I watched a factory stop because a problem wasn’t visible.

My dad runs a manufacturing company, and I grew up around it. More than once I watched the factory stop because a problem wasn't visible in the reports and messages until it was too late.

What stuck with me is that nobody was careless. The information was there, just spread across people, reports and messages, and nobody had the whole picture at once. My dad gets more than 10 reports a day by email, and he has to open each one to find the numbers that matter.

That's why I started building Trenston: one place where an owner can see what's happening in the company and spot problems early, and then decide what to do about it. I'm still early, and I'd love to hear from other owners and founders about problems that stayed hidden until it was too late.