About SME Pals

David Mercer

SME Pals was started in 2008 by David Mercer as a companion blog to the many technical books on Web development and programming he was writing at the time.

David's books have been published by leading technical and educational publishers around the world, including Wrox & Wiley, Packt, Pearson, and more.

Later SME Pals evolved into a blog/resource to help people (in particular entrepreneurs and small business owners) cope with the ever changing world of technology. It has grown to become a recognized and recommended free entrepreneurial resource to inspire new startups and help them grow to become profitable.

It's also been featured on many leading tech, news and business websites including:

David and the SME Pals team (a small, dedicated group of people working together from around the world) helps startups by investing the time and skills they need to solve problems and get up and running efficiently. Effectively, companies work with them to deliver solutions to unique and complex problems that they don't necessarily have the skills to manage in-house, in return for a small equity share.

For example, David recently completed a hybrid ACO (Ant Colony Optimization) solution to the mTSP (multiple Traveling Salesman Problem), with constraints, for a leading international vehicle tracking firm.

David holds a cum laude science degree with a dual major in Applied Math and Math from the University of South Africa.

He's also a best-selling author of programming, development, eCommerce and marketing books and a serial entrepreneur specializing in Web and eCommerce startups.