Latest Updates & Insights – Smithysoft Blog

latest

Workforce Power Shift: AI Surveillance — Insights from MIT Technology Review 2025

Executive TL;DR AI-powered monitoring accelerates productivity while straining legal, cultural, and ethical boundaries. * Impact: Rising compliance exposure and trust deficits. * Top regions: U.S., EU, Nordic robotics hubs. * Modal leader: Amazon; Copenhagen robotics ecosystem. * Emerging tech: AI companions, bio-inspired robotics, genetic time machine. * Upside: Efficiency and strategic IP advantage — if responsibly deployed. Executive Overview AI-powered monitoring and automation are

SmithySoft®Jul 10, 2025

AI Investment Surge: Insights from the AI Index 2025

Executive TL;DR AI funding hit records ($252.3B), with generative video and small efficient models reshaping innovation. Public sector investments (Singapore $1B, Abu Dhabi $100B) expanded strategic competition. Adoption surged, but Responsible AI remains immature — implicit bias persists. AI drove 10–20% revenue gains in marketing, 15–30% cost reductions in service operations, and 8–15% efficiency improvements in supply chains. 57% of deployments augment work rather than automate it entirely

SmithySoft®Jul 8, 2025

Navigating Demographic Disruption: Growth Strategy Insights from McKinsey Quarterly #2, 2025

Executive TL;DR Aging populations, IP-driven disruption, and geopolitical divergence are reshaping growth. C-level leaders must align to arenas, S-curves, and innovation pathways. * Impact: Slowing GDP, reshaped labor, $48T market expansion * Hot regions: Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, EU, U.S. * Winning firms: Arena-dominant, IP-rich, innovation-diversified * Tech levers: GenAI, EV, cloud, modular biotech * Upside: 2x growth velocity for firms executing all three growth pathways Executive O

SmithySoft®Jul 3, 2025

Olympic Ambitions & Digital Disruption: Strategic Signals from the Global Padel Report 2025

Executive Summary Padel is no longer an emerging sport — it's a rapidly professionalizing, globally scaling ecosystem at the intersection of digital innovation, urban recreation, and Olympic ambition. In 2025, two forces are converging: padel's expansion across APAC, LATAM, and Europe, and a high-stakes push for Olympic inclusion by 2032. Yet momentum alone won't carry the sport forward — the next chapter depends on structural maturity, digital advantage, and strategic clarity. For investors,

SmithySoft®Jul 1, 2025

IT Support vs IT Maintenance: What’s the difference and Why your business needs both

Any company uses various IT technologies and IT systems - from simple single-user computers to complex, networked complete solutions. But like any essential tool, your IT infrastructure requires regular maintenance to avoid costly malfunctions. Maintaining and managing these systems can be a challenging task. You desperately need adequate ongoing IT support and maintenance. So, what are maintenance and support services? How do maintenance and support services differ? What type of technical s

SmithySoft®Jun 28, 2025

Future-Proofing Strategy: Executive Insights from “The Global 50” Megatrends 2025

Executive Overview The Dubai Future Foundation’s Global 50 (2025) report captures a moment of convergence: systemic risks colliding with exponential innovation. It reveals ten megatrends ranging from quantum materials and AI mediation to climate volatility and data sovereignty. These are not isolated phenomena — they’re tightly interwoven forces reshaping industry, policy, and humanity. The imperative is clear: leaders must navigate a dual transformation — adopting frontier technologies while

SmithySoft®Jun 26, 2025

Strategic Resilience vs. Valuation Tension in the S&P 500

Despite high forward valuations, equity and bond markets in 2025 continue to show strategic resilience, underpinned by earnings growth, stable consumer metrics, and strong AI-driven capex. At the same time, macro conditions like quantitative tightening (QT), supply chain fragility, and shifting stock–bond correlations introduce portfolio stress points. History remains the long-term investor’s ally. Since 1980, the S&P 500 has endured intra-year drops averaging 14.1% — but still finished positiv

SmithySoft®Jun 24, 2025

Driving the Future: Executive Takeaways from WIPO’s 2025 Transportation Innovation Report

As industries pivot toward sustainability and digitalization, transportation stands at the epicenter of transformation. The WIPO 2025 Technology Trends Report reveals a striking redefinition of global mobility, IP strategy, and innovation leadership. For C-level leaders, these trends are not just academic — they’re shaping the competitive edge of tomorrow’s markets. Here’s what you need to know. The “Twin Transition” Reshaping Mobility Innovation in transportation is undergoing what WIPO cal

SmithySoft®Jun 19, 2025

EU AI Act: risk classification and impact on digital accessibility

The use of Atificial Intelligence in the European Union is regulated by the AI Act, the world’s first comprehensive AI law. Proposed by the Commission in April 2021, and agreed by the European Parliament and the Council in December 2023, the AI Act addresses potential risks to the health, safety, and fundamental rights of citizens while supporting the development of innovative and responsible AI in the EU. What was the goal of the legislators? Parliament's priority was to make sure that AI syst

SmithySoft®Jun 14, 2025

Intelligent Automation: How AI Boosts Business Performance

Artificial Intelligence is reshaping business process automation, making workflows faster, smarter, and more efficient. Business process automation isn't new, but the introduction of AI has changed what’s possible. Now, by applying AI to standard automation, businesses can streamline all kinds of tasks. Across numerous industries, companies that choose to automate their repetitive tasks through an IA assistant stand to see plenty of benefits, including increased efficiency, cost savings and an

SmithySoft®May 28, 2025

Meta HYPERNOVA smart glasses – a big step towards future of Augmented Reality

In 2025, wearable technology will evolve into an ecosystem of smart, health-conscious, and performance-driven devices that promise to enhance everyday life. Among the most popular trends in this area: smartwatches, which are driving the wearable market with innovations in AI, health monitoring, connectivity, and also smart glasses and smart rings, which are gaining traction with lightweight designs and innovative health-tracking capabilities. The newsmaker among smart glasses manufacturers at

SmithySoft®May 14, 2025

Understanding ADA Website Compliance: A Guide to Digital Accessibility

Nowadays, digital accessibility has become a fundamental principle for all companies that understand that user needs always come first. In this sense, the key aspect is accessibility and equal access for all people, eliminating any form of discrimination on any grounds. 35 years ago, in 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became a law. And it is America’s most important law regarding accessibility and civil rights for people with disabilities, including web accessibility. As web i

SmithySoft®Apr 28, 2025

WCAG: A Comprehensive Guide to Web Accessibility Standards

WCAG, which stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, is the key to unlocking an inclusive digital experience that is accessible to all. These Web Content Accessibility Guidelines were developed by the World Wide Web Consortium. They are technical standards that help to make the digital world accessible to people with disabilities. WCAG is not a law, but is a universal set of internationally accepted standards. Many laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 5

SmithySoft®Apr 14, 2025

What is Section 508, and Why is it important to follow

Section 508 is an important law in the United States that makes it so that digital technology and electronic content must be accessible to people with disabilities. The USA Accessibility laws ensure that anyone can use a particular product or service, no matter what their abilities are. Accessibility does not discriminate but rather equalizes everyone, giving EVERYONE the same opportunities. What is Section 508? Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act is a reform to the original Act of 1973. T

SmithySoft®Mar 28, 2025

10 important Startup Conferences & Events 2025 in the USA

America has long been a leader in business excellence and innovation that creates groundbreaking technologies. Of the world’s most successful companies with the largest capitalization, nine of the top ten are located here. The largest number of unicorn companies is also in the United States. That’s why such conferences and tech startup events happening in the United States are essential for all global startups, entrepreneurs, founders, and investors. Because they outline the directions in which

SmithySoft®Mar 14, 2025

AGI: What is it, and what to expect from it?

AGI is an acronym for Artificial General Intelligence, which stands for strong artificial intelligence. This type of AI blurs the line between human and machine intelligence and is the main topic of this article. General artificial intelligence is defined as the intelligence of machines that allows them to understand, learn, and perform intelligent tasks in the same way that humans do. Although AGI does not officially exist in practice yet, comprehensive research and development are underway,

SmithySoft®Feb 28, 2025

What is BITV 2.0 and how it enhances website accessibility

We have already written about the mandatory legal requirement for every business operating or providing services in the European Union to adhere to inclusivity and digital accessibility. The European Accessibility Act (ЕАА) was adopted in April 2019, and by June 2022, each EU member state was to develop its specific laws. Let's look closer today at Germany and their case of implementing the inclusivity requirements. This country has taken a proactive position in ensuring inclusivity for its cit

SmithySoft®Feb 14, 2025

Top VR Creation Apps for 2025: Our Expert Picks

2024 has taken a big step forward in the use of immersive technologies in our lives. This is especially true for companies that sought to improve learning and operational processes with the help of progressive technologies – and did so. Last year, virtual reality ceased to be a tool mainly for gaming or entertainment. Augmented and virtual reality technologies (AR and VR) began to be widely used for remote collaboration, training, testing and prototyping, in many creative attractions. Hardwar

SmithySoft®Jan 28, 2025

Essential Guide to SaaS Development in 2025 for Business Growth

Do you remember the times when we had to go to the store and buy a licensed CD if we wanted to install any software on our PC? Perhaps, some of you cannot even imagine that it was a thing back then! Most of the apps we use daily are now the result of the SaaS development process. SaaS stands for ‘Software as a Service’ and describes a model for accessing web apps over the Internet. In this model, the software acts as a service provided by the owner who created it and handles the maintenance ind

SmithySoft®Jan 14, 2025

Happy New Year!

We wish you joyful, pleasant holidays filled with kindness and warmth! Plan, Dream, Discover new things, And explore the digital world with us! Sincerely, always friendly and open to you - the SmithySoft® team

SmithySoft®Dec 28, 2024

Low-Code vs No-Code vs Full-Cycle Development: What’s Best for Your Startup

Today, almost every startup needs to create a website or mobile application to be presented in the modern digital field, so that users can conveniently find, contact, and interact with it. Everyone knows about the traditional solution to this situation – custom web development. But modern technologies allow even those not skilled in programming to create full-fledged websites and applications. Yes, low-code and no-code can be “first aid” in certain situations. But is it always for everyone?

SmithySoft®Dec 14, 2024

Color of the Year 2025 – Mocha Mousse: simple and comforting

The Pantone Color Institute has chosen the Color of the Year for 2025: PANTONE 17-1230 Mocha Mousse – a warming, brown hue imbued with richness. The coffee tone is predicted to dominate the design industry over the next 365 days. It nurtures us with its suggestion of the delectable qualities of chocolate and coffee, answering our desire for comfort. Mocha mousse is a progression of last year’s color of the year: Peach Fuzz, which reflected the need for comfort and coziness. Aside from the ac

SmithySoft®Dec 6, 2024

WebXR: capabilities, applications, prospects

In this article, we have collected information about modern digital technology that allows immersion in virtual worlds to explore augmented reality and enjoy exciting experiences WITHOUT using special apps or devices. We are talking about WebXR - Web Extended Reality - a leap into the interactive network, offering users around the world opportunities for learning, entertainment, and social interaction in virtual spaces through modern web browsers. We’ve already written about the features of a

SmithySoft®Nov 28, 2024

Unlocking Growth with Software Re-engineering: Key Benefits and Process

Even if you once had “the best software of the decade”, it’s clearly not enough these days. In the modern technological world that is rapidly developing, there is a need for constant improvement, renewal, modernization, and transformation. Does this mean that everything old should be thrown away and start all over again? No. You just need to apply for re-engineering. And this is something we can help you with! When do you need to think about the change? If your business isn’t performing

SmithySoft®Nov 14, 2024

Why Your Business Needs a Software Audit: Key Benefits and Best Practices

The absolute majority of companies use a lot of digital tools and apps in their operational activity. Companies are like human organisms, where everything works until it doesn’t. A moment comes when the organism starts failing, and then we conduct diagnostics, detect the reason for illness, and eliminate it. A software audit acts very similarly, it checks if the app functions properly from law, operational, and usability points of view, detects violations, and draws up recommendations about how

SmithySoft®Oct 28, 2024

The Complete Guide to Mobile App Development Process

It’s hard to imagine our lives without smartphones, without all those useful and convenient features. The number of phone owners grows each year. In 2024, there will be more than 4.8 billion new phone users, and the number will reach 6.4 billion by 2029. Alongside this constant user influx, the time spent on the phone’s usage increases as well. The researchers counted that during a day, the user grabs their phone 58 times per average, which also means every 20-25 minutes. In half of the cases,

SmithySoft®Oct 14, 2024

Inclusive App Design: A Guide to Mobile App Accessibility Standards

Inclusion is not a feature, not exclusivity, not singling out. It’s all about including and considering everyone. In other words, the inclusive design process is all about designers thinking about lots of different people and what they need. It’s about creating products that make everyone feel included, needed, and valued. We have already written about Why is mobile accessibility so important? Today, we’re going to focus on accessibility standards for mobile apps, current legal requirements, w

SmithySoft®Sep 27, 2024

Understanding the Lean Startup Methodology

There is one significant drawback to the traditional way of starting a business: it takes too much time. It can take months or even more than a year from drawing up a business plan and conducting market research to obtaining financing and launching the business. The traditional method is more reliable and thorough, provided that the business plan is implemented without significant changes and there is a stable market environment. But this is the biggest risk today, as there is very little stabil

SmithySoft®Aug 28, 2024

European Accessibility Act: what and when will change for Digital Accessibility

Digital Accessibility today is much more than just a fashionable and useful trend. It is a necessity. Back in 2019, the European Union took a huge step to guarantee inclusiveness in various spheres of life by adopting The European Accessibility Act (EAA). By June 2022, each member state of the European Union had to develop the necessary laws. And their implementation should be ensured by June 28, 2025. Therefore, in a few months, the EAA will be a REQUIREMENT, not a directive, that is, it will

SmithySoft®Aug 14, 2024

EU Grants for Business Growth

In February 2024, SmithySoft was registered as a participant in the Business Bridge — Ukraine-Ready4EU program. This is a project to support Ukrainian companies in preparing for integration into the European Union's single market. In particular, our company participates in the competition for a grant related to the organization of business meetings, official events, conferences, company missions or brokerage events in the EU that promote partnerships with businesses in the EU member states. *

SmithySoft®Aug 9, 2024

Building a Product Roadmap in 2024: What You Need to Know

Without a roadmap, a travel plan, and a clear understanding of the final destination, you will drive aimlessly in different directions, wandering, burning a lot of gasoline, spending a lot of money, getting into various unpleasant situations, and are unlikely to succeed. A roadmap for business works in a similar way – it is vital, it will help you get to your destination without complications. A product roadmap is not a to-do list or a wish list, it is a reliable “GPS” of your product's journe

SmithySoft®Jul 28, 2024

Product Discovery is a process you can’t do without

You can either create a product properly or create the proper product. Can you tell the difference? In other words, what will be more important for your customers: the way you developed a product, or the specific, right, important, and useful product itself? Of course, the latter. The Product Discovery process is all about finding the optimal alignment between your product and its users. What is product discovery? It is the process of identifying the user’s needs (or pain points) and testin

SmithySoft®Jul 14, 2024

10 Effective Ideation Techniques for All Teams

An idea is an essential component of any successful business. Firstly, it is the idea that starts a business, and secondly, without new ideas that are relevant and needed by consumers, your business will not stay afloat for long. Ideas keep a business alive and ensure its advancement, especially in today's fast-paced competition. "Ideation" literally stands for "idea generation," which is the process of spawning various ideas. But it's often not about the quantity of ideas but their quality. Th

SmithySoft®Jun 28, 2024

Essential things about Cloud Migration: benefits, challenges, types, strategies, tools

At some point, all companies face the possibility or, more often, the necessity of cloud migration. This option is becoming a requirement of the times and is driven by a whole set of convincing advantages: scalability, flexibility, cost-effectiveness, security, etc. But moving to the cloud does not imply a one-size-fits-all solution. There are many nuances, opportunities, and features for different business needs. Let's take a closer look at these specifics. What is Cloud Migration? This is

SmithySoft®Jun 14, 2024

Understanding Unit Economics: A Critical Metric for Startup Success

You need to know about Unit Economics regardless of whether you are a CFO of a powerful and well-known company or just an early-stage startup. After all, understanding unit economics gives you an insight into the viability and profitability of your business, and helps you decide whether to scale your business. Everyone knows that to stay afloat, every startup must be profitable, i.e., your business’s revenue must be higher than all the expenses you invest in. How do you figure it out? The most

SmithySoft®May 28, 2024

10 most remarkable Cutting-Edge Technologies for the near future

The peculiarity of such technologies is that it is always a changing concept. One could think that such technologies were unrealistic. But today we use them and they have become game-changers and tomorrow there will be new cutting-edge technologies. Not long ago, technologies like cloud services, artificial intelligence, or virtual reality were confined to the realm of sci-fi movies. But today, they’re a normal part of many businesses and everyday gadgets. Soon, they’ll be even more common. Wh

SmithySoft®May 14, 2024

Why You Need a Minimum Viable Product?

Before doing a lot, do enough. In these words lies the essence of MVP, or Minimum Viable Product. Entering the startup scene nowadays might be tricky, where hundreds of companies compete with each other. You must find a product that fits the market as early as possible and create a product your customers truly want. And that's where MVP comes in handy. What is it? A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is the simplest and the most basic version you should create to sell it on the market. MVP has on

SmithySoft®Apr 28, 2024

Mastering the Competitor's Slide: Elevating Your Presentation

The competitive analysis slide is crucial for your presentation. Even more so – this slide can be the most critical in the entire presentation. It will inform potential investors whether your startup stands a chance or not. If you present minimal competition or none in your presentation, it signals one of two things to investors: either there's no market/demand, or you don't know (or don't want to know) about your competitors. Both scenarios are not in your favor. Why? Because the absence of c

SmithySoft®Mar 28, 2024

7 Most Common Applications of VR and AR

You may hear a lot about augmented and virtual reality being the revolution of modernity, the most impactful technological trend of 2024, etc. However, the peak of this technology is still ahead. We are witnessing another stage of its evolution, but the real revolution is yet to come. Therefore, now is a great time to delve into the topic and invest (both materially and intellectually) to prepare for the future. First, let's clarify the terms you will encounter in this topic: Augmented Realit

SmithySoft®Mar 14, 2024

Top 20 Startups in Ukraine to Be Proud Of

Grammarly, Reface, People.ai, GitLab, Petcube, Jooble, and Genesis – are successful companies known worldwide; among them are recognized unicorns. However, there are only a few who know that they were founded by Ukrainians. Ukraine has something to be proud of! Many startups founded here are well-known globally and rightfully receive international recognition and significant investments. Let’s discover the 20 most outstanding and successful startups founded by Ukrainians. We present them chron

SmithySoft®Feb 28, 2024

New unicorn companies in 2023

Unicorn Company is a private startup valued at over $1 billion. In other words, the company has reached a valuation of $1 billion without being publicly listed on any stock market. Unicorns derive their value from investor assessments participating in the financial rounds of these companies. Since all unicorns are startups, investors primarily base their value on growth potential and expected development. The term was first introduced by venture capitalist Aileen Lee in 2013. She wrote about t

SmithySoft®Feb 14, 2024

Why is mobile accessibility so important?

Mobile phones have become an essential part of our lives: communication, education, research, entertainment, navigation, shopping, social media, and more. The use of mobile phones continues to grow and will continue to do so because it is convenient, cost-effective, and beneficial. Some compelling figures: * As of 2023, there are approximately 6.92 billion smartphone users worldwide, accounting for 86.29% of the global population. * The number of unique mobile phone users has increased by

SmithySoft®Jan 28, 2024

Anatomy of a URL You Should Know

URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator and is a standard for specifying the address of a resource on the Internet. It is used to identify and locate resources such as web pages, images, videos, audio files, documents, and more on the World Wide Web. A URL not only points to the location of a resource (page, video, file, etc.) on the Internet but also provides information about the request, page number, or even the website architecture. At first, it may seem like you don’t need to know the dif

SmithySoft®Jan 14, 2024

Market Validation of Your Business Idea: Methods and Tips

Market validation is the process of determining how successful your product will be in the market. Why is this necessary? To save your time and money from spending them in vain. So, market validation is done at the initial stage of your startup—right after you’ve come up with your super idea. Is this idea truly brilliant, timely, and functional? Does it have a chance to survive right now? Does it need some tweaking or refinement? If so, how? Market validation research is one of the crucial step

SmithySoft®Dec 20, 2023

Color of the Year 2024 – Peach Fuzz

The Pantone Color Institute has chosen the Color of the Year for 2024: PANTONE 13-1023 Peach Fuzz – a velvety-gentle peach whose all-embracing spirit enriches heart, mind and body. Іts heartfelt peach hue brings a feeling of kindness and tenderness, communicating a message of caring and sharing, community, and collaboration. A warm and cozy shade highlighting our desire for togetherness with others or for enjoying a moment of stillness and the feeling of sanctuary this creates. Poetic and rom

SmithySoft®Dec 7, 2023

10 Graphic Design Trends in 2024

In 2023, significant changes related to artificial intelligence (AI) integration into leading design software occurred, anticipating a substantial impact on the future of the graphic design industry. However, it's too early to speak of AI's truly epochal influence on graphic design—it's still being experimented with, explored, and mastered. Meanwhile, researchers outline the "landscape" of graphic design in 2024 as a merging of the past and the future, where nostalgia meets cutting-edge techno

SmithySoft®Nov 28, 2023

Clutch Names SmithySoft as one of the Game-Changing VR Companies & AR Companies in Ukraine

A lot of companies are now catching up with new technologies and solutions in the market. One that has been taking center stage in the past year is the AR/VR industry! Many businesses from different sectors have been integrating this new tech into their processes, services, and even products. Learn more about AR and VR today with the help of our team at SmithySoft. In our current times, there is no nation more dedicated to drive and determination than the Ukrainian people. Our clients were plea

SmithySoft®Nov 24, 2023

New Cyber Threats to Prepare for Right Now

Technology significantly simplifies our lives. However, as we increasingly depend on it, the risks it poses to individuals and businesses grow proportionally. The most significant danger of cyber threats is that they can destroy not only a company’s or an individual’s material resources but can easily impact the functionality and well-being of an individual and an entire country. There are well-known cases where cyber-attacks led to power outages, disruption of telephone networks, medical equi

SmithySoft®Nov 14, 2023

Avoid These: 10 Design Mistakes in Pitch Decks

Even if you possess the most valuable information in the world, it will remain useless if you cannot convey it correctly. The design of your Pitch Deck is crucial: it determines whether your audience will perceive information about your startup and whether you can communicate its true value. The secret to a successful presentation is to make people listen by telling them the truth in the form of a story and accompanying it with expressive visuals! So, let's look at the 10 most common design mi

SmithySoft®Oct 28, 2023

How to Verify a Business Partner Registered in the USA?

Why is this important? For at least three reasons: money, time, and security. Without proper due diligence on your business partner, you risk losing money and another equally valuable resource—time. Whether you`re a client or a service provider, there`s always a level of risk involved. It`s crucial to verify your partner to protect your business. You can do this independently or with the help of various private companies, many of which offer such services for a fee. In this guide, we will focus

SmithySoft®Oct 14, 2023

How to Check a Company in Ukraine: Using Open Registries

Performing "business intelligence" is a valuable option if you want to protect yourself and understand how real and reliable a company with which you intend to collaborate. Ukraine, in this regard, is quite progressive and reliable. There are several ways to check companies, especially in the IT sector. The simplest and most accessible method of verification is by using open internet sources. This will not only help you verify a business partner but also save on your security service. Diia.Ci

SmithySoft®Sep 28, 2023

10 Psychological Tips to Boost Sales

Harvard Business School professor Gerald Zaltman claims that 95% of our purchasing decisions occur in the subconscious. But how can a marketer tap into the subconscious? By engaging with human psychology. No modern business can thrive without the skills of sales psychology. The market is saturated with a vast array of products, services, and job offerings. Simply presenting your product won't impress anyone. Therefore, you won't sell it to anyone. Nowadays, all advertising campaigns don't openl

SmithySoft®Sep 14, 2023

Why do startups need a Virtual Data Room?

A virtual data room (VDR) is also called a corporate repository and is an online repository for definitive business documents. When will you encounter the concept of VDR? At the stage when it's time for your startup to raise funds. You've prepared and presented your Pitch Deck and started approaching investors, and if the meeting with them went well, it often ends with a request to share your "data room." So what exactly is it? The virtual data room is an online platform, a virtual space for ho

SmithySoft®Aug 28, 2023

Risks and Rewards of Investing in Deep Tech

Some investors joke that no matter how cool the technology is, $1 earned in a Deep Tech startup costs the same as $1 earned in any other startup, regardless of the "depth" of the technology. However, Deep Tech is indeed "Deep," so investors rightfully expect a "1+" dollar return. And this "plus" can be very substantial... Deep technologies are changing the world – no exaggeration. Just like the internet once did. The potential is enormous: Tesla, SpaceX, the synthetic biology revolution, flyin

SmithySoft®Aug 14, 2023

Why Startups Fail: 10+2 Reasons

The reality is that nine out of ten startups fail due to various objective and subjective reasons. Understanding the most common causes of failure can help business owners manage their expectations, considering some risks (though it's impossible to account for all of them). So, let's look at the top ten most common reasons for startup failure. But not failure from the investors' perspective, for whom failure means anything that doesn't return their invested capital with profit. We will consider

SmithySoft®Jul 28, 2023

How to evaluate your SaaS product? Effective pricing models for startups

Creating a product is just the beginning. Often, SaaS companies spend countless hours developing and promoting their exceptional product, which they release to the market expecting an instant triumph. But suddenly, there is no triumph. Why? Your product is excellent, so could there be something wrong with its price? Is it too high or too low? Why is it unattractive to customers? The pricing model you choose can either improve or break your business. Let's be honest, how much time have you spen

SmithySoft®Jul 14, 2023

How to Prepare the Perfect Pitch Deck: Part 2

Guy Kawasaki's Golden Formula: 10/20/30 Guy Kawasaki is known as one of the most famous specialists in the world in the field of marketing and business strategies. He is a marketing preacher for many popular technology brands, a successful author of more than a dozen books on entrepreneurship and branding, an investor, and a Silicon Valley business consultant. His methodology for creating PowerPoint presentations with the 10/20/30 formula is truly textbook and has been working successfully for

SmithySoft®Jun 28, 2023

How to prepare the perfect Pitch Deck: 10 noteworthy tips

You can find hundreds of examples and templates for creating a Pitch Deck online. But you need a unique presentation that will set you apart from others and not dissolve like a drop of water in the "sea" of startups. We will tell you how to create it.. Technically, you can prepare a Pitch Deck yourself (using ready-made templates from the Internet) or allocate money from the budget to pay for the work of professionals in this matter. But in any case, you must pay attention to the "golden" rules

SmithySoft®Jun 14, 2023

Cloud Computing Services: which provider to choose?

Cloud technologies are a trend that will stay with us for a long time and will only gain momentum in the future. Global spending on cloud services grew by 33% to reach $62.3 billion in the second quarter of 2022. Previously, we stored data on computer hard drives or USB drives. Nowadays, cloud computing services have replaced that old technology. Thanks to the "cloud," users have access to their data ad do not have to take care of the operating system, and software they work with. The word "clo

SmithySoft®May 28, 2023

Team building in a startup: how to attract the right people to the project?

“Choose the first 10 employees very carefully, as they determine the next 100” E. Brickman, Gruntwork Man is not omnipotent. And no matter how talented and brilliant the founder and developer of a startup is, it is unlikely that they will reach great heights on their own. A team is needed; ideally, a well-coordinated professional dream team. But we know that the ideal does not exist. Fortunately, many proven ways will allow one to get as close as possible to that perfection. So, how to choose t

SmithySoft®May 14, 2023

How to Make an Irresistible Offer?

Many believe they need a unique product to create an unbeatable offer for the buyer. But it is not so. A product can be truly unique, helpful, and perfect, but this does not give a 100% guarantee that customers will buy it. Why? Because during the sale, the determining factor is not the product itself but its value, necessity, and profitability for the client. So the key to successful sales is focusing on the customer's needs rather than your product. So let's find out how to make an irresistib

SmithySoft®Apr 28, 2023

Quiet Quitting Trend And How To Deal With It?

The phenomenon of quiet quitting is an excellent opportunity to rethink the organizational culture and the construction of relations between the employee and the employer. For a few years, the term has become a corporate buzzword and a new cultural phenomenon. What to do with this phenomenon? How to react? What does it threaten? Let’s understand this further. What is a “Quiet Quitting”? No, this does not mean the employee suddenly quits or stops working quietly without explanation. Quiet Quit

SmithySoft®Apr 14, 2023

Top 10 Useful AI Platforms for SEO

Choosing the right AI SEO tool is vital for your business. Why? It is obvious: because you want to improve your position in search engines, reach as large an audience as possible, overtake your competitors and, accordingly, earn more money. To stay ahead of the curve, companies must analyze large volumes of data in real-time with an exceptional sophistication level. Artificial intelligence can do this job faster and more efficiently, saving valuable time. AI for SEO is a way to do things that w

SmithySoft®Mar 31, 2023

A product designer is a must-have for both the company and the client

There is much more to the Product Designer than just the design; this role is a complex approach to solving a task in one work unit. Many titles and categories of designers create a variety of products; almost anything you can imagine and come across in your everyday life. In a company, UX/UI designers, graphic designers, motion/animation designers, analysts, prototype developers, etc., can work on product creation, and each of them does their "piece" of work to pass it on. It often happens t

SmithySoft®Mar 17, 2023

If you are always "very busy", it means that you have a weak strategy

Often, when people say that they are very busy and up to their ears in work, and do not have time "for nonsense" (that is, free time, time for themselves), they expect, at least, respect from those who hear it. Or they want to prove themselves in demand, irreplaceable, and unique, in contrast to those who are "not so busy". But an experienced and successful person will only smile in response to "heavy busyness", and business coaches and psychologists will say that you need to change your strateg

SmithySoft®Feb 28, 2023

ChatGPT: Revolution or Danger?

On November 30, 2022, the OpenAI company presented the ChatGPT chatbot to the general public. It is a neural network with an advanced language model that can actively participate in discussions and generate extended answers to questions, analyzing a deep layer of information, predicting, taking into account previous conversations, etc., like a person. So, can ChatGPT replace human intelligence? ChatGPT is a real revolutionary milestone in the development of artificial intelligence. It is too ea

SmithySoft®Feb 13, 2023

Top 5 IT trends in 2023 you should be aware of

A world of global instability is the world you and I live in today. Pandemic? War? Inflation? Earthquake? Tsunami? Geopolitical changes? Nuclear war? Can anyone say with certainty what will happen tomorrow? In such a time of turbulence, traditional patterns of doing business break down; flexibility, originality, spontaneity, and creativity are required. From this point of view, let's try to look at what is happening in the field of forming trends in the IT industry. 1. Pushing the boundaries e

SmithySoft®Jan 26, 2023

Zero-based budgeting – a breath of fresh air for companies in unstable times?

Companies often shy away from this method because they fear it or think it means “starting from scratch.” Zero Based Budgeting (ZBB) is a structured process that can create a culture of cost management. Faced with high inflation and an uncertain outlook, financial managers are increasingly forced to use tools to reduce costs in the areas of operations, real estate, logistics, sales, and marketing. And this is where a long-known but effective method of saving money for companies enters the arena

SmithySoft®Jan 14, 2023

Feeling Christmassy?

The team of the SmithySoft® software house sincerely wishes you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We hope that exploring our blog was fun and enlightening, that it did well in highlighting the points of growth, and helped transform your outlook as you found answers to questions about the issues and stories that matter to you. May the coming year be filled only with bright and happy moments. Take care of the most precious thing Reach for new heights Enjoy every moment of your life Have

SmithySoft®Dec 23, 2022

Easy ways to supercharge sales using emotions

This truth is often forgotten or not believed in. So here's a reminder: Emotions are critical to marketing – maybe even more than you thought. According to an analysis by the British Institute of Advertising Practitioners, the Independent Project Analysis (IPA dataBANK), which contains 1,400 examples of successful advertising campaigns submitted to the IPA Effectiveness Award competition over the past three decades, campaigns with purely emotional content performed approximately twice as well a

SmithySoft®Dec 14, 2022

Graphic design trends and anti-trends of 2023

The definition of any trends and tendencies are often generalized judgments, which, like everything in this world, have exceptions. However, when creating your unique product, you should not neglect these trends because without knowing the moods, novelties, demands, and requirements of society, it is unlikely to achieve the main task, which is to build an effective and efficient visual communication between the owner (customer, author) and the recipient (consumer, buyer). For this reason, we ha

SmithySoft®Nov 28, 2022

10 curious business ideas for startups in 2023

The year 2022 brought many changes in all areas of human life and activity throughout the world. The redistribution of capital, money flows, influence, and geopolitics; in addition to that economic problems, wars, cataclysms, crises, etc., caused the decline of some seemingly reliable areas of business activity, and vice versa - activated some quite unexpected markets. We offer our top 10 business ideas that may be interesting and relevant for development in the coming year. 1. "Handyman" ser

SmithySoft®Nov 14, 2022

Low Capital Intensive Business

Let's start with the major question: is it possible to start a profitable business without sky-high investments? In short, it is. Keep reading if you want to know the details. Yes, one can open a business by investing a small amount, however, they should clearly understand that the less money they want to invest, the more time they will have to invest: into the search for ideas, the research and analysis of the market situation, in search of a free niche, into organizing work, finding supplier

SmithySoft®Aug 14, 2022

Examples of using CSS instead of JS

Nowadays, it is very difficult to meet a site created without using JS. The speed of the Internet is high and this allows you to create complex sites, while the user sees the page loading quickly. But CSS has properties that are rarely talked about and rarely used, some of them are new and some are not. Advantages of using CSS over JS: * Speed of code activation increases * Smooth execution * Site loading speed decreases due to code reduction and a reduction in the number of connections *

SmithySoft®Jul 28, 2022

A website of awesome Github Profile READMEs

GitHub is one of the largest web services for collaborative software development. It is really difficult to find a developer who does not have an account there. But come on, have you seen these profiles? The name is indicated because it must be filled in during registration, and everything that is not required, of course, it’s not there. And it's good if the profile at least contains a photo. Yes, GitHub is a working tool, not a CV that should "sell" you on the market. But it turns out that the

SmithySoft®Jun 28, 2022

Value Chain, Value Shop, and Value Network

There are different generic forms of value configuration, but in every concept, value comes first. It can be thought of as the financial equivalent that customers are willing to pay to get what is important to them but what they do not want or cannot do physically or legally. Value Chain The value chain allows seeing the creation of value at the company level. The company's activities divide into Primary activities and Support activities. For example, consider an imaginary company that makes

SmithySoft®Jun 14, 2022

Dogfooding or why do you need to test your own products?

Dogfooding is a slang term in the world of IT. It is a favored practice of companies to use their products and services. It allows testing the finished product that, according to the QA team, meets the client's requirements in a real environment. The history of this term is most often associated with Microsoft, which encouraged employees to use their software, and Amazon, where they had no alternative (well, if they wanted to continue to work there). Why are closed Alpha and Beta testing orga

SmithySoft®May 14, 2022

DORA and the software delivery performance

The development process, especially with agile methodologies, is quite difficult to measure and objectively evaluate. Yes, we adapt quickly to market and customer requirements, but sooner or later, most software companies face performance issues. For those who are just beginning their journey into the world of DevOps metrics, DORA (DevOps Research and Assessments) metrics will be a good start. They are simple, straightforward, and do not require significant time to implement. DORA allows one to

SmithySoft®Apr 28, 2022

Teal Organizations: why the future belongs to the teals?

Not in the distant future but here and now, the teal companies or those that are rebuilding their organizational system in the teal route are considered more progressive and successful. Because yes – they are much more productive, efficient, economical, less stressful, and not conflicted. Let’s discover together, what are the features of the teal organization and what are the prerequisites for its implementation. The world has changed – old models do not work. Nothing will be the same as befor

SmithySoft®Apr 14, 2022

IT Army is an effective and successful Ukrainian startup

The experience of Ukrainian "IT warriors" will be studied globally! Ukraine has already entered modern world history – forever and ever. It is Ukraine, not russia, which has waged this bloody war, that is now an example of courage, resilience, steadfastness of spirit, unity, patriotism, and ingenuity. A tractor pulling an enemy tank, "specially trained" geese returning home from the warmer regions and "bringing down" enemy planes, Roma people stealing russian tanks and armored personnel carrier

SmithySoft®Mar 28, 2022

9 books VCs think startup founders need to read

The gold standard of startup building has not yet been found and the formulas for how to build a 100% successful startup have not yet been developed so enthusiastic startups often have to focus on very generalized and very vague recommendations: • Create value • Solve the problem/pain • Be resourceful and persistent • Gather a strong team that will "burn" with the idea and so on. Inquisitive minds are relentless in search of the perfect guide to building a unicorn and now the shelves of boo

SmithySoft®Feb 14, 2022

IT Investments You Should Never Skimp On

All too often, companies skimp on certain aspects of their technology to save some money for what they perceive to be more critical needs. You may even know someone who has done just that. They seize the opportunity to outfit their office with a huge monitor and better-spec PCs (even if they don't need them) and then decide that IT security, for example, isn't a priority. They're not ready, or just don't want to pull out a credit card for a security solution, because they don't want to deal with

SmithySoft®Jan 28, 2022

A quick guide to A/B testing

Grow fast, scale quickly, instantly deliver results, catch trends immediately, change profiles, adapt. It seems the book "How to make a startup unicorn in one day" will be out of print any day now. How can one focus on their product development and understand whether the right motion vector has been chosen in such conditions? Are we marking time? Or even worse - are we already rolling back? Of course, everyone who knows how to use Google will find the rescue here in the form of a bunch of metr

SmithySoft®Sep 28, 2021

The Dark Side of the Legacy Code in the Rails' Monoliths

Any good solution is valid only for a certain time frame. For a startup, investing millions in software development is not advisable. So very often everything starts with an MVP, the costs and terms of development of which are very tight because, in a couple of months, competitors will be ready to copy all of your best developments. But when a startup finds its niche and grows into something bigger than just a “good idea”, it suddenly turns out that what worked great at a low start might not sur

SmithySoft®Aug 28, 2021

A brief on the renowned Content Marketing Periodic Table

Now let's decipher it Strategy Strategy is the foundation of content marketing. Your long-term business goals will determine every aspect of it – the tools you will use, the channels you will promote your content, etc. Plan and study your target audience in detail, and focus on solving specific problems – this is what a content marketing strategy is. Format The content is a multi-headed dragon, don't forget about it. There are so many formats you can engage your audience with, like videos, p

SmithySoft®Aug 14, 2021

Great platforms to self-publishing your book

There are plenty of resources for publishing E-books: big and small, promoted and little-known, loyal to readers and authors, or oriented for only making money on them. Of course, the main question that you should ask yourself in the first place is: what is the goal you are trying to achieve? Earn money on a finished book, find your audience, or show an idea and see if the readers will like it or something else? As a person who has intensively read books that are still in the process of writi

SmithySoft®Jul 28, 2021

Business multiples: what they are and why one should use them?

Value investing tools To find an undervalued company, you need to have tools for quick monitoring and search. Several factors, the so-called “multiples”, have been developed that solve this problem. The multiple is the ratio of the market value of the company (or its value) to production or financial indicators and allows you to compare different company analogs. Let's take a look at 10 useful multiples that can be used to value stocks in different countries. Each of them has its characteristi

SmithySoft®Jul 14, 2021

Is it wise for the founders to hold onto their ownership?

The term “ownership” defines what percentage of the company belongs to the founder and what percentage to the shareholders. At the very beginning of the journey, it is natural for a startup to be wholly owned by its founder or founders. But in the future, it is advisable to make a decision and start attracting investors to shares. But at what point, at what stage, and to what limit – you ask. Let's understand these issues together. No one will argue that property rights play an important role f

SmithySoft®Jun 28, 2021

The books that most influenced Mark Zuckerberg's views on the world

Mark Zuckerberg: * the youngest billionaire in history; * included in the list of the most influential people in the world according to Forbes; * the person behind the creation of the largest worldwide social network – Facebook. After all, it is quite uneasy to find anyone in the global community who has never heard of Facebook. But what was it exactly that brought him to the top: a fortunate coincidence, his tradesman’s nature, knowledge, or an innate flair? Perhaps a little bit of everyth

SmithySoft®Jun 14, 2021

Where to find an investor?

Finding an investor for a startup is a matter of survival. The greatest idea without financial support will remain an idea only. Therefore, sooner or later, the founders face the question: where to find an investor? Recently, an article on choosing an online platform for finding investors appeared on our blog. During our research, we visited and analyzed the platforms themselves, read other bloggers' reviews, and, of course, customer reviews - the laudatory ones and not so much, about how their

SmithySoft®May 28, 2021

ANGULAR vs VUE

Framework Backgrounds - Angular is a framework developed by Google; Google also uses Angular so it is unlikely that Angular will disappear one day. It will be maintained and continuously improved. - Vue is a “standalone” project that is not built by any company. It used to be a one-man project of Evan You. Nowadays, it has a dedicated team of core contributors that work for Vue. Philosophies - Angular definitely is the “biggest” framework of the three. It’s sometimes even called a “platform”

SmithySoft®May 14, 2021

Best startup conferences in 2021

Floating quarantine has become a part of our reality; you never know if the hard lockdown won't kick tomorrow, even if every establishment is working today. And even these constant shifts have become routine to some extent. But life goes on, and during this year, many mastered working, studying, and training remotely. Others have found new opportunities and niches for their business. For those who do not want to stop in their development and want to succeed with their startup, we decided to shar

SmithySoft®Apr 28, 2021

What is influence marketing?

Nowadays, people no longer buy goods and services. They buy relationships, stories, and magic. With the growing demand for attention and the vast array of product options on the market, consumers are starting to lose sight of whom they can trust. Influencer marketing helps as never before. A decade ago, the influencer marketing arena was limited to celebrities and a few bloggers. Now, we can see that the number of influencers on social media is growing. Let's try to figure out whether you need

SmithySoft®Apr 14, 2021

8 books that inspire Elon Musk

What makes one person different from another on a planet of 7.837 billion people? Age, gender, religion, social status, upbringing, or education? Everything impacts us, but for some reason, children of the same parents, school friends, and graduates of the same college are not equally successful in life. Some go with the flow, some keep higher pace, and there are those who turn the world upside down and change the worldview of the rest (those 7.674 billion). “I think, therefore I am,” - René

SmithySoft®Mar 28, 2021

The Flash is dead, and what about your business?

WHAT IS A CORRECT SUPPORT and how does it work? What is really worth paying for and how not to miss your FLASH? Everyone has at least once contacted the customer support service with one or another question. But not everyone understands what the technical support of the product is and why pay more than already paid? Using simple examples, let's try to figure out whether you need technical support and what it is all about. We live in a very dynamic environment. And every year not only a new i

SmithySoft®Mar 14, 2021

What is UX design?

UX (User Experience) is a set of certain stages and the proper approach to creating a startup. This is the path, which should lead the client to the main thing – to their goal. Every design decision should be based on the needs of the client. The user must reach their aim as quickly as possible and not lose interest in your interface. UX design for startup founders If you are just launching a startup, then you are focused on many nuances. Therefore, you may face a UX design problem. Therefor

SmithySoft®Feb 28, 2021

10 Metrics that matter

Product metrics are qualitative and quantitative indicators based on which a conclusion can be drawn about the success of a product. A well-chosen set of metrics, accurate analytics, and timely optimization measures help keep your business afloat. However, different businesses have different metrics. Moreover, even within the same niche or the same product typology, they can differ. Today we will try to figure out how to choose metrics for e-commerce, mobile applications, SaaS, as well as what

SmithySoft®Feb 14, 2021

Top 5 Startup Friendly Platforms to Find Investors

Where to find investors? – This is the first and most important question that arises as soon as all the formalities for establishing the startup company are settled. It is easier for some companies to raise capital, while for others, it is more difficult. This is especially true for hardware startups. Some founders believe that the only way to attract investors is to draw the winning ticket, or rather if you are lucky enough to be drawn into the startup list by an accelerator or incubator. But

SmithySoft®Jan 28, 2021

History of Web Browsers

Today, there are only a few applications to access the Internet. The main competitors are Firefox, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Safari, and Opera. Over the last decade, mobile devices have become the best way to access the Internet. Today, most Internet users use only mobile browsers and applications to connect to the Internet. Mobile versions of major browsers are available for iOS and Android devices. Although these programs are highly useful for specific purposes, they provide only limit

SmithySoft®Jan 14, 2021

It's Okay to Take Risks

Only the lazy did not say that no risk — no reward. Is this really so, and to what extent is this principle applicable in startup activities? Of course, before deciding to gain or lose everything, an entrepreneur should weigh the pros and cons of any desperate decisions. But it is worth stating that a startup founder can rightfully be considered a risky person who agreed to get involved in an adventure with no guarantee for success. Risking: what is good about that, and what is bad There are

SmithySoft®Dec 14, 2020

6 git commands you should know

I suggest you to consider the commands that will save you time and help you use the version control system more efficiently: - reverting of the commit - revert local changes - comparing files and logs on different branches - search for the commit that caused the error - recovery of the deleted commit - config individual git commands Mirroring or Reverting This command helps to undo previous changes. For example, you had a task to add 100 images to a project, you added them to a separat

SmithySoft®Nov 28, 2020

Ruby 3.0 features - what did you miss?

Ruby 3.0 with Matz - although the interview is very old, but clearly underestimated. It's really worth seeing!

SmithySoft®Nov 14, 2020

How to start an online marketplace from scratch

Okay, what is an online marketplace, and how to start it from scratch? An online marketplace is an e-commerce site where many independent sellers trade items on a shared storefront and in their micro-stores. This e-commerce model has long become extremely popular in the West, but in recent years has become widespread throughout the world. There are two reasons for its popularity: 1 - low prices compared to conventional online stores due to high competition, and 2 - a much wider range of pro

SmithySoft®Oct 28, 2020

All about the Software Development Lifecycle

The Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC, Software Life Cycle) is a conditional series of a set of phases that any software goes through; describes all the stages of software life from birth to death, and what happens to it at each stage. A typical software development life cycle consists of the following phases: * Analysis of the client's request. The analysis is the most important and fundamental phase in the SDLC. It is carried out by a project manager with input from clients, sales, and in

SmithySoft®Oct 14, 2020

Features and Benefits of a Dedicated Team

The dedicated team outsourcing model is a business model of financial interaction, which is increasingly being applied in outsourcing in general and in the IT field in particular. Given the fact that many customers are interested in using this model, we decided to talk about its advantages and disadvantages, as well as highlight the features that must be taken into account before deciding on cooperation according to the dedicated team model. What is the “dedicated team”? A “dedicated team” i

SmithySoft®Sep 28, 2020

Business Models in Software Outsourcing and Financial Feasibility Assessment

The transfer of the development and support of information systems to an outsourcing company has recently worried more and more companies. For the vast majority of IT, they are a non-core asset, so the opportunity to transfer their management to a professional external partner and free up resources for priority business areas looks very attractive. How can a company choose the most effective form of outsourcing and how to evaluate how much this approach is more profitable from a financial point

SmithySoft®Sep 14, 2020

How Outsourcing Is Different From Freelance and What Is Outstaffing

The main idea of the terms we are going to look into is saving time and money spent, but most of you also would like to find the answer to the question “which one is better for your case”, so we would also stop to analyze and tip on how to choose will work exactly for you. Let’s dig in and put it all together for a better understanding of the meaning of the outsourcing company. When a company delegates to other companies to execute certain operations and duties, it is called outsourcing. It was

SmithySoft®Aug 14, 2020

How to Stay on Track While You Build a Startup

After coming up with the idea of the startup, the entrepreneur will have to face many discoveries and difficulties; he will have to make dozens of decisions every day – from the smallest to the most serious and fundamental. Dealing with so much information, contacts, stress, in the early stages of doing business, one has to accelerate their pace of life. How to alleviate the hustle and bustle of the work environment and not burn out at the first crucial times is a question that all startup entre

SmithySoft®Jul 28, 2020