Replacement parts were often difficult to track.
And many businesses still managed maintenance records through outdated systems that made preventable delays almost inevitable.
She understood the problem because she'd grown up watching her father search for tiny mechanical parts.
She remembered the notebooks.
The handwritten catalogs.
The shelves filled with components that looked identical until someone examined their dimensions carefully.
So she helped develop a platform that connected maintenance records, equipment data, inventory information, and supplier availability.
The first version barely worked.
The second worked better.
The third began attracting customers.
She spent nights testing software.
Days meeting factory managers.
Weekends reviewing financial projections.
And sometimes entire months wondering whether she'd made an enormous mistake.
Several investors dismissed the company.
One told her that industrial software wasn't an attractive market for a young woman with no established financial connections.
Another suggested she recruit a more experienced male executive to lead fundraising meetings.
A third said her technical background was impressive but questioned whether she could manage rapid growth.
She listened.
Asked questions.
Then continued building.
When one potential investor offered funding only if she surrendered operational control, she declined.
Her cofounders were frightened.
They needed money.
The company's bank balance was shrinking.
But she refused to sign a deal that would leave the people who created the business with no meaningful authority over its future.
She remembered her father.
The prototype.
The executive who dismissed the invention and then refused to return every part.
She had learned something from that experience.
Read every agreement.
Document every promise.
And never assume that a powerful company will protect your interests simply because its representatives smile during a meeting.
Eventually, she secured better financing.
The platform expanded.
New customers arrived.
The company became profitable.
Then a major industrial technology group offered to acquire a controlling stake.