The Institution of Mechanical Engineers hosts the Formula Student event at the iconic Silverstone race track. Formula Student is Europe's most established educational engineering competition, held every year. The competition aims to develop enterprising and innovative young engineers and encourage more young people to pursue a career in engineering. I had the privilege of volunteering as an AI Judge, evaluating the research conducted by university teams into the application of AI in Formula race cars.

In this piece, I share some hard-earned lessons from building CoVent, an AI-powered marketplace for event sponsorships. From navigating the early challenges of product-market fit to understanding the cautious nature of the UK startup ecosystem, this is a look at what’s worked for us and what I wish I’d known when starting.

Multi-agent AI systems are revolutionizing how startups operate by enabling collaborative, adaptive, and automated workflows that surpass the limits of single-agent models. By integrating or building these systems, startups can streamline operations, reduce manual effort, and gain a significant competitive edge in an increasingly dynamic business landscape.