Hyperscale Consulting is a Sheffield startup helping teams and early-stage founders build secure, scalable software – without slowing them down. Founded by long-time colleagues and collaborators Andy Caine and Henry Addico, the business brings together years of experience in engineering transformation and a tight focus on application security. A recent collaboration with fellow Sheffield tech firm, 4eyez, gave the duo  fresh perspective on their market and the problem they’re best positioned to solve. We caught up with Andy and Henry to find out more.

A partnership built over time

Andy and Henry first worked together over a decade ago in telecoms – at Plusnet and later BT Business – building a strong working relationship that has continued across multiple roles.

“We worked together on a transformation initiative helping our team adopt engineering best practices to deliver business features and release in days rather than months,” Henry explains.

For Andy, that period also shaped his focus on security as a core part of software development. “I began to realise how important application security was becoming, and how existing approaches were failing,” he says. “I began to advocate for approaches that build security into the development process… without slowing teams down.”

The idea of starting a company together had been growing quietly in the background for years. “The ambition to start our own business grew alongside our children,” they say. “But like a lot of people, we didn’t have the capital to take the leap straight away.”

That changed when both were offered voluntary redundancy, presenting an opportunity – and runway – to finally pursue the idea, and put what they’d learned into practice in a different context.

“Seeing the difficulties faced by fast-moving engineering teams, and the profound positive difference made by adopting best practices, motivated us to found Hyperscale Consulting,” they say.

Like many early-stage startups, their initial idea didn’t stay fixed for long. Being based at Sheffield Technology Parks as part of the Cooper Project, and connecting with other founders, directly informed a new direction.

After meeting Craig Blaauw, founder of 4eyez, designer and manufacturer of Taxi CCTV® systems, the pair reviewed and rebuilt the CRM platform Craig had created himself using vibe coding. They addressed bugs, strengthened security and ensured it was scalable enough to support the future growth of the 4eyez business.

Through working on the platform and supporting Craig’s evolving needs, Henry and Andy saw an opportunity to give their business a tighter focus, explaining: “This collaboration played a key role in seeing us pivot our business; working on the platform helped us understand the real challenges founders face when trying to build secure and scalable applications themselves, at pace.”

Beyond ‘vibe coding’

That pivot led them to focus on a growing trend: AI-powered ‘vibe coding’ tools, which enable people without technical backgrounds, or engineering teams, to build their own apps.

“We’ve spoken to loads of non-technical founders over the last 12 months,” they say. “We’ve been amazed at what we’ve seen people build. But, these apps invariably have major security flaws, as well as functional bugs that prevent them from going beyond the MVP stage.”

Many of these founders bring deep sector expertise or lived experience, but need support to turn early prototypes into viable products. Hyperscale is now building a platform designed to bridge that gap.

“Other vibe coding apps focus on speed and ease of use… ‘go from prompt to app in 5 minutes’,” Andy explains. “This speed and ease of use inevitably comes at the cost of quality and security.”

The Hyperscale approach is different.

“We go beyond vibes, adding in just enough rigour to ensure that the AI builds the correct functionality, and does so in a secure and scalable way.”

Learning as founders

Stepping out of corporate careers into startup life has meant adapting quickly, particularly in areas outside their technical expertise.

“We’re rubbish at sales, marketing, and generally at communicating technical concepts to non-technical people,” they admit. “But we’re also resilient, and always learning, so we’re getting better.”

The shift from large organisations has also brought both challenges and opportunities.

“The biggest challenge has been losing that regular corporate paycheck… and having to build skills way outside our expertise and comfort zone,” they say. “Being a founder gives you the opportunity to really focus on the customer, their problems, and find out how to use your skills to develop solutions.”

A supportive Sheffield ecosystem

Although both founders have lived in Sheffield for more than 20 years, building a startup has introduced them to a new side of the city.

“It’s a really vibrant, fun, and supportive community,” they say. “We never realised how much was going on. It’s genuinely inspiring to see other founders develop and grow their ideas into businesses, and to learn from them.”

Being part of that ecosystem – from Sheffield Digital to the Cooper Project – has played an important role in their journey so far. Now, as Hyperscale prepares to launch its MVP, the team’s focus is on supporting a new wave of founders; people with strong ideas and domain expertise, but less technical experience, to build software they can confidently take to market.

They’re keen to connect with others in the Sheffield community who are exploring AI-driven development. “We’d love to talk to anyone vibe coding apps and struggling to get them fit for production,” they say. “If you’re willing to try our MVP and give us feedback, we’d love to hear from you.”

You can find out more about Hyperscale on the website: hyperscale.consulting and you can read more on their recent collaboration with 4eyez, here.