Venture Building & ChimeHive | Decision Analytics

2: Manufacturing customers live on ChimeHive
€250k: Estimated margin improvement for our first customer
5: Ventures built and tested

How ChimeHive started

“Did we make money on that project?”

Our clients kept asking that question, and we kept running into the same problem.

The problem

The number we needed most, how long a job actually took, was never properly recorded. Timesheets were filled in from memory at the end of the week and typed into Excel days later, so every new quote started from a best guess.

The evidence

We saw it at one client, then at another, and realised it wasn't a one-off. We assessed more than a dozen time-tracking tools on the market, and none fitted the way bespoke manufacturers work.

The decision

Building our own product was an investment decision, and we made it the way we'd advise any client to: on the evidence. We built ChimeHive with those two clients, who became our first customers. Enterprise Ireland has since backed us to keep building.

We still do the insight work at Decision Analytics. We just start a step earlier now.

ChimeHive

Time tracking and job costing for bespoke manufacturers, at the price and simplicity of a clocking tool.

Who it's for

Joinery, print, metal fabrication and construction businesses with 10–250 staff, where every job is different and margin depends on knowing where the hours go.

On the floor

Operators tap in to the job they're on, breaks come off automatically, and payroll is ready without anyone chasing paper. Managers see the time on every job, stage by stage, so the next quote is based on what actually happened.

How it's built

Hosted on Amazon Web Services, and built and supported by our own team, so customers deal directly with the people who wrote it.

Research partners

UCD Smurfit MSc Business Analytics capstone teams and a TU Dublin management consulting project have worked on ChimeHive features and strategy.

What it does

Tablet clock-in kiosks, with opt-in facial recognition or PIN and QR clock-in
Time tracked against customer, job and production stage
Live view of who is working on what
Leave management
Breaks deducted automatically
Payroll and project-system exports, with no re-keying
Works alongside the systems you already use

Data protection

Facial recognition is opt-in, with explicit consent, and PIN or QR clock-in is always available instead. Biometric data is processed under GDPR Article 9.

Backed by

Enterprise Ireland Pre-Seed Start Fund, Local Enterprise Office, and private investors.

Partners

Sales and referral partners Pembroke Alliance and IWIN (Irish Wood Interiors Network).

Where you'll see it

Manufacturing conferences in Belfast and Glasgow, the RDS in Dublin, EXPO REAL 2026 in Munich, and the National Construction Summit, Dublin, 2026.

Visit chimehive.com See the product, pricing and how to get started.

Results

ChimeHive customer case study

Specialist joinery manufacturer, ~50 staff

From paper timesheets to pricing on actual hours

Hours were written on paper timesheets from memory, typed into Excel, then keyed again into accounts and project systems. Managers were a week behind on job progress, and quotes were built on estimates.

With ChimeHive, staff clock time against each job and production stage. The business now prices new work on actual hours from past jobs.

€250,000 improvement in margin from more accurate quoting (customer estimate)
€45,000 a year saved in admin time (customer estimate)
Weekly payroll processing cut from a full working day to 30–60 minutes

Savings are estimated with the customer: time saved at a loaded hourly cost, plus less error and rework.

ChimeHive took our weekly payroll from a full working day to an hour at most.
Payroll and admin lead, specialist joinery manufacturer

The journey

Five ventures since 2022.

2022
Decision Analytics founded. First product: an AI decision-support platform for SMEs. Joined CeADAR, with an Enterprise Ireland Innovation Voucher; New Frontiers programme.
2023
Co-founded E-Shared, a peer-to-peer EV charge-point sharing platform. Signed up 50 members and completed the NDRC pre-accelerator. First Local Enterprise Office Priming Grant.
2024
Selected as one of 10 startups for the Furthr Foundry accelerator. Built In Sight, a retail shelf-visibility platform for food and drink brands, and piloted it across 18 supermarket stores. Second Priming Grant.
2025
Built Electricity Analytics, an AI assistant for business electricity data, to a working prototype, with an Enterprise Ireland Innovation Voucher at TU Dublin. A client technology review revealed the problem that led us to build ChimeHive. First customer live in December.
2026
Second customer live. Enterprise Ireland Pre-Seed Start Fund awarded, and investment from two private investors. Product launched under the ChimeHive brand, taken to manufacturing conferences in Belfast and Glasgow, the RDS and EXPO REAL in Munich, and presented at the National Construction Summit.

What we learned along the way

Each venture taught us something we now use with clients.

The Decision Analytics platformShowed us that clients wanted outcomes, not another dashboard.
E-SharedTaught us how to build a two-sided marketplace and run a community from zero.
In SightProved we could build a data pipeline and run a live pilot with a brand in weeks.
Electricity AnalyticsSharpened our use of AI on real business data.
ChimeHiveBrought it together: a focused problem, real customers, and a product built with them.

Why this matters

Advice shaped by doing it ourselves.

Every recommendation we make to clients and funders is shaped by having done it ourselves. We have validated ideas with customers, built prototypes, run pilots, stopped what didn't work, raised funding, and sold software to businesses. We know what it takes to turn a technology investment into a return.

Our approach to building ventures

Start from a real problemOur best ideas come from patterns we see across client work.
Validate fastCustomer interviews, pilots and letters of intent before heavy investment.
Build leanPrototypes on cloud and AI tooling, in weeks not months.
Stop or scaleIf the evidence isn't there, we move on and carry the learning forward.
Fund the growthState supports first, then private investors once there's traction.

FAQ

Questions about ChimeHive and venture building

What is ChimeHive?

ChimeHive is time tracking and job costing software for bespoke manufacturers, at the price and simplicity of a clocking tool. It is built by Decision Analytics for joinery, print, metal fabrication and construction businesses with 10 to 250 staff.

Why does a consultancy build its own products?

Building our own product was an investment decision, and we made it the way we'd advise any client to: on the evidence. Every recommendation we make to clients and funders is shaped by having done it ourselves. We have validated ideas with customers, built prototypes, run pilots, stopped what didn't work, raised funding and sold software to businesses.

How is ChimeHive funded?

ChimeHive is backed by the Enterprise Ireland Pre-Seed Start Fund, Local Enterprise Office support and two private investors. In total we have raised €310k in grants and investment across our ventures.

Who are ChimeHive's partners?

ChimeHive's sales and referral partners include Pembroke Alliance and IWIN, the Irish Wood Interiors Network. UCD Smurfit MSc Business Analytics capstone teams and a TU Dublin management consulting project have also worked on the product.

Invest or partner with us

We're building ChimeHive for bespoke manufacturers in Ireland, the UK and beyond. If you'd like to invest, partner or resell, talk to us about where it's going next.

Get in touch Visit ChimeHive

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