We attended university at a very interesting time in technological history. ChatGPT launched in 2022 and it has since fundamentally changed society's perception of intelligence.

Having studied AI, neural networks, and the foundations of large language models, we weren't just users — we understood how it worked. We were using it everyday for research, coursework, and productivity — along with many other students.

A year in industry then put it all into context. We quickly learnt that businesses were reliant on manual processing, data entry, and repetitive admin — exactly the kind of work AI was about to transform. We could see a major shift was coming, and most businesses weren't ready.

Of course, AI still has limits. It lacks our lived experience — the sense of smell, taste, and the emotional depth that comes from being human. But for computer-based work, the capabilities are extraordinary and improving rapidly.

In the last year, the gap from idea to execution has been reduced dramatically. AI tools like Cursor have made it possible for a single person to build what used to take a team months. That's when we decided to build something meaningful.

There are 5.7 million private sector businesses in the UK, employing 16.9 million people — that's 60% of the entire private workforce and over half of national GDP. Small and medium-sized enterprises aren't just part of our economy; they are the economy. Britain's entrepreneurial tradition — from the industrial revolution to the tech startups of today — has always been driven by individuals willing to take a risk and build something.

The reality, though, is that most SMEs lack the time or technical resources to navigate through this major technological transition. The AI tools available today are powerful, but they're general-purpose and require a baseline level of technical knowledge — not small business friendly.

Meanwhile, big companies — particularly in the US — are deploying AI in specialised, workflow-integrated ways and seeing serious productivity gains. If we don't bring that same capability to UK small businesses, we risk being left behind.

The UK has a well-documented productivity problem. The US has surging GDP, record stock markets, and accelerating output. London's largest corporates are adopting AI aggressively.

But there is far more to the UK economy than London and the FTSE 100.

Listed companies are compelled by shareholders to optimise relentlessly. Private businesses don't have that pressure — but they also don't have the resources, tools, or support to modernise at the same pace.

This matters at a national level. Higher productivity reduces public debt, raises wages, and drives growth. With government borrowing near its ceiling, investment in public services is constrained. The most impactful lever we have is making British businesses more productive — and that starts with giving them the right tools.

Businesses grow by reaching more customers. It's that simple.

And since the 2010s, the primary channel for discovery has been social media. Platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook are increasingly algorithmic and ad-driven. Organic reach is harder than ever — but the businesses that show up consistently win.

The problem? Creating quality content — graphics, copy, scheduling — has traditionally required either a marketing agency or a dedicated in-house specialist. For most small businesses, neither is viable.

This is about to change.

Rheos brings together the latest AI models — many only weeks old — with deep business context, wrapped in an interface that anyone can use, regardless of technical background.

Describe the post you want, choose your platform, and publish. Schedule it for later if you prefer. Minutes not hours. Every channel.

Beyond creation, Rheos handles iteration, editing, performance tracking, and insights. You can be as hands-on or as hands-off as you like — there's no single right way to use it.

Our goal is simple: empower small businesses to build a genuine, consistent online presence — without needing to become marketers first.

Our ambition extends well beyond social media. We want to help every business become visible wherever their customers are looking — and how people search is shifting dramatically.

The move from text to visual content (Instagram, TikTok) was just the start. Now, AI-powered search — ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity — is changing how consumers discover businesses entirely. People trust the answers these models provide, and they rarely look further.

If a model recommends a competitor and doesn't mention you, your potential customers will never know you exist. There is an increasing number of consumers using AI as their primary search and shopping tool — and it's growing fast.

This is why Rheos is building for the next era of online discovery, not just the current one.

Rheos is built to help businesses and individuals surface their authentic identity online — because in a world increasingly flooded with AI-generated noise, authenticity is what stands out.

We use AI to handle the heavy lifting — the design, the copywriting, the scheduling — but the direction always comes from you. Rheos is a human-in-the-loop tool by design. Your judgement, your creativity, your voice — that's what makes the content yours.

We're not building a content factory. We're building a tool that removes the friction so you can focus on what actually matters: running your business and making the decisions only a human can make.