Practical guides for founders and SMBs with a software project.
No theory, no fluff. What to do when things get complicated, from someone who has already unblocked dozens of projects.
You built your app with AI: what's missing before it can go to production
It works on your screen, and you didn't write a line of code to get here. The jump to something that holds real users, real data and a bad night isn't another prompt: it's six things no tool generates on its own.
Six million companies, one million websites: anatomy of a nationwide data enrichment run
From a registry of six million Italian companies to the right website for one million of them — with phones, emails, WhatsApp contacts and social profiles extracted in a ten-day run. The real case, and the three hard questions a job like this has to answer.
Thousands of product sheets from dirty catalogs: a pipeline that doesn't publish mistakes
A design and lighting retailer, thousands of SKUs, dozens of brands with inconsistent source data. A real case of a pipeline where AI writes but doesn't decide: normalization in code, a technical glossary, automatic validation.
Managing jobs in Excel: the file that works, and the three places it breaks
Excel handles job and project tracking far longer than ERP vendors admit. But it always breaks in the same three places — and knowing which one you're in tells you whether you need a better file or actual software.
What a custom ERP costs (and when a subscription wins instead)
The right question isn't what it costs, but after how many years the subscription you pay today overtakes what you'd spend once. Numbers, break-even point, and the cases where custom loses.
How to choose a software house without wasting your money
You're about to spend tens of thousands of euros on custom software, and you don't have the technical tools to judge who builds it. The signals that actually matter, the questions to ask before signing, and how to protect yourself.
How Much It Costs to Build Business Software in 2026: Costs, Mistakes and Technical Decisions
How much it costs to build business software isn't set by the quote, but by the technical decisions you make before writing a line of code. As a CTO, I'll show you which choices blow up the budget and which contain it.
How Much an External CTO Costs: Real Prices, Engagement Models, and What Inflates the Bill
How much does an external CTO really cost? Market prices, the three engagement models compared, and the hidden line items that inflate the bill, explained without the fluff.
Software Agency Not Delivering: What to Do When Your Vendor Leaves You Half-Done
You signed with an agency and the software never arrives: constant delays, half-finished deliverables, a contact who goes quiet. Here's how to recover the project — and why the agency case is different, and more insidious, than a lone developer.
Technical Due Diligence: What Really Gets Checked Before You Invest In (or Buy) a Startup
Before you put money into a startup or acquire a software product, technical due diligence tells you whether you're buying an asset or a liability. Here's what gets checked, the red flags that matter, and how it's run.
Recovering your source code (and access) from a developer who vanished
Your developer is gone and you don't have the code, the domain or the server access. The exact sequence to take back control of your product — what to recover first, how, and what to do if you're holding nothing.
What Is a Forward Deployed AI Engineer (and Why More and More Companies Want One)
Forward Deployed AI Engineer: what it is, what they do, how they work, and when you need one. A guide to the role that combines real AI engineering with direct client contact — without the hype.
What Is a Fractional CTO (and When a Startup or SMB Actually Needs One)
Fractional CTO: what it is, what it does, what it costs, and when it makes sense. The guide to the part-time CTO for startups and SMBs that need senior technical decisions without a full-time hire.
Claude Fable 5 is out: what actually changes if you have a software project
Anthropic has released Claude Fable 5, its most capable model yet on software engineering and long context. What it means, concretely, for founders and SMBs with a product to build or modernize — read by someone who uses these models for real work.
Zoho CRM doesn't back up your functions: move to a custom CRM
Zoho CRM doesn't back up your business logic, and your data often lives on US servers. Custom functions are usually trivial: for many companies the right answer is a custom CRM, in Europe, that you actually own.
Claude Code, for real: my senior experience with Anthropic's AI agent
I've used Claude Code on real work — refactors, migrations, even running this very site. What a terminal AI agent actually does well, where a senior's judgment is still essential, and how I use it with clients.
Modernizing a software project with AI agents: what really changes (and what doesn't)
Massive refactors, migrations, paying down technical debt: AI agents have changed the timelines, not the rules. What they genuinely speed up, where you still need human decisions, and how to use them without hurting yourself.
Your developer stopped responding: 5 things to do before you panic
A practical guide for founders and small businesses the moment their developer goes silent. What to do in the first 48 hours, how to recover the project, and which mistakes to avoid while you look for a way out.
Freelance platforms for developers in Italy: which ones I evaluated and what to choose
An honest overview of freelance platforms for Italian developers — vertical marketplaces, international generalists, direct network. Pros, cons, and which one makes sense depending on your career stage.
How much it costs to rebuild an MVP in 2026: real prices and how not to get ripped off
The real prices to rebuild an MVP from scratch, why they range from 8k to 80k euros, and what you're actually paying for when you hand it to an agency, a senior freelancer, or an offshore team.
How to tell if your developer is doing a good job (even if you're not technical)
Seven concrete signals to assess whether your dev is working well, even if you can't read code. No technical jargon, no blind trust.
Fractional CTO or in-house CTO: how to decide without getting burned
When to hire a full-time CTO and when a fractional one makes more sense. Differences in cost, control, scope, and timing. A decision grid for founders who don't want to get it wrong.