; the customer-acquisition cadence is on plan and the product reception is positive. The NIS2 readiness programme execution across the customer-portfolio is on track for the October 2024 deadline.
The customer portfolio. Six vCISO clients carrying through. Sixteen SOC customers, no churn through H1. Eighteen EmilyAI commercial customers (added two in Q1, churned none, with three additional prospects in late-stage commercial discussion for Q3 close). The team is at thirty-nine at mid-year (one hire in Q1, no other changes). The financial position is healthy.
H1 revenue is at approximately 105% of plan, with the EmilyAI side at 109% (the v3.2 launch and the post-launch customer-acquisition has exceeded expectations) and the services side at 102%. The H2 plan has been revised upward modestly on the back of the EmilyAI trajectory.
The strategic conversations. The institutional-capital conversation has been more active through Q2 than I would have predicted at the start of the year. Two specific conversations have, in the past several weeks, advanced to the point where I have engaged formal advisors. My disposition continues to be conservative against raising, but the optionality is meaningful and the company-shape implications of any deal would be substantial. The decision is not for H1; it is something I am working through through the second half of the year with appropriate care.
The team. The lead engineer is now seven years in, the engineering function director, and the principal author of the v3.2 architecture. The senior leadership team is mature and the operational-leadership delegation that I have been writing about for several years is now substantively in place. The Bath office has been at approximately 80% capacity utilisation through H1 with the hybrid-by-default working pattern continuing to produce satisfactory operational outcomes.
The personal note. Twenty-four posts on the blog this year, on track for a 45+ year-total. The next book — on the language-model environment — is in early drafting through Q3. The conferences this year have been Black Hat USA in August (smaller team presence, customer-prospect-networking-focused), Infosec Europe in June (good in-person form, useful customer-prospect conversations), and BSides Manchester planned for October.
Onward to H2. The MOVEit cleanup will continue. The Storm-0558 implications will continue to develop. The EmilyAI v3.2 customer-base expansion will continue. The NIS2 programme execution will continue. The institutional-capital decision will be worked through. And whatever H2 produces.