The decision to launch an IP firm, rather than a manufacturer, was based on the sheer volume of applications for the Blade Compressor. “You have to be pragmatic about these things,” says Mr Lindsey. “We didn’t want to sell to consumers, we wanted to work with global companies from the outset. But big corporates like to buy from other big corporates, not small start-ups. There’s an access to market issue. The logical route, therefore, was licensing to a global engineering group.”