business-software
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Mykola Paliienko and the art of getting out of the way
He helped turn a website builder into EVO’s family of marketplaces. Now, at Vchasno Group, Mykola Paliienko is tackling the signatures, receipts and routines that consume a working day.
Sergey Rizhikov and the art of learning to divide
Before Bitrix24, there was a programming book, a borrowed print run and a dinner that spent the proceeds. Sergey Rizhikov’s software career grew through a different kind of arithmetic: giving partners room to build.
Nicolas Sharp and the trouble with a business that works
Nicolas Sharp had customers, a co-founder and a working CRM business. Then he decided to start again - trading a narrow market for three years of building, and a different idea of what business software could be.
Marcelo Lombardo and the accountant next door
Omie grew when Marcelo Lombardo followed the people already recommending his software. Now the founder is changing the machinery again, with WhatsApp, AI and a costly farewell to franchises.
DevExpress and the price of never building another grid
The expensive part of a business app is often the ordinary part. DevExpress has built a company around the grids, forms and reports that developers would rather not write twice.
FileMaker and the business too awkward for a box
Apple’s software subsidiary, now called Claris, sells the tools to build apps around the way a business actually works. Its most useful lesson starts with a tyre retailer, a failed ERP rollout, and one small repair.
Unanet and the Trouble with Winning
Winning a contract is the glamorous part. Unanet makes its living connecting the pursuit to the people, hours, invoices, and costs that decide whether the victory pays.
Finally Wanted to Finish the Books. The Books Outlasted Finally.
Finally put bookkeeping, corporate cards and back-office chores under one roof. Its September 2026 wind-down leaves a sharper question: what, exactly, should survive the company you hire to handle your money?
The Company That Makes 12 Business Systems Behave Like One
Net at Work has spent 30 years becoming the general contractor for the mid-market tech stack - the firm called when ERP, CRM, payroll, cloud, and security need to stop arguing and start working together.
Zoho Corporation
How a bootstrapped software company from small-town India built 55+ business apps, signed up 130 million users, and refused to take a single dollar of venture capital.
Sage Group
Sage Group is a British multinational software company based in Newcastle upon Tyne that builds cloud-based accounting, payroll, HR and ERP tools for small and medium-sized businesses. Founded in 1981 and listed on the London Stock Exchange as a FTSE 100 constituent, Sage serves millions of customers across 23 countries with products spanning Sage Accounting, Sage 50, Sage Intacct and the AI assistant Sage Copilot.
NetSuite CRM
NetSuite is the world's first cloud ERP and CRM platform, founded in 1998 by Evan Goldberg and now owned by Oracle. Trusted by 43,000+ organizations across 220 countries, NetSuite unifies financials, CRM, e-commerce, HR, and supply chain in a single cloud-native suite — making it the go-to business operating system for companies scaling from startup to enterprise.
Apptivo
Apptivo is a cloud-based, all-in-one business management platform founded in 2009 and headquartered in Fremont, California. The company offers 65+ integrated business applications — from CRM and project management to invoicing and field service — under a single affordable subscription starting at $15/user/month. Bootstrapped and self-funded, Apptivo has grown to serve 200,000+ customers across 193 countries, reaching approximately $75M in annual revenue by 2025. Its core value proposition: enterprise-grade software at small-business prices, with 24/7 human customer support at every tier.
Bitrix24
Bitrix24 is an all-in-one online workspace that bundles CRM, project management, HR, communication, and AI automation into a single platform. Launched in 2012 and used by over 15 million organizations in 16 languages, it is the only major CRM in the world that prices per organization rather than per user - a structural bet that has made it a go-to for SMBs and growing teams that refuse to pay headcount taxes to their software stack.