For over 30 years I worked in, and then ran, my small family business. We made protective covers and designed heavy textile products for the offshore oil and gas industry. Some of these development projects were very challenging and taught me a great deal. However, it was our experimentation with inflatable, seismic testing tanks and positive pressure welding habitats that really showed me the potential of inflatable technology.Then in 2018 my father had the first of a series of strokes and I took the decision to provide full time palliative care for him. I had hoped I could provide that care while working from home to develop my rudimentary concept for an inflatable waterwheel. To put it mildly that was an ambitious intention, but it was an honour to help my father make the most of his last years. My father passed peacefully in his sleep, at home, with myself and his grandsons, in August 2020.October saw my acceptance onto the MSIP Start Up accelerator programme and my entrepreneurial training stepped up a gear leading to my participation on the Converge Challenge, Scotland's largest start-up training programme, and the formation of Hydrowheel Ltd.Now I'm using that experience and training to further develop Hydrowheel and bring our unique inflatable waterwheel to market.