New Year’s Resolutions: Notes from Inside Greenice

The past year was intense, fast, and sometimes unpredictable. We worked on very different products, solved very different problems, and learned (again) that flexibility is not a “nice to have”, it’s a requirement.

Overall, it was a year that pushed us to think deeper, move smarter, and appreciate the people we work with even more.

Things We Built and Are Proud Of

This year we worked on many different projects. Some were brand new, others were about improving and maintaining products we had built before. Sometimes that meant adding features, and sometimes - rethinking how the product should support the business today.

Instead of listing everything, here are a few projects from 2025 that really stood out for us.

Rebranding a platform for Franchise Resale

This platform originally focused on selling businesses, with buyers, sellers, and counselors all working inside one system. But the owners decided to shift their strategy and focus fully on selling business franchises.

So the task was not just a redesign, but a real product pivot. We updated the structure and user flows so buyers can now easily find a franchise and contact sellers directly through the website. The platform is now clearer, more focused, and ready to scale as the business grows.

Website update for Toolsey

Toolsey helps contractors manage leads and sales, so the website needed to explain its value quickly and clearly.

We refreshed the design, improved the structure, and sharpened the messaging. After the update, the team saw a noticeable boost in sales, which is always the best feedback we can get.

Cooknet: A Community for Chefs and Food Lovers

CookNet is a professional cooking platform where chefs can build their personal brand, share recipes and videos, and offer paid content to subscribers. Users can follow chefs, discover new cuisines, and interact directly with creators.

We helped build CookNet as an independent, scalable platform, a real home for a growing food community, not just another page on social media. Different domains, different goals - same focus on building something that actually works.

Always Learning Mode: ON

One thing that hasn’t changed is how much our team learns outside of client projects. Technology moves fast, and learning is an integral part of the job.

Lately, a lot of this learning is focused on AI and modern development tools, not to chase trends, but to improve how we build products every day.

• For example, Dima B. has been diving into LangChain, exploring how to connect AI models with real product logic for assistants, automation, and internal tools. 
• Max L. recently finished a course on NestJS and TypeScript, and has now started exploring GoLang to expand his backend skill set even further. 
• At the same time, Max R. completed a full course in Python, Django, Data Science, and Machine Learning, and is now experimenting with Google’s new IDE Antigravity, while also following updates in NestJS, Next.js, and Turborepo to stay in sync with modern full-stack development.
• It’s not only developers, either. Our project managers also started using tools like v0 to quickly create UI prototypes and test ideas with clients before development even starts.

So when we talk about AI and new tech, it means working smarter, reducing routine work, and building better solutions in a market that keeps changing.

Introspection: If We Built It Today…

Looking back at older projects is always interesting. Not because something was done wrong, but because technology changes so quickly that the “best solution” of yesterday can look very different today.

One good example is a chatbot project we launched years before ChatGPT and modern AI APIs became widely available. At that time, Amazon Lex was the right and logical choice, and it worked reliably in production.

In fact, it worked so well that Nathan Haase, CEO of the company, once said:

  “Hiring Greenice at the beginning of project development in 2020 was the best technical decision.”

Pretty nice to hear that, right?

If we were building the same product today, the overall idea would stay the same, but the architecture, tools, and even some product decisions would probably be different, simply because the ecosystem has changed so much.

That’s not a mistake, that’s technology moving forward. And we’re moving with it.

Where We Want to Aim This Year

No big promises here. Just a few honest intentions that guide how we want to work and what kind of projects we want to focus on.

We want to build solutions that are easier to scale and maintain, so products don’t become hard to change the moment they start growing. That means thinking more about architecture early on, choosing simpler paths when possible, and avoiding shortcuts that create problems later.

We also want to spend more time validating ideas early, before too much time and budget go into development. Sometimes a quick prototype, a short test with real users, or even a simple technical check can save months of work down the road.

Another important focus is to work closer with clients, not just “for” them. The best results usually happen when we understand not only what needs to be built, but also why: the business goals, risks, and long-term plans behind it. 

And finally, we want to choose projects where technology clearly supports real business needs, not projects built around hype or tools for the sake of tools. When tech serves a clear purpose, everyone wins. 

So yes, quality over noise. Always.

Life Between the Lines

Work doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Our main office is now in Poland, and part of the team relocated there and to other EU countries some time ago, while another part of our team continues working from Ukraine. So today, Greenice is spread across Poland, Ukraine, Czechia, and Romania - still one team, just living very different day-to-day realities.

That brings challenges, but also a lot of resilience and creativity: 

• Always powered, no matter what
  For our teammates in Ukraine, working through electricity shutdowns has become part of normal life. Power banks, backup batteries, mobile internet, generators, alternative energy - you name it, someone on the team probably has it. At this point, we’re ready for almost anything.
• Adapting to market and technology shifts
  It wasn’t only about infrastructure. The market keeps changing, client expectations evolve, and technology moves fast, especially with AI entering almost every product conversation. The team had to stay flexible, learn quickly, and adjust how we build and plan projects. 
• An international Secret Santa
  With the team in several countries, even our small traditions had to go global. Gifts were shipped across borders this year and somehow that made it even more memorable.
• Pizza days and team catch-ups still matter
  Whether in the office or on Zoom, we still make time to celebrate small wins, joke around, and stay connected as people, not just coworkers.
• Continuous support for the Ukrainian army
  We regularly raise and donate money to support the army, not as a one-time action, but as something we keep doing whenever we can. For many on the team, this isn’t abstract or distant, it’s part of everyday life.

Different countries, different routines, but the same team, figuring things out together and moving forward.

In Closing

So that’s our quick check-in for now. Same team, same care for the work, just a few new tools, ideas, and pizza flavors along the way. Thanks for being part of the journey - see you in the next update.