Technology & Product Studio Cape Town · working worldwide
Subtract complexity. Create possibility.
Subtraction is an independent technology studio helping growing businesses turn complex challenges into clear strategies, useful products and dependable systems.
Why one studio
We remove what does not earn its place, then build and run what does. Nothing is handed over a wall, so nothing gets lost at the wall.
- Years in technology consulting and platform architecture
- 30
- Studio accountable from the first idea to the running system
- 1
- Ways in: think, build, run
- 3
Three ways in
Start where you are.
Decide what is worth doing.
Ideation, technology strategy, discovery, innovation consulting.
First step: Decision sprint. A written decision: what to build, what not to, and what it costs.
Turn the right idea into something useful.
Bespoke products, websites, apps, integrations, automation, AI-enabled systems and connected objects.
First step: Working prototype. Something that works, in your hands or on your wall.
Keep the business’s technology dependable.
Hosting, infrastructure, monitoring, maintenance and ongoing improvement.
First step: Systems check. One page: what to remove, what to fix, what to keep.
Who it is for
Businesses growing faster than their systems.
The CTO carrying too many vendors, the CFO who cannot see where the technology money goes, the CMO whose site cannot keep up with the campaigns. We work best with people who want a straight answer and are prepared to act on it.
We measure before we price. The first call is free. After it, you get a fixed price for a defined scope of work or, where there are still unknowns, a cost estimate that names them. Either way, you pay nothing unless you go ahead.
Who does the work
One person to talk to. Everything else, handled.
Subtraction is one person, Lawrence Smit, and his robots: a mix of technologies, AI agents, automations and human brainpower. Each agent has one job and a short list of things it never does. Law checks their work, and you only ever deal with him.
When the work needs a specialist, we bring one in: developers and engineers, specialists in the fields we do not practise ourselves, and fabricators and suppliers for the physical side of the work.
Talk to Law
Tell Law what you are trying to do.
Pick where you are and when, add a sentence, and send. The first conversation costs nothing.
- You writeA sentence is enough.
- Law repliesPersonally, within two working days.
- A first conversation30 minutes, by call or in Cape Town.
- A written next stepWhat we would do and what it costs, or who to talk to instead.
hello@subtraction.co
Cape Town, South Africa