What’s a Zombie Stare, and how do you convince investors you’re the real deal? James Church, from the UK’s award-winning pitch agency Robot Mascot, breaks it down. We explore the critical differences between raising pre-seed and series+ funding, diving into the motivations of both founders and investors. Packed with real-life stories and actionable insights.

Slavíme 10 let fungování a naši spoluzakladatelé Vráťa Kalenda a Filip Kirschner se ohlédli do minulosti v novém díle našeho podcastu. Těšte se na nejbizarnější projekty, které jsme nakonec nedělali, reference na výměnu manželek, ale i vážnější témata jako zhodnocení IT odvětví a výhledy do budoucna.

“Why use Flutter for your mobile app? Because it’s fast! And with AI, it will get even faster,” says Štěpán Záliš, tech leader of the Flutter team at Applifting. Who created Flutter, how does it work, and how can AI accelerate development in the future? Discover this and more in our latest episode.

“For the Fandoor app, I decided to use a pretty new framework called Kotlin Multiplatform so your app feels like a native one,” says Jan Růžička, a mobile developer from Applifting. What are the pros of using this framework and how do you plan a project with a tight deadline? Listen to our latest episode and learn how we built an app in a month.

“Even if you are the best developer or marketer in the world, you still need to figure out many different things outside your specialization,” says David Kocián, a Co-founder of the Manyways app, a mobile application that makes it easier to meet friends and attend events. Should you be worried about someone stealing your idea? What mistakes should you avoid in the beginning? Listen to our podcast and learn about the real founder experience.

“What is important to realize is that the crisis has a space in all of our lives, and it doesn’t matter on what positions you are”, says Věra Králová, a coach, psychology student, and business support specialist at Applifting. What exactly is a crisis? What should you do when you’re in one? And how can you be there for friends, coworkers, and loved ones when they’re going through tough times? In the podcast, you can also hear about coaching and mentoring within the company called Willow. Listen to the next episode of our podcast to learn more about it.

“If your API structure is messy, it creates a lot of frustration, and you risk losing a business,” says Aleš Míka, the strategic advisor of DX Heroes, a company focused on the quick growth of digital products. What is the difference between the US and Czech business culture, and why did Aleš take six months off to teach English at a kindergarten? Listen to our podcast and don’t forget to download DX Heroes’ latest ebook: 4 steps to scale your digital product: https://www.dxheroes.io/resources/api-handbook-for-executives

“Black box the AI solution, make it independent, and just integrate the system using API,” says our cofounder Filip Kirschner in regards to implementing AI into products. What are the main risks and how should companies begin in the first place? Listen to the latest episode of the Innovation Spotlight podcast created by Applifting.

“AI is like an infinite amount of average white-collar intellect that you can employ in your company,” says our co-founder Vratislav Kalenda. How does he use AI in his everyday work, and how can startups and corporations use it to enhance their business? Listen to the new episode of our podcast and find out for yourself. 

"You have to be able to explain what your company does in super simple words so that a seven-year-old child or grandmother can understand it," says Jan Staněk, founding partner of Purple Ventures. What is the most common mistake startups make in their pitch deck, and what criteria should a company meet to get an investment from them? Get the answers to all these questions and more in the next episode of our podcast.

“Splitting the co-founder shares fifty-fifty is the worst thing you can ever do,” says Peter Maslik, co-founder and COO of the real estate crowdfunding platform Investown. Why does he think so? Equal voting rights is just one reason. That's why Investown was founded by five co-founders. What are their plans, where do they want to expand, and how is Česká spořitelna's Seed Starter helping them? Get the answers to all these questions and more in the next episode of our podcast.

“When you decide to have a startup, you decide to pursue the growth,” says Zdeněk Němec, Co-founder and CTO of Superface–⁠a framework that turns complex APIs into easy-to-integrate use cases. He also talks about the pros and cons of non-financial investors and how cooperation with Applifting helped Superface in the beginning.

“Technical debt is similar to any other debt,” says Nick Barbariyskiy, head of Applifting Enterprise—a tribe specialized in complex software solutions and architecture. He adds that, unlike financial debt, companies sometimes fall into the technical one knowingly. Why? And is technical debt always a result of choice between cost and quality and speed? Find out the answers to all these questions and more in the next episode of our podcast.

“You have to acknowledge that you’ll be sacrificing your personal life and basically everything else for work.” And that’s just one ingredient the recipe calls for when creating a successful startup and working a full-time job, which Vojtěch Šanca reveals in the next episode of our podcast. He told us how his company Dio was founded, what helps him stay sane, and many other fascinating insights into the life of a working startupist.

“GetSnack helps companies manage their snackbars by automating basic processes such as stock control, transactions and consumption settlement at the end of the month,”  Martin Srb from the mobile department describes Applifting’s very first own commercial app. Together with Roman Vuchtrl from the product team, they reveal the story of its creation. They talk about the development and shaping of the idea, product validation, and much more.

“Minimum viable product is basically a means of testing the most crucial hypotheses about your users, their behaviour, and product on the real market,” says Roman Vuchtrl, member of the product development team in Applifting. In the second part of our podcast, Roman explains in detail what an MVP is and what it is used for. Learn what its benefits are and why you shouldn’t expect MVP to generate profit.

“Prototyping is a way to make your product ideas more tangible.” says Roman Vuchtrl, member of the product development team in Applifting. He talks about methods of prototyping, useful tools, fake door technique, MVP, and much more. Do not miss this episode–you will learn how to figure out if your ideas have the potential to work in the real world.

“Na BankID je skvělé, že vám umožní se podívat na fungování vašeho byznys modelu z jiné perspektivy a třeba i s jeho pomocí vylepšit a zefektivnit interní procesy,” říká Vratislav Kalenda z Appliftingu ve speciálním díle našeho podcastu. Tentokrát jsme ho pojali trochu jinak - jako zvukový záznam ze semináře, který jsme pořádali spolu s Bankovní identitou. Zjistíte vše o zabezpečení, mechanismu přihlášení nebo zda je pro vaši firmu BankID dobrou volbou.

“Some time ago, we were asked to share our internal snack management solution, and that was the starting point for its transformation into a commercial product,” says Martin Srb about the reasons for creating Applifting’s first in-house product. The Fridge app helps companies and teams to manage snack bars easily and effortlessly. Learn more about the product work or the controversial fake door method we decided to use.

“Musíte přesvědčit ostatní, že váš nápad vede k úspěšnému byznysu. A to nejde udělat úplně zadarmo,” říká v dalším díle našeho podcastu Honza Minárik, expert na produktový vývoj. Dozvíte se třeba to, jaké možnosti investování do tvorby produktu startupy mají, jak získat investici nebo jak vstup investora mění kritéria úspěchu celého byznysu.