Jason Vincent (Class of 2007) is a trailblazer in the world of automated retail and a shining example of entrepreneurial spirit rooted in curiosity, resilience and hands-on learning. Jason fondly recalls his school years as a time of formative experiences, from unforgettable Duke of Edinburgh adventures to pushing creative boundaries in Design & Technology. After an early exit from university due to unforeseen circumstances, Jason wasted no time in forging his path. He went on to co-found Aeguana, a pioneering company in the smart vending and automated retail space, which has since evolved into Boost Inc. following a significant acquisition. Today, as Chief Product & Technology Officer, Jason continues to lead innovation at the intersection of hardware and software. His journey is one of grit, risk-taking, and bold thinking, and it all began in the classrooms and corridors of St. Julian’s.

What was it like attending St. Julian’s, and doing the IB Diploma?

Many of my fondest childhood memories come from my days at St. Julian’s. The friendships formed there have lasted decades. Adventures like the Duke of Edinburgh Award pushed me out of my comfort zone and inspired my love for the outdoors. I still remember so many stories from those trips. In fact, hiking has remained my safe haven ever since, and I try to do a trip at least a couple of times a year. 

I found the IB Diploma itself a challenging experience, and I still wish I could resit that Maths exam which I worked so hard for! It definitely builds character and instills a level of discipline for hard work which has remained with me ever since. In fact, I remember university almost feeling easy at first after graduating Y13!

What are your career highlights and/ or achievements?

I founded my first company almost immediately after dropping out of university (due to factors outside of my control) and I’ve been building it in some capacity ever since. By walking away from a more ‘traditional’ career I knew I needed a path that would challenge me, and through which I could learn.

And learn I have! But perhaps not the lessons I thought I would… I’ve learnt that it takes time to truly build a reputation and “know” an industry. To be able to understand and navigate its intricacies, takes years - if not decades - of hard work. I never set out to be in the vending/automated retail industry! But through my work I’ve definitely helped shape it into a far more technologically advanced and profitable one.

We’ve won countless awards in that time, from the British Engineering Excellence Award early on, to winning several “Vendies” industry awards, and most recently making the global “40 under 40” list for Automated Retail (not quite Forbes, but I’ll take it!). But the real highlights have been successfully winning aspirational clients; creating products you didn’t think would be possible; and of course the financial rewards that come with a successful fundraise and subsequent exit… that’s definitely addictive.

Did you have any favourite teachers?

I have great memories with most of them (whether they would say the same is a different question)! I remember really enjoying my Design & Technology classes with Mr Pendlebury. I’ve always loved making stuff, and understanding how to manufacture things. I feel as though I always tried to take things one step further - culminating in a slightly crazy curved computer case I made in one of our final projects - no one thought it would work, but it came out awesome!

Mr. Atkinson was incredibly patient helping us understand Physics - and then becoming my sponsor for the extended essay… which several people advised me against doing in Physics, because apparently it wasn’t a sensible choice!

And of course a special mention to Mrs. Hopkins, Mrs. Lobato and Mrs. Pereira who had more patience with me than I can ever imagine and helped me through some challenging times.

Do you still keep in touch with your colleagues from St. Julian’s?

Absolutely! In fact, my close friend group is still from my school days. Pambo, who I met in the last few years of school has remained a close friend, business partner, and ultimately the closest to a brother I’ll ever have. We have a close group, many of whom moved to London and stayed in touch for the last 2 decades (almost)… including Nikolai “The Hoff”, James Harper who is back at his roots teaching Primary at St. Julian’s, and Tomás da Costa who still says yes to most of my poorly planned adventures (cycling from Germany to Rome with a few days notice being one of the highlights for sure). I can’t imagine my life without these friends, and hope we remain close, and keep building new memories together, for many years to come. 

Did attending St Julian's influence your career path in any way? 

I genuinely believe anyone attending St Julian’s is incredibly fortunate and will walk out with a strong foundation for any endeavour they choose to pursue. It’s certainly influenced my career in many ways - having the opportunity from a young age to develop certain skills, be it experimenting with new ideas in DT, or learning the foundations of Business and Economics. I left school believing that anything was possible with hard work. I think St Julian’s and the teachers who helped us through all those years were instrumental in what I’ve achieved since.

Can you talk to us about Aeguana and how everything began? 

My first job after university in 2008 was a split role between working in a warehouse, and being an ops assistant. I’d start work at 6am, and I was paid £16k a year - not quite what I had in mind! It was a vending machine company operating over 30,000 machines, and the way they managed these felt very inefficient. I didn’t quite know programming at the time, but I decided to learn it and build a system to automate many of the workflows that were being done manually (including a shocking manual Excel reconciliation between multiple spreadsheets done daily by several employees because we would hit the file size limit due to too much data). I built a system which is still running today nearly 20 years later, that automated route planning, forecasted cash collection, and optimised stock / waste. I still remember the first day I took it live for one route, and confidently said “Joe Bloggs will collect £950 today”. Everyone looked at me as if I was crazy - they were operating in a world where they had no idea how much cash was where. The driver arrived and the predicted cash was off by only a few pounds. It was the start of everything we’ve built since. 

After a year I resigned and became a freelancer, building out this product which would later become VendLive - Aeguana’s cloud platform for unattended retail. My thinking was that if one of the largest companies in this space was *that* inefficient, then everyone else must need this even more.

A few years into this journey, as Pambo was finishing his Mechanical Engineering degree, I tempted him with a bottle of Blue Label whiskey and asked him to help me design a vending machine over a weekend. We didn’t quite manage, but that design later became our first hardware product, now affectionately named the “Mini Vend”. Once we started building hardware I was hooked, and we never stopped. 

Today we have a range of products from full hardware products to digitalisation kits, enabling any vending operator to manage their estate in one platform, delivering one user experience to their consumers, and supporting a uniform payment eco-system across all these devices. It’s a unique value proposition, and it’s helped us become the market leaders in the (very fragmented) European market.

How does your role at Boost lnc fit into your journey?

Boost Inc is the result of a rebrand following an acquisition of Aeguana by one of our largest customers. After being CEO of Aeguana for 12+ years, I moved into a  different role as Chief Product & Technology Officer (a mouthful, I know). Ultimately I look after what we build, and how we build it - which is genuinely what I am most passionate about. Building great products is hard - particularly when hardware is involved. But it’s also so fulfilling to receive your first prototype, power it up, and it just works! Making stuff you can touch, and watching people around the world use it, is hard to beat. Whilst software has been the hype for many years now, I really encourage people to pursue engineering careers far beyond software alone.

What challenges have you faced when trying to set-up your own business in the tech-industry and how have you overcome them?

Oh wow, where to begin! When they say that entrepreneurship is hard, it really is. I’ve had 5 startups over the last 17 years - from frozen yogurt to automated retail - and have a lot of grey hairs to show for each of them! It’s an incredibly difficult journey, and the odds are truly stacked against you. I believe the key to success is to have someone complementary by your side, and to develop a level of persistence and resilience that will help you weather any storm. 

In the early days when founding Aeguana (around 2010), me and Pambo didn’t really know what we were doing. We had a lot of fun along the way, and we didn’t take ourselves too seriously for the first few years. In fact, several people from St Julian’s crossed paths with us! Nikolai and Felipe both ended up working with us for several years, and Adriana da Costa even joined us for an internship in London. I remember many all nighters writing code with Nik, watching Samurai movies in a windowless office, and then showering before running straight into a pitch the next morning. It was a glamorous time!

I believe you can be successful in anything, tech or otherwise. Finding a great idea isn’t really that hard. Executing on it, ensuring you don’t run out of money, building - and retaining - an A-class team when you don’t have the resources to pay for them, and never giving up is what will ultimately lead to success. Also being thick-skinned. You’ll fall out with people. You’ll sue and get sued. You’ll feel like there is no way out. But I truly believe entrepreneurship is one of the greatest experiences, with one of the steepest but most fulfilling learning curves. I also firmly believe in understanding every part of your business before hiring someone to do it for you. Can’t get any sales because you don’t know marketing? Learn it. Can’t build a mobile app because you can’t code? Do a course and create your own MVP. You don’t need to be the best at each function - but you need to understand it well enough, and how it serves your business, before you let someone else take over from you. Finally, don't ever worry about the competition. I’ve worried far too much over the years, and seen so many companies that I was convinced would crush us come and go. Stay laser focused on what you’re building and what your customers want (and need), and you’ll succeed.

What advice can you give Y13, or other Alumni, that want to follow a tech career path?

You really can do whatever you set your mind to. We have tools to learn anything we want these days. We can build prototypes, learn new programming languages, deploy things with a few clicks, and scale more effortlessly than ever before. My advice is to simply do whatever you’re passionate about - build that side project, and learn that programming language. Tech careers are changing rapidly as we speak - AI is transforming many industries and will continue to do so, displacing many junior and mid level roles. By the time you graduate university, the market will look very different from what it does today.

I’ve interviewed thousands of people and finding good engineers isn’t easy. But finding engineers who have strong soft skills, can lead and inspire others, and understand commercial drivers, is incredibly rare. These more well-rounded profiles will always command a premium. So always think beyond the strict remit of what you think the role is - it’s never just about writing code or designing metalwork. It’s about building world-class products, teams, and ideas.