The Place Where Talented People Thrive And Produce Great Products: Codewise

Originally started out as a typical software development company in Krakow, Poland that built software for external clients, Codewise has quickly turned into a leading global provider of ad exchange, measurement and optimization platforms. The company’s incredible exponential growth was recently recognized by the Financial Times, which named Codewise the second fastest-growing company in Europe.

The company’s journey to this success started when Robert Gryn joined Codewise as a strategic client and later bought the company outright, as he saw the opportunity to turn it into a global software powerhouse and a household brand.

By doing that, he went against the dominant trend that still exists in his home nation. Poland has some of the most talented developers in the world, yet most of them work at various outsource software development companies that haven’t managed to build their own widely recognizable brands. Robert completely changed Codewise’s business model when he decided to start building an international software brand, and to establish the company as a global leader in AdTech with breakthrough products and exceptional customer service.

With extensive experience in the industry and being a perfectionist, Robert made sure that the company carefully gathered the precious feedback from its potential customers and leveraged it to provide the top-tier products and solutions to the market.

“My experience using a multitude of other platforms and services gave me a clear idea of what the AdTech market was still lacking and how things should be done.”

The Bleeding-EdgeProducts

At this point in time, Codewise has successfully launched two projects, Zeropark and Voluum.

Zeropark: Zeropark is Codewise’s performance traffic exchange that specializes in zero-click programmatic advertising with over 150 billion events per month – and advertiser-publisher matching. The platform offers Pop, Domain and Search traffic and has over 5,000 users running 30,000+ campaigns.

The first version of Zeropark was built in just over 2 months. The reason behind Robert’s idea to build Zeropark in such a short timeframe was an opportunity to sponsor a large trade show that happened to be taking place in Poland, so the whole Codewise team was working hard to have the prototype ready in time for the conference.

Voluum: Voluum is an advanced real-time SaaS analytics platform. The platform was designed to allow performance marketers to track the progress and profitability of their advertising campaigns.

Codewise started building Voluum while its first major product,

Zeropark, was not even profitable yet. The company continued to push its boundaries and find that it thrives when the pressure is on, and that is why Codewise continued to launch new projects instead of comfortably focusing on and scaling one.

Codewise Loves Gaming

When it is about gaming, how can we forget one of the most popular games on Steam that have surpassed every other game, Counter Strike? With an extraordinary mix of techies, data gurus, creative minds and game fanatics, Codewise has got its wings over Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS GO).

CS GO Gamers might have played on an office map before but they didn’t play on either such a cool map or in such a cool office. The vibrant tech marketing company, Codewise has created its own CS GO maps that are 1:1 scale versions of the company’s own workplace at Krakow, Poland. Tagged as cs_codewise and de_codewise 2, the maps are based on both Hostage Rescue and Bomb Defusal.

Overcoming Hurdles

It is not easy for any startup to get the momentum in the initial days. In the beginning, it is difficult to know the difference between working hard and working smart. Grinding is not the way to success, one needs to be smart about how things work and are mindful of the state that one is in. At a young age, Robert took a big hit on his health and had several nearly crushing breakdowns. But, those days taught Robert the way to balance between health and work. And that is the reason why Codewise has a large gym, yoga room and sauna in its new office to counter overworking.

Another challenge for Codewise was to build a trusted Brand,when Poland was not exactly a country one would associate with “trust”. To overcome this, the company had to have a regular physical presence at all important industry conferences. It was very costly and time-consuming, but after years of doing this, clients started to perceive Codewise as a company that can be trusted.

“You have to learn what your limits are and discover what your telltale signs of burnout are. Take some time off, then come back with a fresh mind, it’s good for you and the business.”

The Customer-Centric Firm

Being one of the fastest-growing companies in Europe, Codewise always prioritizes its customers. The company treats all interactions with its customers very seriously. Codewise has built a dedicated Customer Success department and has provided it with all the resources needed to create the proper support and education needed to overcome the steep learning curve of the industry. That’s how Codewise enabled its clients to operate and run their business smoothly and efficiently while using the company’s products and services.

Over the years, Codewise has created some die-hard fans of its products that spread the word. A good word coming from the mouth of a client is immeasurably more powerful than any other  form of promotion. That’s how to the company’s transparency and dedication towards providing the best products and service available quickly gained recognition on the market and helped fuel Codewise’s skyrocketing growth.

The Future

Codewise recently launched its third major product, its most ambitious undertaking so far, which is already on the verge of becoming profitable. This third product is a new integrated SaaS platform that revolutionizes the way brands and agencies plan and execute advertising campaigns. It unlocks massive pockets of efficiency and ROI for marketing professionals, which ensured its popularity around the world. The company is also launching its fourth product soon, aimed at helping media and publishers to maximize their ad revenue.

AdTech is a constantly changing space, and it’s hard for any company in the industry to predict future trends. But Codewise is self-funded and that allows the company to be nimble and creative. The company adapts quickly to new trends and acts without delay when new opportunities present themselves.

Growing to $50 million in revenue was relatively easy for Codewise, but going to $100 million and beyond will be a completely different game at another level. That’s why the company is now building an all-star team that will make it possible.

In the long term, Codewise’s ambition goes far beyond the AdTech space. Among other things, the company is looking to monetize its proprietary database technology in the coming years, which could prove to be an extremely lucrative proposition.

The Marvelous Man Behind Codewise

Robert Gryn is the CEO & Owner of Codewise. He is the youngest self-made man to make Forbes 100 Richest Poles list. Robert has received his BSc in Technology Entrepreneurship from the University of Surrey and his Masters in Marketing from the University of St Andrews.

“Our technology makes us stand out. This is what we’re known for and why we’re perceived as a premium service provider. We’ve had 10 minutes of downtime in over 4 years; we have the most granular reports that operate with vast sums of data that our competitors struggle with.”