I knew how to solve hard technical problems. I couldn’t solve my own business.
I spent more than 20 years building technology. Starting my own business reminded me what technology is supposed to do for people.
Alek Mlynek, Founder
I kept building. The business stayed heavy.
For years, I watched developers say the business side didn’t get it while business owners felt technology was a black box they had to suffer through. Then I started my own business and experienced that divide from the other side.
I spent years working 10- and 12-hour days, always building, always fixing, always looking for the thing that would make it click. Building was what I knew, so it became my answer to everything. More tools. Better systems. More automation. The business still felt heavy.
My kids noticed. Dad was always working.
I remember sitting down with my wife.
“I don’t know if I can keep doing this. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”
That was brutal. I knew how to solve incredibly complicated technical problems, but I couldn’t seem to solve my own business.
I was spending my energy on the things I understood.
Building made me feel capable. Meanwhile, the business needed me to reach out, build relationships and learn what people actually needed. I kept returning to the work I already knew.
Eventually I saw the pattern. Another tool was never going to fix it. I had to understand the business problem before deciding what to build.
Now I see the same rush with AI. Business owners are told they need it. Technical people are excited by what is possible. Too often, the tool comes before the question.
Courses tell owners how to use AI. We start with the business: make technology move something that matters, keep it simple and put the right safeguards around it.
SwiftRoot exists to close that gap. We help Alberta business owners understand what is happening, decide what needs to change and safely put technology to work.
I never want another business owner to feel the loss and despair I felt, working that hard and still fumbling in the dark.
Technology should give you more control over the business and more room for a life outside it.