The challenge of building exceptional software - Lessons from the Sedna journey

Building exceptional software is not just about having a great idea—it’s about executing that idea with precision, staying close to your users, and continuously iterating until you’ve created something that truly solves a real problem. Looking back on the Sedna journey, I’ve learned that while vision is critical, resilience, adaptability, and a relentless focus on solving customer pain points are what ultimately drive success.

When we started Sedna, we didn’t just set out to improve email. We aimed to revolutionise how businesses in high-pressure, high-volume industries communicate. And leverage communication at source to drive business outcomes by creating communication based workflows.

The idea was simple: give people time back to focus on value creation by cutting through the noise of email. But translating that vision into a product that works for industries like maritime, logistics, and supply chains presented challenges we couldn’t have anticipated.

1. The Importance of customer-centric development

One of the biggest lessons from scaling Sedna is that exceptional software isn’t built in a vacuum. It’s built by listening - really listening - to your customers (our founder and CEO reminds everyone of the importance of this daily). Early on, we partnered with some of the biggest players in the maritime supply chain to understand their pain points. We realised quickly that traditional email tools were failing them not just because of volume, but because they couldn’t be relied upon to deliver at scale. Additionally, the place these companies conducted their business - email - was completely disconnected from their other essential systems. This was causing operational friction that directly impacted the bottom line.

So we made the decision to focus on seamless integration. Sedna doesn’t just handle email - it links directly to critical systems like Microsoft, Veson, SAP and Salesforce, transforming email into a powerful operational tool. That didn’t happen overnight. It took multiple iterations and countless conversations with our users. And the work continues. But staying connected to our customers has been, and will always be, the foundation of our product’s success.

2. Building a team to drive innovation

Another challenge in building exceptional software is creating a team that can take your vision and execute on it. Sedna wouldn’t exist without the brilliant team we’ve assembled. But more than that, it wouldn’t exist without a culture of collaboration and agility. We made it a point to build a team that’s diverse in thought and experience, because that’s how you get creative problem-solving.

In our early days, we had to move fast, pivoting when necessary, and refining our solution based on constant feedback. That’s not easy to maintain at scale. It requires a culture where every team member feels empowered to innovate, where mistakes are seen as learning opportunities, and where customer focus is at the heart of everything. At Sedna, I’ve seen how fostering this kind of environment leads to a product that not only meets but exceeds expectations.

3. The continuous journey of building

Finally, building exceptional software is never truly finished. The journey is continuous. Every time we think we’ve solved a problem, new challenges emerge. That’s the nature of the industry we’re in. But what’s kept us moving forward is our relentless commitment to making our product better, faster, and more useful for our customers.

There are days when it feels like the challenges outweigh the wins. But the reward comes when you see the impact your product is having on the people who use it. Hearing from customers who tell us that Sedna has saved them hours of time, reduced operational headaches, and helped their teams focus on what really matters - that’s when all the hard work pays off.

The takeaway: Building with purpose

If I’ve learned anything on this journey, it’s that exceptional software is built with purpose. It’s built with the end user in mind, and it’s driven by a passion for solving real problems. Building Sedna has been a constant learning process, and it hasn’t always been easy. But knowing that we are helping teams across the globe communicate more effectively and operate more efficiently is what makes it all worthwhile.

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