What we're building and why

Smitheo earns its living from client work today. Over time we want part of that income to come from our own software products, built to the same standards we apply for clients. The Lab is where we share that work while it happens, including the ideas that do not make it.

Why build products at all?

Client projects show us which problems keep coming back. When we solve the same problem for the third time, a product might solve it better than another custom build. Products also let us invest in quality over years instead of weeks.

How do we choose what to build?

We only consider ideas that meet three conditions:

• We have seen the problem ourselves, in our own delivery work or in client projects, more than once.
• The first version is small enough to build alongside client work in a few months.
• Someone would pay for it. Before we build, we talk to people who have the problem and ask whether they would.

What will we share here?

Each Lab entry has a status. Idea means we are still validating the problem. Building means work has started. Live means you can use it. We post short updates when something changes: what we learned, what we decided and what comes next. We will not publish numbers we cannot back up.

How can you follow along?

Join the list below. You get an email when a Lab entry changes status or when we need early testers, and nothing else. If one of these problems is yours too, send us a brief; your use case might shape what we build.