Tech Pitch: Smart Little Web

by Megan Dunsby

Updated: Dec 8, 2015 Published: Dec 8, 2015

Company name: Smart Little WebFounders: Chris John (41) and Joel Calliste (37)Background: Founders John and Calliste previously ran a software consultancy called Jelerang, launched in 2004, which built big complex web applications for tech start-ups and large corporates like O2 and Virgin.Based in: Hursley, Hampshire

Very simply, what does your tech start-up do?

Smart Little Web is a cloud-based website builder and marketing coach rolled into one. It takes a start-up from no technical, design or marketing knowledge to a professional website to launch their business, all under one roof and for an affordable price. It goes beyond Software as a Service (SaaS) and introduces a completely new concept of Software as Learning (SaL).

Tell us why there's a need – what do you disrupt?

We know that there are the big things putting people off building their own website:

They don't feel technical enough

They worry it will look shoddy

They don't know what to put on it

A lot of CMS systems and website builders claim to help with the first two, but nobody has managed to tackle the question of WHAT. That's because it's kind of complicated, it's why agencies have experts in each of the fields and it's why they cost so much. Not much help to start-ups on a tight budget!

To deliver an affordable solution that covered all three issues meant building a next-generation platform from the ground up. The ability to guide people has been at the centre of our thinking from day one because we know building a website is a process, there are steps to follow. It's not so much about "pages", it's about effective messaging, creating trust and growing your business. Sure, the technology and design need to be there and be awesome, but they are just there to support the star of the show – your business.

Smart little Web is like having a marketing expert, web developer, web designer and SEO consultant sitting right next to you, guiding you through each step as you create your very own website.

Are you funded?

We're  100% bootstrapped using downtime between consultancy projects to create our own product. We've been running a closed beta for the past 18 months and will be opening out into a full beta launch in January.

What were you doing before starting?

We (John and Calliste) met while working at Richard Branson's fledgling ISP Virgin.net in 2000. From that point, we were working together in one way or another, but founded a software consultancy – Jelerang – in 2004.

We've been building amazing solutions for other folks for over 10 years, from a website commenting system used by over six million users a month, to a marketing preference data service with 22 million users, to a system that calculates the carbon footprint of anything. We've been having a blast doing it, but we started to feel it would be nice to build something amazing for ourselves.

What's the best thing about where you're based?

Hursley is a great place to be based as we get the best of both worlds. Our company is in old converted stables surrounded by fields yet we're a short drive from the centre of Winchester which has so many amazing small businesses, a university and great business networks. We also have IBM HQ as our neighbours, so we're in good company.

Being rural means we can apply to certain schemes for funding and help, we're currently looking into the LEADER funding being released later this year. It also means the two office dogs get a lunchtime walk in the woods and fields, something they both appreciate very much.

Source: Tech Pitch: Smart Little Web

Jetbuilt Launches International Version of Popular AV Estimating Software

Creates professional web-based AV proposals on Apple and PC platforms

Costa Mesa, Calif. - December 07, 2015 - Jetbuilt, a provider of industry-leading and web-based AV estimation and proposal software, is pleased to announce the release of the international version of its software.

Jetbuilt launched the US version in June 2015 and international integrators soon saw the benefits of the web-based, platform agnostic AV proposal software. As the only comprehensive AV proposal software that works on MacOS, integrators from Africa, South America, Canada, the UK and other locations gravitated to the Jetbuilt solution for easy, accurate proposals with elegant presentations. The international version includes currency options, default tax rates by country and the ability to label the tax fields (VAT, sales tax, labor tax, etc.). It uses the Queen's English and includes products used in the global market. Over 25% of JetBuilt's current customer base is now international dealers.

Everything in Jetbuilt is done moving forward, never requiring the user to go to the 'basement' of the application to setup items or clients in advance. Anything can be added on the fly while estimating a project. The Jetbuilt AV proposal and estimating software works on either a Mac or PC an d includes a robust database of products that are updated by the Jetbuilt team as manufacturers release new products. Integrated dealer pricing is managed via manufacturer authentication, by directly adding prices to a project, or uploading price sheets to Jetbuilt for free data entry to the dealer account. Integrators can include their own labor and design rates which the software then recalls for subsequent proposals. Users can bundle their go-to systems and packages and drop them into future projects with one step. Additional features include automated location-based sales tax, integration with QuickBooks, budget tracking, team collaboration and auto data fill-ins. The custom presentation tools allow dealers to create an elegant, professional customer proposals using simple drag-and-drop technology.

"Part of our ethos is listening to our customers and giving them the tools they need to make their jobs easier. Our dealers are now spending 15 minutes to create a proposal that used to take three to four hours," said Paul Dexter, founder and designer of Jetbuilt. "Our users receive free updates every single week based on dealer input. The international version of the software is an evolution that our dealers requested. Jetbuilt's mission is for dealers to spend less time building proposals and more time making money."

Jetbuilt features a dashboard to track their pipeline, clients, proposal status and budgeting which allows integrators to track profits and margins from each project. Additionally, Jetbuilt allows collaboration and access to team member's progress, whether they're in the adjacent cubicle or across the country.

For more information on Jetbuilt, please visit www.jetbuilt.com. Keep up with the latest news from Jetbuilt through Facebook, Twitter and Vimeo.

About Jetbuilt:Jetbuilt is an international industry-leading web-based AV proposal and estimation software. The California based AV software was founded by Grammy nominated s tudio engineer, award winning web designer and AV integrator, Paul Dexter, to create time-efficient and professional proposals. Compatible with both PC and Apple platforms, Jetbuilt estimates projects efficiently with an integrated product database, dealer pricing, user-average labor rates, location-based sales tax, and QuickBooks integration on a singular project overview page - all in lighting speed. For more information, please visit www.jetbuilt.com.

Press contact:Morgan Roush, Public Relations ManagerMarketing MattersTel: +1 (954) 925-1511 ext. 1Email: morgan@marketingmatters.netWeb: http://www.marketingmatters.net

Source: Jetbuilt Launches International Version of Popular AV Estimating Software

This New Web Browser Made Me Give Up Google Chrome

I used to love Google Chrome for its speed and minimalism, but lately our relationship has deteriorated.

Lately, Google's web browser has seemed sluggish—not just in terms of performance, but in its willingness to try new ideas. While other browsers have introduced features like page annotation, reading view, and improved private browsing, Chrome has stagnated. Its look and feel still have a Windows XP feel, and even its app store is a shambles.

But quitting Chrome wasn't easy, as the last six years of daily use had left me extremely picky about how a browser should behave. I simply couldn't find an alternative that gave me enough good reasons to switch.

That changed a few weeks ago, when I downloaded the beta version of Vivaldi. Even though it's a work in progress, it already fixes some of my long-standing frustrations with Chrome. Even better, it invents lots of new features that make browsing the web more pleasant and efficient. As someone who uses a web browser every day for work, it's now hard to imagine going back.

Chromium, Not Chrome

Under the hood, Vivaldi is based on the Chromium, the same open-source code that powers Chrome. This might earn some derision from browser snobs, but in practice it allows Vivaldi to borrow some basic Chrome features and even support Chrome extensions, while distinguishing itself with surface-level features.

To that end, Vivaldi is unashamedly bloated. Whereas Chrome made a name for itself by getting out of the user's way, Vivaldi throws a bunch of ideas at the wall in the hope that users will find one that sticks.

Related: The Invention Of Alphabet Is The Ultimate Larry Page Move

In 2015, it's an approach that makes a surprising amount of sense. As PCs have pushed further away from casual use and more toward being a tool for getting things done, a browser for power users is becoming more appealing.

My favorite Vivaldi feature by far is called Web Panels. They're somewhat like bookmarks, but instead of opening a full browser tab, Web Panels slide out next to whatever tab you have open, putting the two pages side-by-side. Visually, it's similar to the multitasking features in Windows 10 and iOS 9, but contained within a browser.

I've mainly been using Web Panels for applications like Gmail, Google Keep, Hipchat, and TweetDeck. I can reference a web page while writing an email, take notes while doing some research, or just peek at messages without opening a full tab. Web Panels are even handy for music sites, staying hidden until you need to change the track.

The concept of Web Panels is not new, having appeared in some versions of the Opera browser. (Vivaldi creator Jon von Tetzchner was one of Opera's founders.) But in the age of responsive web design, it feels like an idea whose time has finally come. Most websites these days will automatically reflow to fit whatever window size they're given, so you can easily view the content of two pages at once.

Web Panels aren't perfect. I wish there was a way to pop one out into a full tab, and assign different window sizes to each Panel. But compared to juggling multiple browser tabs, they're a more efficient way to access the websites I often use. In a way, they remind me of when I discovered browser tabs in the early 2000s. Suddenly, it's hard to imagine browsing the web without them.

A Better Web Citizen

Vivaldi's other benefits aren't huge on their own, but add up to a browser that seems more in tune with the state of the web and desktop software compared to Chrome.

In Windows 10, for instance, Vivaldi's sharp edges and flat design meld better with Microsoft's operating system. You can choose from light or dark themes, and there's also a way to have the color of browser tabs correspond with the color scheme of the website you're on.

Vivaldi's mouse and trackpad experience also outdoes Chrome, despite being based on the same code. Two-finger scrolling seems to work better with Microsoft's Precision Trackpad drivers (as seen in the Surface Pro and Surface Book), and smooth scrolling is supported out of the box. (Chrome has third-party extensions to avoid jerky scrolling animations, but they require a lot of tinkering to get the right feel, and often choke on resource-intensive web pages.)

To top it off, Vivaldi is deeply customizable, even letting you disable some of its key features. For instance, I don't particularly care for Tab Stacks, which let users group multiple pages under a single browser tab, so I went into Vivaldi's settings and shut them off. Ditto for mouse shortcuts, animations, and thumbnail tab previews. If you want a minimalist browser, you can likely still achieve it through Vivaldi's settings menu.

Room For Growth

Before you get too excited about Vivaldi, keep in mind that it's still in beta, and has plenty of rough edges. For instance, you can't drag tabs between separate windows or into a new window, and I sorely miss the ability to pin websites to the Windows taskbar or Start menu.

Vivaldi can be unstable as well. It rarely crashes entirely, but sometimes pages become unresponsive, requiring either a new tab or a full restart. Compared to Chrome or Microsoft's Edge browser, I've also found that Vivaldi can lag on some web pages and PDF documents, and some websites, such as Twitter, inexplicably load the mobile version instead of the desktop site.

In addition to working out those kinks, Vivaldi must do more to build out its browser's services. Plans for a built-in email client have yet to materialize, and a tool for taking notes on web pages doesn't include anyway to sync those notes across devices. You also can't sync bookmarks, tabs, or settings, at least without third-party extensions.

But even in its unfinished state, Vivaldi has proven useful enough for me to stick with it, well past the point where the novelty of a new browser usually wears off.

I don't blame Google for its conservatism. Chrome's user base is so huge that any drastic changes in appearance or features could trigger a backlash. At the same time, desktop software isn't fashionable anymore compared to mobile apps. Why rock the boat?

By comparison, Vivaldi is comfortable in its own skin as a tool for power users. The company has kept its expectations low in terms of usage—Von Tetzchner told me in February that 2 million active users would be enough to break even—and refers to itself as "a web browser for our friends." As someone who relies on a web browser every day for getting work done, that's the group I'd rather be part of.

Get the latest Fast Company stories in your inbox daily

Source: This New Web Browser Made Me Give Up Google Chrome

Cadence Design Systems Inc (CDNS) Trading Down 4.3% Following Insider Selling

Cadence Design Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CDNS) was down 4.3% on Thursday following insider selling activity, MarketBeat.com reports. The company traded as low as $21.27 and last traded at $21.27, with a volume of 2,481,082 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $22.22.

Specifically, VP Chi-Ping Hsu sold 121,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.71, for a total transaction of $2,753,587.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 183,078 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,157,701.38. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Lip Bu Tan sold 155,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.19, for a total value of $3,284,450.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 187,498 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,973,082.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

A number of brokerages have commented on CDNS. Piper Jaffray restated a "buy" rating and set a $26.00 target price (up previously from $22.00) on shares of Cadence Design Systems in a research report on Tuesday, October 27th. Zacks Investment Research raised Cadence Design Systems from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $26.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, October 30th. Northland Securities lifted their target price on Cadence Design Systems from $25.00 to $27.50 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 19th. RBC Capital lifted their price objective on Cadence Design Systems from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 27th. Finally, Topeka Capital Markets lifted their target price on Cadence Design Systems from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 27th. Four equities resear ch analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. The company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $24.65.

The stock's 50 day moving average price is $22.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.76. The company has a market cap of $6.31 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.96.

Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ:CDNS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 26th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters' consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.02. The business earned $434 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $429.40 million. On average, analysts expect that Cadence Design Systems Inc will post $1.07 EPS for the current year.

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDNS) develops system design enablement (SDE) solutions that are used to design whole electronics systems and integrated circuits (ICs) and electronic devices. The Company's SDE product offerings include electronic design automation (EDA), software, emulation and prototyping hardware, and two categories of intellectual property (IP) verification IP (VIP) and design IP. The Company provides maintenance for its software, emulation hardware and IP product offerings. It also provides engineering services related to methodology, education, hosted design solutions and design services for ICs and development of custom IP. The company's customers include electronics systems and semiconductor companies, Internet service providers and other technology companies that deliver a range of electronics products in market segments, such as mobile and consumer devices, communications, cloud and data center infrastructure, medical systems and other devices.

This story was originally published by Watch List News (http://www.watchlistnews.com) and is the sole property of Watch List News. If you are reading this article on another website, that means this article was illegally copied and re-published to this website in violation of U.S. and International copyright law. You can view the original version of this story at http://www.watchlistnews.com/cadence-design-systems-inc-cdns-trading-down-4-3-following-insider-selling/301291/

Receive News & Ratings for Cadence Design Systems Inc Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Cadence Design Systems Inc and related companies with Analyst Ratings Network's FREE daily email newsletter.

Source: Cadence Design Systems Inc (CDNS) Trading Down 4.3% Following Insider Selling

Figma Introduces World’s First Browser-Based, Professional Grade Tool for Collaborative Interface Design

With $14 million Series A Round Led by Greylock Partners, Figma Brings Visual Design Tools into the 21st Century

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–December 4, 2015–

Figma, the world's first professional-grade, online tool created specifically for interface design officially launched today, introducing a new way for creative teams to collaborate on web and app interface design projects entirely in the browser. Any team interested in experiencing the future of real-time, collaborative design without sacrificing processing power or creative control, can request immediate access at figma.com.

"For years software has been moving away from the operating system and into the cloud, where everything from simple word processing to advanced project management has become accessible online, and collaborative in real-time. But design software hasn't caught up — it is offline and isolated," said Dylan Field, co-founder and CEO of Figma. "Designers want to work differently; forced to email around files, wondering if they are looking at the most recent versions, but the underlying technology required to create a professional design tool online didn't exist — until now."

Figma is professional-grade software built specifically to create interface design projects directly in a web browser. It offers the speed and stability of powerful legacy design programs like Adobe, but with the versatility and collaborative flexibility of online apps like Google Docs. With Figma, design becomes shareable across teams no matter where the members are located.

Move completely online. Built using WebGL, Figma helps designers work more seamlessly by moving the entire process onto the web. Designs remain secure but become inherently shareable, as simple as sharing a link to the project. Based on owner authorization, team members can review or edit shared designs on any operating system. No more time is wasted exporting, uploading, emailing, and downloading stale files. And version control is no longer an issue, as designs are constantly saved and updates readily available to review or modify.

Powerful collaboration tools. Figma is making the future of design more collaborative and efficient, allowing teams to work together no matter where each member is physically located. Collaborative tools including real-time comments and notifications, as well as colors and asset libraries are built directly into each project on Figma. Soon the platform will expand to enable simultaneous editing, where multiple collaborators can edit the same design at the same time.

Built for interface design. Interfaces are living, fluid and dynamic; Figma was built to tackle the specific challenges inherent to this medium. By moving the process into the browser, Figma allows teams to review projects in real world circumstances, using real use case data on different devices. Figma integrates powerful interface design tools including flexible grid and constraint systems, easy data integrations, and live device preview as easy as one click.

Figma was founded in 2012 by Brown classmates Dylan Field and Evan Wallace, when Field was named to Peter Thiel's "Thiel Fellowship" program for young entrepreneurs. To date, the company has raised $18 million, including its latest $14 million Series A round led by Greylock Partners. The company raised a seed round in 2013 of $4 million led by Danny Rimer at Index Ventures, who also participated in the Series A. Additional investors include OATV, ICONIQ, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, White House Chief Data Scientist DJ Patil, Wealthfront CEO Adam Nash and Former Head of Design at Dropbox Soleio Cuervo. Greylock's John Lilly has joined Danny Rimer on Figma's Board of Directors.

"Design has become a core function across industries, and yet years later, there is still a massive gap between where design tools are and where they should be. Today, we work together in real-time, and we collaborate using web-based tools," said John Lilly. "Figma brings design online; it's hard to overstate how much this will fundamentally change the way teams design together. "

"Designers should have more time to create beautiful interfaces and waste less time dealing with annoyances like updating teams, transferring files, and cleaning up countless versions of the same project. And we also believe that powerful design tools should be made accessible to any budget," said Field. "Right now we're inviting design teams to test us out for free during our Preview Release, and provide feedback so that we can continue to refine Figma into the default tool for interface design. We want to learn how teams use the tool so we can introduce appropriate and accessible pricing that is the best value in the market."

ABOUT FIGMA

Figma has developed the world's first professional-grade, online tool specifically for interface design. It brings the power and stability of professional design software directly into the web browser so that design teams can create collaboratively, in real-time. The company was founded in 2012 by Dylan Field and Evan Wallace, and launched its flagship design program in late 2015.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151203005753/en/

For FigmaJeremiah Hall, 415-519-0207jeremiah@torchcomllc.com

Source: Figma Introduces World's First Browser-Based, Professional Grade Tool for Collaborative Interface Design