How one Burnley man has used AI to make a name for himself and his hometown / Burnley brand manager Rachel Bayley's column

And one Burnley entrepreneur has been inspired to create a similar app, all built within the space of two weeks and sold ‘for an offer he couldn’t refuse’.

Sam Barrowclough built ChatCSV, a personal data analyst that allows you to make sense of complex spreadsheets. He built it from his home in Burnley in the space of a fortnight and initially was rejected when he placed it on a marketplace. Potential buyers wanted an app to have users first, so that is what Sam did. Sam was inspired by success stories on Twitter, where he’d seen software engineers promote their apps and secure a buyer.

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“I sent ChatCSV to friends to test it for me, then I reached out to tech influencers on X [formerly Twitter]. Many wanted upwards of £1,000 to promote my app, but I came across someone who thought it was a brilliant idea and said he’d share it for free. David, the CEO of a tech company called Flatfile, contacted me on LinkedIn. He said one of his board members had seen ChatCSV on a popular tech newsletter after it had blown up on X and wanted to have a chat.

"It was 5pm on a Friday, so I told him I was off for a couple of pints and could we speak on Monday, “ Sam told me as we met at his flexible working space at The Landmark. We love Sam’s response – a down to earth and honest Burnley response for sure! But what happened next? Austin, Denver, Manchester Road…Sam and David had a Zoom call and David presented Sam with “an offer I couldn’t refuse” to buy ChatCSV. “I was made up – he also offered me a job as a software engineer. It’s a fully remote role as the company are based in Denver, USA, but they bring staff together for offsites. I’ve been to Austin and Atlanta, and I only started on the 4th of August,” Sam said. The rest of the time, Sam splits his time between his home off Manchester Road in Burnley, The Landmark and Starbucks (“I love working in the Pioneer Place one, it’s great to have these locations for a change of scenery”).

It’s certainly an impressive story, but despite being able to work from anywhere in the world, Sam has chosen to remain in Burnley. “I’ve always lived here; I attended the former St Theodore’s RC School and went to Burnley College. I was studying sports science but realised it wasn’t for me. I decided to join the army instead, but my sister talked me out of it and said since I was good with computers, why didn’t I do a computer

science degree,” Sam continued. It wasn’t plain sailing – Sam failed his final year as he decided to concentrate on making music and had a release on Universal Music. After four years, he decided to leave the industry and moved into a software engineer role at Freewebstore in Burnley.

“Burnley is home for me. I have everything right on my doorstep with my partner by my side. it’s homely here and has everything I need to be honest. The countryside is incredible, it’s great to pop into The Landmark for that sense of business community. I’m looking to rent,

hopefully somewhere in Burnley with a countryside view.”

Let’s hope 2024 continues to be an amazing year for Burnley and its determined residents– last year saw many incredible highs, and with our renewed reputation on the global stage, long may it continue.