Jakub Kozak: Thank you for the invitation. The crisis did not affect us so much that we could apply for larger amounts. Jakub Kozak: We benefited from funding from the first pool of government aid, but it was relatively small. Did you benefit from any government grants, and did that help keep your business afloat? Such meetings are easier to organize, faster, and in my opinion, it is often a more effective method than physical meetings. Now all meetings are online, and I think everyone is used to it. When it comes to communication, recently Google Meet, Zoom, Slack, Teams are obviously dominating. This is enough for us, depending on the type of project and the level of technical involvement of customers we compose the appropriate set individually. We use Google Suite, Google Drive, Basecamp, Slack, Jira, and Gitlab. If something proves to be effective then we start using it or replace the tools. Jakub Kozak: We use a lot of tools and keep testing new ones. How did your customer relationship management evolve? Do you use any specific tools to be efficient? On the contrary, we’re excited for the opportunity to look for new employees across the country and then maybe from overseas. We have not had to downsize or make any difficult decisions. Jakub Kozak: Again, we seem to have been lucky. Did you have to make difficult choices regarding human resources and what are the lessons learned? This is probably why remote working is painless for us. We work for clients from all over the world so we were used to communicating via email, Google Meet, or Skype.
It looks like it could work for us as well. We knew there were companies like Basecamp that were entirely organized in a remote model. Previously, we were working on site, in an office, and had concerns about how it would all work remotely. The only noticeable and abrupt change for us was the move to remote working. The amount of work hasn’t changed, nor has the way we complete assignments. Jakub Kozak: We are fortunate to work in an industry that has not been drastically affected by the pandemic. How does the coronavirus pandemic affect your business finances? Until now, remote hiring was more of an exception, but now we’ve realized that this model doesn’t have to come with a decrease in productivity. The second internal innovation is to change our hiring model. In the early days of the pandemic, we created a service that aggregates local food outlets and made it available to restaurant owners at no charge. With COVID-19, we did two things that were new from our perspective. Many companies describe themselves as innovative, but in fact, it is mostly learning new things. We do not develop new technologies or methodologies. But we don’t create innovation in the strict sense. In other words: we cannot stop progressing if we want to remain competitive. We are constantly dealing with new customer ideas, new solutions, libraries, or updates.
#JAKUB KOZAK SMULTRON SOFTWARE#
Jakub Kozak: Innovation in its broadest sense is inherent in the nature of work in a software house. Our team changed, we started hiring new people and we specialized as a front-end software house. I founded Smultron in 2010 with three people and since then we’ve been growing the company. Freelancing, smaller and larger websites in the days when one person could do everything. Jakub Kozak: My first job was programming web applications during my studies at Technical University. Tell us about you, your career, and how you founded Smultron Software Lab. The home office work and general social isolation are most distressing, but I hope it won’t last much longer. I only have to walk around wearing a mask and carry my sprayer everywhere. I am aware that the epidemic has affected many people very badly, both health-wise and professionally. First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times?
Jakub Kozak, co-founder & head of technology at Smultron Software Lab tells us about web applications and Covid-19.
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