Portfolio Company Profile: Lazy Software
By Kate Opekar, Deputy Editor

Lazy Software is a UK-based company that has developed a new database architecture that is cheaper to use and more flexible than the current standard, the 30-year-old relational model of data. Founded by an entrepreneurial management team with extensive experience of building successful software companies, Lazy Software is the creator of Sentences™, an innovative database management system that enables its users to develop sophisticated, web-enabled database applications in days, not months.

Sentences is based on the Associative Model of Data , the first data model to take account of the unique needs of the internet. "Building and maintaining applications over relational databases involves a lot of avoidable complexity," says Simon Williams, Lazy Software’s founder and CEO. "I concluded we had to change the way we store data, and I came up with the associative model."

Lazy Software has been welcomed favourably by analysts. Aberdeen Group comments: “Lazy Software’s Sentences and LazyView solutions are able to combine immediate utility in rapid application development with solid long-term value in mass-deployment and EII applications. The associative model that underlies these solutions ensures that other databases will find it difficult to match these capabilities over the next few years."

"Of course, as a specialized database, Lazy Software is not in direct competition with enterprise databases. Rather, it should be viewed as a new and powerful tool for key upcoming projects, with strong long-term potential as a solid base for mass-deployment applications. In those situations, Lazy Software’s solutions are worth immediate and careful attention from IT buyers."

Sentences is used by a wide variety of organisations including banks, HR agencies, universities, manufacturers and management consultants. Recent wins for the company include Argos, the UK’s largest multi-channel retailer, and Sterling Commerce, a world leading B2B commerce solutions provider.

Why Lazy? Williams explains the origin of the name: "At school I had a terrific mathematics teacher who taught us that all the best mathematicians - and, by inference, programmers - are inherently lazy, because they always search for the shortest, most elegant way to solve a problem. So, if the simplest solutions to complex questions are what you need, it pays to be lazy!"

Ariadne Capital will be advising Lazy Software in the development of the company's sales strategy and its focus on key vertical sectors. Ariadne Capital will also be introducing companies that may become customers or strategic partners.