Val Sopi
Launching on Product Hunt
<p>
<b>Diary entries, aka Table of contents</b>
</p>
<ul>
<li><a...
over a year ago
<p>
<b>Diary entries, aka Table of contents</b>
</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="#wednesday7">Wednesday, Dec 7</a></li>
<li><a href="#thursday8">Thursday, Dec 8</a></li>
<li><a href="#thursday8">Friday, Dec 9</a></li>
<li><a href="#monday12">Monday, Dec 12</a></li>
...
mtlynch.io
Resurrecting a Dead Library: Part One - Resuscitation
When I arrived on the scene, it wasn’t a pretty sight.
I saw formerly active, cheerful Python...
over a year ago
When I arrived on the scene, it wasn’t a pretty sight.
I saw formerly active, cheerful Python classes in a sorry state of atrophy, having gone years without exercise. Functions at all levels of abstraction were crammed together inhumanely under the label utils. I tried to read...
mtlynch.io
An Unexpected Reset Month
Highlights My loved ones and I are safe and healthy. WanderJest is on hiatus due to the nationwide...
over a year ago
Highlights My loved ones and I are safe and healthy. WanderJest is on hiatus due to the nationwide shutdown. I’m working on a product to help investors rebalance their portfolios. COVID-19 and me Obviously, the most relevant thing to happen in the last month has been the global...
Max Rozen
On replacing my MacBook Air M1 with a Thinkpad T480
In which you probably wonder, but ...why?
a year ago
In which you probably wonder, but ...why?
mtlynch.io
Hiring Content Writers: Part Two - Creating a Detailed Job Description
Overview: Hiring Content Writers Part One: Finding Writers Part Two - Creating a Detailed Job...
over a year ago
Overview: Hiring Content Writers Part One: Finding Writers Part Two - Creating a Detailed Job Description (this section) Part Three: Screening Candidates Part Four - Working with Writers Part Five - Terminating Writers A clear, concise job description shows candidates that you’re...
Tony Dinh's...
My Best Month Ever: $23,109 revenue (+ November 2021 updates)
Hello everyone! This is Tony 👋 I just had my best month ever in my entire indie hacking journey,...
over a year ago
Hello everyone! This is Tony 👋 I just had my best month ever in my entire indie hacking journey, and I’m excited to share it with you all! 🤑 I made $23K in November 2021 as a solo dev Here is the full breakdown: Revenue: $23,109.02 Sales Tax: $1,726.13
Dominik Sobe's...
First, second, wait—third customer
over a year ago
mtlynch.io
My First Impressions of Nix
Nix is a tool for configuring software environments according to source files. I’ve been hearing...
a year ago
Nix is a tool for configuring software environments according to source files. I’ve been hearing more and more about Nix on Hacker News and Twitter. The idea of it appeals to me, so I’ve been tinkering with it over the past few weeks.
My history with infrastructure as code Ten...
mtlynch.io
Projects
TinyPilot (2020 - present) TinyPilot is a small, inexpensive device that gives you remote access to...
over a year ago
TinyPilot (2020 - present) TinyPilot is a small, inexpensive device that gives you remote access to servers before they even boot.
Refactoring English (2021) Refactoring English: Effective Writing for Software Developers is my upcoming book that teaches developers practical tips...
Max Rozen
Getting your own good enough laptop for under $500
I recently bought a cheap, used Thinkpad T480, replaced a bunch of parts. Some folks were asking how...
a year ago
I recently bought a cheap, used Thinkpad T480, replaced a bunch of parts. Some folks were asking how they could do the same thing, so I figured I'd write about it
Val Sopi
The incredible March 2024
<p>March was an absolutely insane month for <a href="https://blogstatic.io/">blogstatic.io</a>. The...
8 months ago
<p>March was an absolutely insane month for <a href="https://blogstatic.io/">blogstatic.io</a>. The majority of this spike I can attribute to the <a href="https://blogstatic.io/blog/pricing-2024">price change announcement on March 1st</a> and customers were rushing to lock in...
Grow With Less
9 Inspiring Examples of Successful Blogs (And How They Got There)
Looking at blog income reports from popular blogs, you could think that the only way to make money...
over a year ago
Looking at blog income reports from popular blogs, you could think that the only way to make money blogging is to blog about blogging.
Luckily, you would be mistaken.
The reality is that there are successful blogs in all kinds of niches. You simply hear more about the make money...
mtlynch.io
TinyPilot: Month 30
New here?
Hi, I’m Michael. I’m a software developer and the founder of TinyPilot, an independent...
a year ago
New here?
Hi, I’m Michael. I’m a software developer and the founder of TinyPilot, an independent computer hardware company. I started the company in 2020, and it now earns $60-80k/month in revenue and employs six other people.
Every month, I publish a retrospective like this one...
Max Rozen
Keeping up with React Libraries
React libraries are hard to keep track of. This article attempts to put the ones worth talking about...
over a year ago
React libraries are hard to keep track of. This article attempts to put the ones worth talking about on one page.
Val Sopi
Punctuality Above All
<p>Here's a quick rundown about the article. For more read on below.</p>
<iframe width="400"...
over a year ago
<p>Here's a quick rundown about the article. For more read on below.</p>
<iframe width="400" height="225" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Qn_jAtoDieY?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<p>//</p>
<p>There are these two small restaurants close to one another...
mtlynch.io
Is It Keto: Month 7
Highlights Is It Keto’s visits reached a record high of 11k pageviews. Revenues reached a record...
over a year ago
Highlights Is It Keto’s visits reached a record high of 11k pageviews. Revenues reached a record high of $40.84 in affiliate income. Despite this, Is It Keto didn’t satisfy its critical goals, so I’m putting it on the backburner. Goal Grades At the start of the month, I laid out...
Grow With Less
The 27 tools I use to grow my online business
People often ask me what tools I use to build and grow French Together so I thought I would put...
over a year ago
People often ask me what tools I use to build and grow French Together so I thought I would put together a list of my favorites.
These are not necessarily the best and trendiest tools, some may even be considered old-fasshioned. But they are the tools that help me build and grow...
mtlynch.io
What I've Been Doing Since Quitting My Job
I worked as a software engineer for Google from 2014 to 2018. On February 1st, I quit my job and...
over a year ago
I worked as a software engineer for Google from 2014 to 2018. On February 1st, I quit my job and formed my own single-person software company.
That was four months ago, so I thought I’d share an update on how things are going.
What’s it like not having a job? That’s the most...
mtlynch.io
TinyPilot: Month 41
New here?
Hi, I’m Michael. I’m a software developer and the founder of TinyPilot, an independent...
a year ago
New here?
Hi, I’m Michael. I’m a software developer and the founder of TinyPilot, an independent computer hardware company. I started the company in 2020, and it now earns $80-100k/month in revenue and employs six other people.
Every month, I publish a retrospective like this one...
mtlynch.io
An Unsuccessful Experiment with Nemotron
A few weeks ago, NVIDIA released Nemotron, a large language model that they derived from Meta’s...
a month ago
A few weeks ago, NVIDIA released Nemotron, a large language model that they derived from Meta’s Llama 3.1 70B.
NVIDIA claimed at release that Nemotron outperformed GPT-4o and Claude 3.5 Sonnet on certain benchmarks. That was exciting news, as my experience with self-hostable AI...
Max Rozen
Prefetch your Google Fonts for Performance Gains in Gatsby
Self-hosting your Google Fonts can save your customers around 3-400ms per page load. There's a...
over a year ago
Self-hosting your Google Fonts can save your customers around 3-400ms per page load. There's a Gatsby plugin that makes it super easy.
Grow With Less
7 Dangerous Meta Description Mistakes That Are Ruining Your CTR
I have some bad news.
Writing great content, building quality backlinks and having catchy blog post...
over a year ago
I have some bad news.
Writing great content, building quality backlinks and having catchy blog post titles is not enough.
You could have all this and still get very little traffic.
Why?
Because you need people to choose your article over competing articles in the search...
mtlynch.io
Eliminating Distractions from Social Media, Email, and StackOverflow
You open Gmail to write a note to your friend. Before you begin, you notice that you’ve received six...
over a year ago
You open Gmail to write a note to your friend. Before you begin, you notice that you’ve received six new messages. It pains you to leave emails unopened, so you read them immediately. Two hours later, you realize that you never wrote that note to your friend.
This happened to me...
mtlynch.io
TinyPilot: Month 17
Highlights TinyPilot’s sales jumped to $57k, and it might be sustainable. I’m just about to launch...
over a year ago
Highlights TinyPilot’s sales jumped to $57k, and it might be sustainable. I’m just about to launch TinyPilot’s new product and branding. I reduced Google Cloud Platform fees by 90% on my side projects. Goal Grades At the start of each month, I declare what I’d like to accomplish....
Grow With Less
Do Headline Analyzers Work? A Data-Driven Answer
Headline analyzers are a popular way to come up with great headlines and try to predict their...
over a year ago
Headline analyzers are a popular way to come up with great headlines and try to predict their effectiveness.
All you need to do is write your headline and the tool will give it a score telling you how effective it’s likely to be.
But can these free headline analyzers accurately...
Val Sopi
Financial Update: February 2023
<p>In January, I managed to pay myself $500 for the first time — from my Saas making — since...
a year ago
<p>In January, I managed to pay myself $500 for the first time — from my Saas making — since setting sail on <a href="https://valsopi.com/setting-sail">my journey to financial freedom</a>.</p><p>The plan is to keep paying myself at least $500 each month going forward, hoping...
Grow With Less
Journorequest, Snowmaker and 20 other Link Building Strategies That Work Great in 2022
Creating awesome content is not enough.
If you want traffic, you need to build high-quality...
over a year ago
Creating awesome content is not enough.
If you want traffic, you need to build high-quality backlinks. But how do you do that?
There are hundreds of articles listing the best link building strategies but the reality is that you don’t need 100 strategies that make you feel pushy...
mtlynch.io
The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt
The Goal is an attempt to reevaluate business management from first principles. The book explains...
over a year ago
The Goal is an attempt to reevaluate business management from first principles. The book explains Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints, which states that in any business, the sole determinant of output is the bottleneck resource. To grow, a business has to identify its bottlenecks...
Val Sopi
What is leadership?
<p>With so much going on in the world and information traveling faster than ever before in the human...
over a year ago
<p>With so much going on in the world and information traveling faster than ever before in the human existence, it's easy to lose track of the basics.</p>
<p>Feeling overwhelmed is a result of our values, thoughts, being challenged.</p>
<p>The first response is naturally to...
mtlynch.io
A Simple Example of Calling a C Library from Zig
Zig is a new, independently developed low-level programming language. It’s a modern reimagining of C...
a year ago
Zig is a new, independently developed low-level programming language. It’s a modern reimagining of C that attempts to retain all of C’s performance benefits while also taking advantage of improvements in tooling and language design from the last 30 years.
Because Zig is designed...
mtlynch.io
What Got Done - Month 1
Highlights I launched my task journaling app, but it hasn’t attracted many users. Interviewing...
over a year ago
Highlights I launched my task journaling app, but it hasn’t attracted many users. Interviewing potential customers gave me a good idea for my next project. I earned $107 from Is It Keto and $123 from Zestful without working on either. Goal Grades Publish a minimum viable product...
Grow With Less
How to Overcome Information Overload and Make Real Progress with Your Business
Being a solopreneur is exhausting.
You wake up in the morning, check your emails and find dozens of...
over a year ago
Being a solopreneur is exhausting.
You wake up in the morning, check your emails and find dozens of new strategies waiting for you.
Double your subscribers with this new pop-up!
Use this little-known copywriting trick to get 32% more signups!
How this simple tool helped me get...
Tony Dinh's...
Nov 2024: My first million!
$1M in annual revenue, B2B sales, SOC 2, resellers, grow team, and other updates in November 2024.
a month ago
$1M in annual revenue, B2B sales, SOC 2, resellers, grow team, and other updates in November 2024.
mtlynch.io
Educational Products: Month 2
Highlights I learned a few techniques that make it easier for me to record videos for my course....
4 months ago
Highlights I learned a few techniques that make it easier for me to record videos for my course. I’ve decided I don’t need to use a Merchant of Record service. I’ve integrated htmx into my standard toolkit for making web applications. Goal Grades At the start of each month, I...
mtlynch.io
TinyPilot: Month 3
Highlights TinyPilot generated $3,800 in revenue with zero marketing. I went from zero to a...
over a year ago
Highlights TinyPilot generated $3,800 in revenue with zero marketing. I went from zero to a complete, custom manufactured product in 26 days. I’m still struggling to manage my inventory. Goal Grades At the start of each month, I declare what I’d like to accomplish. Here’s how I...
Build In Public...
How I Built This In Public: Joshua Xu
Lessons from building HeyGen from 0 to $1m ARR in 7 months
a year ago
Lessons from building HeyGen from 0 to $1m ARR in 7 months
mtlynch.io
Strong Towns
I found it eye-opening in terms of understanding how municipal governments work in practice and how...
10 months ago
I found it eye-opening in terms of understanding how municipal governments work in practice and how perverse incentives lead to poor community outcomes. It had a huge impact on the way that I think about where to live and what policies I support in local government.
This book...
Max Rozen
Understanding when to use useMemo
If you've just learned what useCallback is, you might be wondering why on earth useMemo exists, and...
over a year ago
If you've just learned what useCallback is, you might be wondering why on earth useMemo exists, and why we don't use it everywhere.
mtlynch.io
TinyPilot: Month 7
Highlights TinyPilot achieved astonishing growth in revenue, jumping from $15k in December to $42k...
over a year ago
Highlights TinyPilot achieved astonishing growth in revenue, jumping from $15k in December to $42k in January. Most of TinyPilot’s sales came from a single positive YouTube review. TinyPilot is experiencing growing pains as I scramble to meet demand. Goal Grades At the start of...
Max Rozen
OnlineOrNot Diaries 18
Starting the year by cleaning up even more
11 months ago
Starting the year by cleaning up even more
Grow With Less
Here Is What a Disappointing Experiment Taught Me About Headline A/B Testing
After reading about the huge conversion boosts many bloggers got after A/B testing their headlines,...
over a year ago
After reading about the huge conversion boosts many bloggers got after A/B testing their headlines, I assumed A/B testing the headlines of 73 articles I have published on my language learning blog French Together would be a no brainer.
I could already picture myself writing a...
👋 Hello, I'm...
Seven deadly sins of a second-time founder
a year ago
Dominik Sobe's...
Lessons from a “failed” Product Hunt launch
over a year ago
Max Rozen
2023: Focusing on a single product pays off
The first year where I managed to keep my focus entirely on a single project.
a year ago
The first year where I managed to keep my focus entirely on a single project.
Max Rozen
What is the difference between style-loader and mini-css-extract-plugin?
Looking to optimise your webpack config? Understanding the difference between style-loader and...
over a year ago
Looking to optimise your webpack config? Understanding the difference between style-loader and mini-css-extract-plugin can help you speed up your page loads.
mtlynch.io
Zestful: Month 4
Prior to February 2019, I published all my retrospectives on Indie Hackers:
Zestful Month 4:...
over a year ago
Prior to February 2019, I published all my retrospectives on Indie Hackers:
Zestful Month 4: Shipping Too Late
Max Rozen
OnlineOrNot Diaries 15
Heading back into the arena. We are so back.
a year ago
Heading back into the arena. We are so back.
mtlynch.io
A Beginner's Guide to Mining Siacoin
This guide is out of date.
This post describes mining Sia with a desktop graphics card (GPU), but...
over a year ago
This guide is out of date.
This post describes mining Sia with a desktop graphics card (GPU), but custom mining hardware is now available for Sia. The custom hardware has made Sia GPU mining non-viable. This guide will still work, but you may never reach payout, even with a...
mtlynch.io
Educational Products: Month 1
Highlights I’m rebooting my blogging course from 2020. htmx is pretty good but not everything I wish...
5 months ago
Highlights I’m rebooting my blogging course from 2020. htmx is pretty good but not everything I wish it could be. I’m looking for a buyer for Is It Keto, my old keto website. Rebooting Hit the Front Page In 2020, I created a video course about blogging called “Hit the Front Page...
mtlynch.io
Is It Keto: Month 4
Prior to February 2019, I published all my retrospectives on Indie Hackers:
Is It Keto Month 4: My...
over a year ago
Prior to February 2019, I published all my retrospectives on Indie Hackers:
Is It Keto Month 4: My First Dollar of Revenue
mtlynch.io
My Feedback about Hello Base
The cryptocurrency language barrier There’s an unforunate language barrier among technologists right...
2 weeks ago
The cryptocurrency language barrier There’s an unforunate language barrier among technologists right now.
Cryptocurrency enthusiasts are excited about the ecosystem and what’s going on in crypto-world right now. They’re trying to bring new people in, but they’re often so...
Tony Dinh's...
Making $22K in 7 days: the story
and other updates from me in Mar 2023
a year ago
and other updates from me in Mar 2023
mtlynch.io
Automatically Deploying ClipBucket with Ansible
Overview ClipBucket is an open source video hosting platform, similar in functionality to YouTube or...
over a year ago
Overview ClipBucket is an open source video hosting platform, similar in functionality to YouTube or Vimeo. In this guide, we’ll walk through how to deploy ClipBucket to a server using the configuration management tool, Ansible.
tl; dr - Just Install ClipBucket I don’t care about...
mtlynch.io
A Survey of Applicant Tracking Systems for Bootstrapped Businesses
I’m a bootstrapped founder of a six-person company, and I spent this week testing different tools...
over a year ago
I’m a bootstrapped founder of a six-person company, and I spent this week testing different tools for hiring candidates.
This post summarizes my experience with the applicant tracking systems (ATS) I found and how well they serve small, bootstrapped businesses.
Note: This isn’t...
mtlynch.io
Zestful: Month 5
Prior to February 2019, I published all my retrospectives on Indie Hackers:
Zestful Month 5:...
over a year ago
Prior to February 2019, I published all my retrospectives on Indie Hackers:
Zestful Month 5: Launched, but Still No Customers
Grow With Less
Is Your Article's Date Destroying Your Rankings?
Having a recent date associated with your article could be the difference between a page 1 ranking...
over a year ago
Having a recent date associated with your article could be the difference between a page 1 ranking and a page 5 ranking.
This means that you should not only keep your content up-to-date but also make sure that Google knows it’s up-to-date.
This article will show you how to find...
Dominik Sobe's...
The journey of launching StorePreviewer PRO
over a year ago
mtlynch.io
I Regret My $46k Website Redesign
Two years ago, I created a website for my business. By combining my terrible design skills with a...
over a year ago
Two years ago, I created a website for my business. By combining my terrible design skills with a decent-looking template, I created a site that looked okay. I told myself that if the business took off, I’d hire a real designer to make it look professional.
TinyPilot website,...
High Signal
$200k from selling Google Sheets tutorials
Andrew Kamphey is a creator who has made $200k from teaching people how to use Google Sheets over...
a year ago
Andrew Kamphey is a creator who has made $200k from teaching people how to use Google Sheets over the past three years. Think 'Miss Excel' but he's a beardy guy who doesn't dance in his videos. In this interview Andrew shares his marketing wins,
mtlynch.io
TinyPilot: Month 13
Highlights TinyPilot’s EU distributor is on track to begin sales by the end of August. I’ve freed up...
over a year ago
Highlights TinyPilot’s EU distributor is on track to begin sales by the end of August. I’ve freed up time by delegating responsibilities to my teammates. I miraculously became unstuck on two tasks that have been blocking work for months. Goal Grades At the start of each month, I...
Max Rozen
Why early stage startups are the worst for junior developers
Startups can be the best or worst thing for your career as a junior developer. Let's discuss why.
over a year ago
Startups can be the best or worst thing for your career as a junior developer. Let's discuss why.
mtlynch.io
GUIs are Antisocial
Last week, I was listening to the CoRecursive podcast interview with PowerShell’s lead architect,...
5 months ago
Last week, I was listening to the CoRecursive podcast interview with PowerShell’s lead architect, Jeffrey Snover.
One moment in that interview has been stuck in my head the whole week is when Snover argues that graphical user interfaces (GUIs) are inherently “antisocial”:
I...
Max Rozen
OnlineOrNot Diaries 10
On re-rearchitecting.
a year ago
mtlynch.io
Running Sia on a Synology NAS via Docker
Overview Sia is a decentralized, peer-to-peer network for buying and selling computer storage space....
over a year ago
Overview Sia is a decentralized, peer-to-peer network for buying and selling computer storage space. If you have extra storage space, Sia allows you to sell it to others who want to store their files on the Sia cloud network.
Hosting a Sia server on your personal laptop or...
mtlynch.io
Editing and Sharing Home Videos with MediaGoblin
Goal This tutorial shows you how to edit digitized video captures into smaller clips that you can...
over a year ago
Goal This tutorial shows you how to edit digitized video captures into smaller clips that you can publish on your own password-protected MediaGoblin server. You’ll use a free Heroku dyno, so your only ongoing cost for running this private media server is the cost of storage on...
Build In Public...
I just announced an AI accelerator program
Full story on my latest role at Paddle, the new AI program, and what it means for you
8 months ago
Full story on my latest role at Paddle, the new AI program, and what it means for you
mtlynch.io
On Migrating from Cypress to Playwright
Cypress is an open-source tool for testing web applications end-to-end. I first saw Gleb Bahmutov...
over a year ago
Cypress is an open-source tool for testing web applications end-to-end. I first saw Gleb Bahmutov demo Cypress at a 2018 web dev meetup in New York, and I was blown away.
I’ve been using Cypress since I saw it demoed at a dev meetup in 2018.
Before discovering Cypress, I had...
High Signal
Making $12k from podcasts - James McKinven interview
James McKinven is an entrepreneur who has succeeded in making money from podcasts - no easy feat. He...
a year ago
James McKinven is an entrepreneur who has succeeded in making money from podcasts - no easy feat. He earns money by editing podcasts for companies
Val Sopi
AI will make humans better
<p><i>Context: Read <a...
a year ago
<p><i>Context: Read <a href="https://www.theredhandfiles.com/chatgpt-making-things-faster-and-easier/" target="_blank">Nick Cave's letter</a> first.</i></p>
<p><i></i>—</p>
<p>ChatGPT (or similar) are just tools!</p>
<p>Nothing more.</p>
<p>They're akin to when tools...
mtlynch.io
TinyPilot: Month 15
Highlights TinyPilot had its highest-revenue month ever. One of TinyPilot’s competitors raised $800k...
over a year ago
Highlights TinyPilot had its highest-revenue month ever. One of TinyPilot’s competitors raised $800k almost overnight. I’m working with a design firm to improve TinyPilot’s brand and website. Goal Grades At the start of each month, I declare what I’d like to accomplish. Here’s...
mtlynch.io
How I Collected a Debt from an Unscrupulous Merchant
A few years ago, I learned a handy technique for resolving disputes with uncooperative businesses....
over a year ago
A few years ago, I learned a handy technique for resolving disputes with uncooperative businesses. It’s simple to understand and easy to implement. You don’t need lawyers or a prominent social media presence. All it requires is for you to behave like an organized professional....
Max Rozen
OnlineOrNot Diaries 9
On cleaning up the shop.
a year ago
mtlynch.io
How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie
As a big fan of Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People, I was interested in this...
over a year ago
As a big fan of Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People, I was interested in this book. 70 years after it was published, I still see people recommending it, so I had high hopes.
Sadly, the book fell short of my expectations. When I read How to Win Friends and...
mtlynch.io
Staying Motivated by Sending Status Updates to Nobody
At my last job, status meetings with my manager were outstandingly efficient. He never ran me...
over a year ago
At my last job, status meetings with my manager were outstandingly efficient. He never ran me through the typical drill of listing list off everything I did since our last meeting. Instead, we jumped right to the meaty topics of career growth, team development, and challenging...
Max Prilutskiy
How we're using email on a custom domain for $0/mo
Google has announced yet another price increase for Google Workspace. Here's what we've done to...
9 months ago
Google has announced yet another price increase for Google Workspace. Here's what we've done to avoid paying anything at all.
mtlynch.io
Why does a extraneous build step make my Zig app 10x faster?
For the past few months, I’ve been curious about two technologies: the Zig programming language and...
9 months ago
For the past few months, I’ve been curious about two technologies: the Zig programming language and Ethereum cryptocurrency. To learn more about both, I’ve been using Zig to write a bytecode interpreter for the Ethereum Virtual Machine.
Zig is a great language for performance...
Max Rozen
@forge/api: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading ‘fetch’)
How to fix a cannot read properties of undefined error in Forge
over a year ago
How to fix a cannot read properties of undefined error in Forge
I Have No Idea What...
Getting to 19,000 monthly clicks: Everything I've learned about SEO as a beginner
It’s been a while since my last post! Since then, I’ve been focusing on growing Remote Rocketship....
a year ago
It’s been a while since my last post! Since then, I’ve been focusing on growing Remote Rocketship. I’m super excited to announce that it’s reached $2,000 MRR! 🥳 You may recall from the last post that I mentioned that the only sustainable channel to grow the website is SEO and...
mtlynch.io
TinyPilot: Month 32
New here?
Hi, I’m Michael. I’m a software developer and the founder of TinyPilot, an independent...
a year ago
New here?
Hi, I’m Michael. I’m a software developer and the founder of TinyPilot, an independent computer hardware company. I started the company in 2020, and it now earns $60-80k/month in revenue and employs six other people.
Every month, I publish a retrospective like this one...
👋 Hello, I'm...
Work-n-travel: A practical guide for staying productive while exploring the world.
...
a year ago
mtlynch.io
TinyPilot: Month 8
Highlights TinyPilots revenues dropped for the first time in six months. TinyPilot finished the...
over a year ago
Highlights TinyPilots revenues dropped for the first time in six months. TinyPilot finished the month with $33k in revenue, a 21% drop from January. One of the critical TinyPilot parts I need suddenly disappeared from vendors. Delegating work to others is paradoxically leaving me...
mtlynch.io
Using Zig to Unit Test a C Application
Zig is a new, independently developed low-level programming language. It’s a modern reimagining of C...
a year ago
Zig is a new, independently developed low-level programming language. It’s a modern reimagining of C that attempts to retain C’s performance while embracing improvements from the last 30 years of tooling and language design.
Zig makes calling into C code easier than any other...
mtlynch.io
I'm Still Confused About Base
A year ago, I listented to an interview with Jesse Pollak on an episode of Into the Bytecode.
Jesse...
3 months ago
A year ago, I listented to an interview with Jesse Pollak on an episode of Into the Bytecode.
Jesse works for Coinbase, and he noticed that lots of developers building apps on top of Ethereum were solving the same problems over and over again. He started a project at Coinbase to...
Val Sopi
blogstatic numbers for October
<p>I announced the new blogstatic pricing ($19/year) and launched the <a...
over a year ago
<p>I announced the new blogstatic pricing ($19/year) and launched the <a href="https://blogstatic.io/blog/rebrand">new website</a> on October 11th.</p>
<p>As I was considering the new pricing and the pros and cons, I wrote this in my daily business journal:</p>
<figure><img...
Build In Public...
How I Built This In Public: Marko Saric
Lessons from building Plausible Analytics to $1.2m ARR in public
a year ago
Lessons from building Plausible Analytics to $1.2m ARR in public
mtlynch.io
TinyPilot: Month 10
Highlights TinyPilot has its first official office space. I tried a marketing experiment that...
over a year ago
Highlights TinyPilot has its first official office space. I tried a marketing experiment that flopped. Designing IT infrastructure for a new office is fun. Goal Grades At the start of each month, I declare what I’d like to accomplish. Here’s how I did against those...
Tony Dinh's...
April 2022: High churn, reached $6K MRR, and other updates.
Hello everyone! Welcome 150 new subscribers since my last issue. I’m glad to have you here! 👋 Here...
over a year ago
Hello everyone! Welcome 150 new subscribers since my last issue. I’m glad to have you here! 👋 Here is a quick update from me in April 2022. This should make a nice thumbnail for this page! 😁 🔻 Suffered from high churn In early April, Black Magic observed
mtlynch.io
Reset Month
No update this month I’m skipping my normal retrospective this month, as I sold TinyPilot and am...
5 months ago
No update this month I’m skipping my normal retrospective this month, as I sold TinyPilot and am taking some time to figure out my next project.
Retrospectives will resume in July.
Build In Public...
Build In Public - Community Edition (Sep 2021)
Hey everyone 👋 Let’s open this edition with a powerful quote: On that note, get ready for...
over a year ago
Hey everyone 👋 Let’s open this edition with a powerful quote: On that note, get ready for September’s round-up highlighting key launches and wins from founders, makers, and creators in the #buildinpublic community. Without further ado, let’s get rolling.
Build In Public...
How I Built This In Public: Louis Pereira
Lessons from building AudioPen to 600+ paid users to clinching #1 on Product Hunt
a year ago
Lessons from building AudioPen to 600+ paid users to clinching #1 on Product Hunt
Grow With Less
The Best Way to Come up with Catchy Blog Post Titles
Copywriting legend David Ogilvy once said that “on the average, five times as many people read the...
over a year ago
Copywriting legend David Ogilvy once said that “on the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.”
That’s great news because it means a great blog post title has...
mtlynch.io
Lessons from my First Exit
In April of this year, I sold TinyPilot, the bootstrapped hardware company I founded and ran for...
a month ago
In April of this year, I sold TinyPilot, the bootstrapped hardware company I founded and ran for four years.
I wrote a post in May that told the story of the sale, but I’d like to share more about the practical lessons I learned from the experience.
In this post, I’m sharing what...
I Have No Idea What...
I Have No Idea What I’m Doing: Introduction
In this blog “I have no idea what I’m doing” I’ll be chronicling the progress and discoveries I make...
over a year ago
In this blog “I have no idea what I’m doing” I’ll be chronicling the progress and discoveries I make as I build a startup for the first time. The name of this blog comes from a talk in 2015 by former Facebook engineer Graham Lee. In his talk, he admits that although at the time...
Tony Dinh's...
March 2022: $5,316 MRR and my journey to 30K followers
Hello everyone! 👋 I’m happy to share that this newsletter has now reached 2,000 subscribers. Yay!...
over a year ago
Hello everyone! 👋 I’m happy to share that this newsletter has now reached 2,000 subscribers. Yay! 🥳 I’m very grateful to have your support, and I hope what I shared here has been helpful for you! Let’s dig in. Here is what happened in March 2022. 📊 Reached $5K MRR, but it's...
Grow With Less
4 Simple Strategies I Use to Never Run out of Article Ideas
Want to know a secret?
I never run out of article ideas.
In fact, my main struggle is usually...
over a year ago
Want to know a secret?
I never run out of article ideas.
In fact, my main struggle is usually choosing between a myriad of topics I would love to write about.
You may think it’s because I’m very creative but the simple truth is that I simply use 4 simple strategies that guarantee...
Dominik Sobe's...
You want everything at once – me too
11 months ago
mtlynch.io
Create Your Own Low-Cost Cloud Storage App with Sia and Nextcloud
In today’s post, I’m going to show you how to set up your own cloud storage web app, similar to...
over a year ago
In today’s post, I’m going to show you how to set up your own cloud storage web app, similar to Dropbox or Google Drive, but with substantially lower costs. This solution provides cloud storage at ~$0.60 per TB/month. By comparison, the same storage would cost $8.25 per month on...
Max Rozen
Why you should use functional components + Hooks over class components in React
If you find yourself asking whether to use functional components with Hooks over class components,...
over a year ago
If you find yourself asking whether to use functional components with Hooks over class components, you'll find a lot of outdated information out there. Let's settle this once and for all in this article.
Build In Public...
What if you could edit like Spielberg? 🎥
Meet Eddie AI—your new editing partner ready to bring cinematic flair to every cut!
2 months ago
Meet Eddie AI—your new editing partner ready to bring cinematic flair to every cut!
mtlynch.io
Resurrecting a Dead Library: Part Two - Stabilization
In this post, I demonstrate how to retrofit automated tests onto an untested legacy library.
This is...
over a year ago
In this post, I demonstrate how to retrofit automated tests onto an untested legacy library.
This is part two of a three-part series about how I resurrected ingredient-phrase-tagger, a library that uses machine learning to parse cooking ingredients (e.g., “2 cups milk”) into...
mtlynch.io
My Fifth Year as a Bootstrapped Founder
Five years ago, I quit my job as a developer at Google to create my own bootstrapped software...
a year ago
Five years ago, I quit my job as a developer at Google to create my own bootstrapped software company.
For the first few years, all of my businesses flopped. None of them earned more than a few hundred dollars per month in revenue, and they all had negative profits.
Halfway...
mtlynch.io
TinyPilot: Month 37
New here?
Hi, I’m Michael. I’m a software developer and the founder of TinyPilot, an independent...
a year ago
New here?
Hi, I’m Michael. I’m a software developer and the founder of TinyPilot, an independent computer hardware company. I started the company in 2020, and it now earns $60-80k/month in revenue and employs seven other people.
Every month, I publish a retrospective like this...
mtlynch.io
Use a Nix Flake without Adding it to Git
When I work in my own repositories these days, I always add a Nix flake to the repo so that I can...
11 months ago
When I work in my own repositories these days, I always add a Nix flake to the repo so that I can spin up a working development environment on any system with a single command.
What do I do when I’m working in someone else’s repo and they don’t want to adopt Nix flakes?
Normally,...
Grow With Less
64 Weak Words and Flabby Expressions That Clog up Your Writing
Weak words are everywhere.
Like ants invading your home in summer, they slip through the cracks and...
over a year ago
Weak words are everywhere.
Like ants invading your home in summer, they slip through the cracks and slowly distract your reader.
They turn fascinating ideas into never-ending articles people can’t wait to run away from.
Worse, they undermine you and make you sound...
Build In Public...
Meet Turf
Imagine having a Swiss Army Knife for your community use cases
5 months ago
Imagine having a Swiss Army Knife for your community use cases
I Have No Idea What...
A Summary of My Learnings On How To Find Startup Ideas
I’ve been searching for new startup ideas and problem areas to tackle. It’s quite difficult to do,...
over a year ago
I’ve been searching for new startup ideas and problem areas to tackle. It’s quite difficult to do, especially when you begin adding constraints to the criteria such as “Am I excited about this problem space?”. The internet is filled with helpful ways to come up with startup ideas...
Grow With Less
The 8 Best Free Blogging, SEO and Marketing Courses
Blogging is hard and the COVID-19 epidemic is not making things easier.
Luckily, several businesses...
over a year ago
Blogging is hard and the COVID-19 epidemic is not making things easier.
Luckily, several businesses have started offering their blogging, SEO or marketing courses for free to help bloggers and small business owners who are struggling because of the pandemic.
This page lists the...
Grow With Less
A Bittersweet First Blog Income Report
The internet is full of success stories and my 6-figures language-learning blog French Together...
over a year ago
The internet is full of success stories and my 6-figures language-learning blog French Together could be considered one of them
But things don’t always go as planned and every business experiences ups and downs.
April was definitely in the down category for me and that’s great...
Max Rozen
OnlineOrNot Diaries 4
On ripping out product analytics, updating the pricing page, and adding multi-region monitoring
a year ago
On ripping out product analytics, updating the pricing page, and adding multi-region monitoring
High Signal
Joining a startup as a co-founder
Today's interview is with Iron Brands (he's Dutch, that is his actual name), who joined a privacy...
10 months ago
Today's interview is with Iron Brands (he's Dutch, that is his actual name), who joined a privacy analytics startups as a co-founder after it had already launched. We talked about how he met the original founder of Simple Analytics, how they negotiated the new ownership...
Dominik Sobe's...
Five videos that shaped my life so far
over a year ago
Dominik Sobe's...
Just crossed 10 paying customers
over a year ago
Max Rozen
The books I read in 2018
A list of books I read in 2018
over a year ago
A list of books I read in 2018
Max Rozen
How the React Hooks ESLint plugin saved me hours debugging useEffect
useEffect is great for fetching and rendering data, but are you using it correctly? There's an...
over a year ago
useEffect is great for fetching and rendering data, but are you using it correctly? There's an eslint plugin to check!
High Signal
Sailing the world while building startups
James and his partner Danielle have an enviable working set-up - they live and work on a sailing...
10 months ago
James and his partner Danielle have an enviable working set-up - they live and work on a sailing boat!
Max Rozen
Strangers from the internet paid for my MacBook Air: on my 4th year of indiehacking
In which I finally make money from strangers off the internet.
over a year ago
In which I finally make money from strangers off the internet.
Dominik Sobe's...
I tried the "Coding for Marketing" growth hack and the results are...
over a year ago
mtlynch.io
How to Republish or Adapt this Content
All original writing and images on this blog are released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0...
11 months ago
All original writing and images on this blog are released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
That means you can republish the content or adapt it as long as you honor the license.
What you’re allowed to do Republish the content in any medium or...
mtlynch.io
My First Year as a Solo Developer
On February 1st, 2018, I quit my job as a software engineer at Google to start my own single-person...
over a year ago
On February 1st, 2018, I quit my job as a software engineer at Google to start my own single-person software company. It’s exactly one year later, so it feels like an apt time to reflect on how that decision affected my finances, lifestyle, and happiness.
How I made and spent...
mtlynch.io
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
Before reading The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, I thought of it as the canonical cliché...
over a year ago
Before reading The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, I thought of it as the canonical cliché self-help book. But as the saying goes, clichés become clichés because they’re true. The book’s insightfulness surprised me, and I found many of its ideas useful in my everyday...
Max Rozen
Learn Integration Testing with React Hook Form
Testing is super important, and yet it's hard to find practical examples to show you what to do....
over a year ago
Testing is super important, and yet it's hard to find practical examples to show you what to do. This article intends to fix that, by teaching integration testing with React Hook Form.
mtlynch.io
Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The book contains many interesting examples of common biases and logical fallacies, but it’s buried...
over a year ago
The book contains many interesting examples of common biases and logical fallacies, but it’s buried in a lot of bluster and fluff about how smart the author is. While it was likely groundbreaking when it was published in 2004, its ideas have since permeated into the mainstream....
mtlynch.io
KetoHub Update: Month 3
In early October, I launched a new website, KetoHub, a recipe aggregator for keto meals. Each month,...
over a year ago
In early October, I launched a new website, KetoHub, a recipe aggregator for keto meals. Each month, I’ve evaluated the site’s progress to decide how it’s doing and what areas need improvement.
I’m doing my evaluation of December publicly. Here’s what was good, bad, and learnable...
Val Sopi
Year in review: 2021
<p>
I had a solid year compared to the shit-storm 2020 had brought on.</p>
<p>Back in January...
over a year ago
<p>
I had a solid year compared to the shit-storm 2020 had brought on.</p>
<p>Back in January 2021, I had made a pact with myself that I would be more mindful about my time and the things I would get myself into throughout the year (personally and...
mtlynch.io
How to Do Code Reviews Like a Human (Part One)
Lately, I’ve been reading articles about best practices for code reviews. I notice that these...
over a year ago
Lately, I’ve been reading articles about best practices for code reviews. I notice that these articles focus on finding bugs to the exclusion of almost every other component of a review. Communicating issues you discover in a constructive and professional way? Irrelevant! Just...
mtlynch.io
Takeaways from Cory Zue's May 2023 Livecoding Session
My friend Cory Zue has been publishing his live coding sessions, so I decided to watch one and...
a year ago
My friend Cory Zue has been publishing his live coding sessions, so I decided to watch one and record my notes.
My background vs. Cory’s I’ve read a lot of Cory’s blog. We’re both Python developers, but he specializes in Django, whereas I’ve always worked with thinner frameworks...
Val Sopi
Quitting when I sense “the grind”
<p>One change I’ve made recently in my product making process is that I stop as soon as I sense that...
over a year ago
<p>One change I’ve made recently in my product making process is that I stop as soon as I sense that I am “pushing it”.</p>
<p>I quit immediately.</p>
<p>Right there and then.</p>
<p>If I don’t feel fresh, my work will look stale.</p>
<p>I hit more “in the zone” states this...
Max Rozen
OnlineOrNot Diaries 8
Building a new feature in a couple of weeks.
a year ago
Building a new feature in a couple of weeks.
Max Rozen
Guidelines for Deploying React
These days there are a heck of a lot of options for deploying React. It can be a bit overwhelming....
over a year ago
These days there are a heck of a lot of options for deploying React. It can be a bit overwhelming. This article simplifies your choices.
Max Rozen
Guidelines for developing Custom Hooks in React
You've just gotten over the fact we call them 'Hooks', but how do you stop repeating the same code...
over a year ago
You've just gotten over the fact we call them 'Hooks', but how do you stop repeating the same code everywhere? Let's learn about Custom Hooks.
Max Rozen
Guidelines to improve your React folder structure
People often say to 'move files around until it feels right', but what does 'right' even mean? Let's...
over a year ago
People often say to 'move files around until it feels right', but what does 'right' even mean? Let's learn in this article.
Max Rozen
How do you use variables in the HTML webpack outputs?
Looking to inject variables from CI into the HTML your webpack build outputs? It's relatively simple...
over a year ago
Looking to inject variables from CI into the HTML your webpack build outputs? It's relatively simple to do.
High Signal
Making $6k MRR from a Notion website builder
Noah Bragg is the founder of Potion, a website builder based on Notion. It lets you simply publish a...
a year ago
Noah Bragg is the founder of Potion, a website builder based on Notion. It lets you simply publish a website straight from Notion without any coding skills! Noah has done a great job growing Potion to $6k MRR. I interviewed him about how he created Potion, his best marketing...
mtlynch.io
Building a Homelab VM Server (2020 Edition)
For the past five years, I’ve done all of my software development in virtual machines (VMs). Each of...
over a year ago
For the past five years, I’ve done all of my software development in virtual machines (VMs). Each of my projects gets a dedicated VM, sparing me the headache of dependency conflicts and TCP port collisions.
Three years ago, I took things to the next level by building my own...
mtlynch.io
Massachusetts Residents Can Sue Online Merchants for Spam
Last week, I saw an interesting article on the /r/legaladvice subreddit. An e-commerce business...
2 months ago
Last week, I saw an interesting article on the /r/legaladvice subreddit. An e-commerce business owner was complaining that a customer was suing because the merchant had been sending the customer promotional emails for years that the customer never agreed to. The author deleted...
Val Sopi
Summer 2023 finances
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/valsopi/status/1680156076036030464" target="_blank">Monthly tweet...
a year ago
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/valsopi/status/1680156076036030464" target="_blank">Monthly tweet update</a></p><p>Looking back at the tough June, I thought I should clear up a few things as the much better July is almost over.</p><ul><li><b>🫣 Bummer:</b> June tanked with...
mtlynch.io
Guidelines for Freelance Developers Working with Me
I’ve been hiring software developers and other freelancers for the past seven years. Even though I...
over a year ago
I’ve been hiring software developers and other freelancers for the past seven years. Even though I write most code myself, hiring other developers is a tremendous force multiplier that frees up time for other parts of my business.
Freelancers work well if you manage the...
mtlynch.io
Aardvark'd: The Fog Creek Documentary, 18 Years Later
In 2005, Joel Spolsky’s software company, Fog Creek, filmed a documentary about their summer...
a year ago
In 2005, Joel Spolsky’s software company, Fog Creek, filmed a documentary about their summer internship program. The film is called Aardvark’d: 12 Weeks with Geeks, and it follows four college interns as they design, implement, and launch a completely new software product.
That’s...
Val Sopi
On the first page of Hacker News with Subsection
<p><i><a href="https://subsection.io/" target="_blank">Subsection</a> is an app that helps create...
over a year ago
<p><i><a href="https://subsection.io/" target="_blank">Subsection</a> is an app that helps create support docs, such as user guides, knowledge bases, documentation, and changelogs. </i></p><p><i>Below I describe the launch of Subsection of <a...
Scott DeLong
Weeks 48-52: My Final Update
It's been fun (kinda). Here's where it ended up and where I'm going next.
The post Weeks 48-52: My...
a year ago
It's been fun (kinda). Here's where it ended up and where I'm going next.
The post Weeks 48-52: My Final Update appeared first on Scott DeLong.
mtlynch.io
What I Learned About Upwork from a Bumbling Scammer
For years, I’ve hired freelancers through a site called Upwork. The site attracts many different...
over a year ago
For years, I’ve hired freelancers through a site called Upwork. The site attracts many different professionals, so I’ve used it to find everything from cartoonists to software developers to copy editors. Some were great, some were disastrous, but none of them had ever tried to...
Max Rozen
Start your own app with React, GraphQL and Serverless architecture: Part 1 - Server-side Rendering,...
Start your own app with React, GraphQL and Serverless architecture: Part 1 - Server-side Rendering,...
over a year ago
Start your own app with React, GraphQL and Serverless architecture: Part 1 - Server-side Rendering, Serverlessly!
mtlynch.io
Using Nix to Fuzz Test a PDF Parser (Part Two)
This is the second half of a post about using Nix to automate a fuzz testing workflow.
At this...
2 months ago
This is the second half of a post about using Nix to automate a fuzz testing workflow.
At this point, I can run honggfuzz against pdftotext, but it takes a bit of manual effort to get things started. I promised in part one that I’d get all of the installation and fuzzing down to...
mtlynch.io
Takeaways from Cory Zue's May 2023 Livecoding Session
My friend Cory Zue has been publishing his live coding sessions, so I decided to watch one and...
a year ago
My friend Cory Zue has been publishing his live coding sessions, so I decided to watch one and record my notes.
My background vs. Cory’s I’ve read a lot of Cory’s blog. We’re both Python developers, but he specializes in Django, whereas I’ve always worked with thinner frameworks...
Scott DeLong
Weeks 19-21: Fortunately, I Wasn’t Lying
Incentive-based lead generation is a game changer and record days continue to become the new normal....
a year ago
Incentive-based lead generation is a game changer and record days continue to become the new normal. But it's not all good.
The post Weeks 19-21: Fortunately, I Wasn’t Lying appeared first on Scott DeLong.
mtlynch.io
Questions to ask a potential 3PL vendor
Over the past six months, I’ve been transitioning the fulfillment processes at my e-commerce...
a year ago
Over the past six months, I’ve been transitioning the fulfillment processes at my e-commerce business to a third-party logistics (3PL) vendor.
I didn’t know anything about 3PLs before starting this process, so there were a lot of things I didn’t know to ask about. Here are the...
mtlynch.io
Automated Prosper Investing with ProsperBot
Overview I started investing in peer to peer lending in 2014 through a site called Prosper. I...
over a year ago
Overview I started investing in peer to peer lending in 2014 through a site called Prosper. I thought peer to peer lending was a neat idea and could potentially earn lucrative returns.
When I began, I chose each of my loan investments manually, but over time, I have automated...
Build In Public...
Build In Public - Community Edition (Oct 2021)
Hey everyone 👋 Let’s open this newsletter with a powerful quote ⬇️ Luck surface area. Aka...
over a year ago
Hey everyone 👋 Let’s open this newsletter with a powerful quote ⬇️ Luck surface area. Aka serendipity. Aka helping relevant and like-minded people find you through your content. That’s what building in public is all about. With that said, get ready for October’s community...
I Have No Idea What...
6 pricing A/B tests I’ve run (and which ones worked)
How pricing experiments helped me reach $6,000 MRR
a year ago
How pricing experiments helped me reach $6,000 MRR
Build In Public...
Start here ⤵️
Hey everyone 👋 Welcome to the Build In Public Hub , a beginner-friendly newsletter to help you go...
over a year ago
Hey everyone 👋 Welcome to the Build In Public Hub , a beginner-friendly newsletter to help you go from zero to pro in the art of building in public. Curated & created with love ❤️ by The ‘Build In Public’ Guy → KP Starting Jan 2023, this newsletter will have a combination of:
mtlynch.io
Want to Buy Is It Keto?
I’m looking for someone to take over my old content website, Is It Keto.
Is It Keto is for sale
I...
5 months ago
I’m looking for someone to take over my old content website, Is It Keto.
Is It Keto is for sale
I worked on the site on and off between 2019 and 2020, but I no longer have time for it, so it’s just been neglected for the past several years. Still, it consistently earns $1-2k/yr...
High Signal
Making $6k from a baby AI photo generator
Ever wondered, "Is there an AI to see how your baby looks?" Well you're not alone! OurBabyAI is an...
a year ago
Ever wondered, "Is there an AI to see how your baby looks?" Well you're not alone! OurBabyAI is an app that shows how your future baby may look.
Build In Public...
How I Built This In Public: Noah Bragg
Lessons from building and growing Potion to its acquisition all in public
a year ago
Lessons from building and growing Potion to its acquisition all in public
Max Rozen
OnlineOrNot Diaries 13
I tried building a monolith.
a year ago
I tried building a monolith.
mtlynch.io
What Got Done - Month 3
Highlights I’m shelving What Got Done, as customers seem uninterested in the idea. Zestful has...
over a year ago
Highlights I’m shelving What Got Done, as customers seem uninterested in the idea. Zestful has become my greatest challenge in not sweating the small stuff. Is It Keto continues growing in the background, with a 22% increase in revenue and a 35% rise in traffic. Goal Grades...
Dominik Sobe's...
What a roller coaster ride
over a year ago
Val Sopi
The Waiting Room
<p>Growing up I was always told to work hard, wait my turn, and good things will...
7 months ago
<p>Growing up I was always told to work hard, wait my turn, and good things will happen.</p><p>However, I've been the most successful when I didn't wait.</p><p>The "waiting room" is the worst place to be in. </p><p>You're at the mercy of someone else letting you...
Build In Public...
How I Built This In Public: Khe Hy
Lessons from building RadReads and helping over 40,000 professionals in public
a year ago
Lessons from building RadReads and helping over 40,000 professionals in public
mtlynch.io
Configure a Git Shell Prompt Under Nix
I recently read Julia Evans’ latest zine about git, and one of her tips was to configure your...
5 months ago
I recently read Julia Evans’ latest zine about git, and one of her tips was to configure your terminal shell prompt to show the git status.
Julia’s terminal prompt looks like this:
~/work/homepage (main) $ main is Julia’s current git branch. When she’s in the middle of a git...
mtlynch.io
My Fourth Year as a Bootstrapped Founder
Four years ago, I quit my job as a developer at Google to create my own self-funded software...
over a year ago
Four years ago, I quit my job as a developer at Google to create my own self-funded software company.
For the first few years, all of my businesses flopped. They all operated at a loss, and none of them earned more than a few hundred dollars per month in revenue.
Halfway through...
mtlynch.io
TinyPilot: Month 18
Highlights I’ve launched a new TinyPilot product and debuted a new logo. TinyPilot’s revenue...
over a year ago
Highlights I’ve launched a new TinyPilot product and debuted a new logo. TinyPilot’s revenue finished the year strong at $55k for December. I’ve learned to manage design projects more aggressively. Goal Grades At the start of each month, I declare what I’d like to accomplish....
Tony Dinh's...
Jan 2022 updates: 4K MRR, new release, new features, new learnings
Hello everyone, this is Tony! 👋 In January 2022, I released a new DevUtils version, added a lot of...
over a year ago
Hello everyone, this is Tony! 👋 In January 2022, I released a new DevUtils version, added a lot of features for Black Magic, reached $4K MRR, and learned a ton! Here comes the monthly update! Hope you like it! 🧩 New DevUtils release: 1.13 The latest release of DevUtils comes...
mtlynch.io
TinyPilot: Month 43
New here?
Hi, I’m Michael. I’m a software developer and the founder of TinyPilot, an independent...
10 months ago
New here?
Hi, I’m Michael. I’m a software developer and the founder of TinyPilot, an independent computer hardware company. I started the company in 2020, and it now earns $80-100k/month in revenue and employs six other people.
Every month, I publish a retrospective like this one...
Max Rozen
Keeping your sites fast with regular performance tests
You pride yourself on delivering fast websites to your clients, but do the websites stay fast as the...
over a year ago
You pride yourself on delivering fast websites to your clients, but do the websites stay fast as the months go by?
High Signal
Making thousands from Bubble courses
Kieran Bell is a founder specializing in teaching people how to use the no-code software Bubble.
a year ago
Kieran Bell is a founder specializing in teaching people how to use the no-code software Bubble.
High Signal
The best no-code newsletters for founders to read
Want to find the best no-code newsletters for learning about what you can build without coding? You...
a year ago
Want to find the best no-code newsletters for learning about what you can build without coding? You came to the right place!
Grow With Less
Statistics That Prove Blogging Is Not Dead Yet
Is blogging dead?
That’s a question thousands of people ask every day.
I was curious to know the...
over a year ago
Is blogging dead?
That’s a question thousands of people ask every day.
I was curious to know the answer so I looked for statistics
Let’s settle the debate once and for all!
Is blogging dead? Let’s look at trends! According to Google Trends, “blogging” peaked between 2004 and...
mtlynch.io
TinyPilot: Month 16
Highlights I announced a new product and then discovered it was a mistake. I simplified the...
over a year ago
Highlights I announced a new product and then discovered it was a mistake. I simplified the TinyPilot website to focus on a single device. I tried taking my first real vacation from TinyPilot with mixed results. Goal Grades At the start of each month, I declare what I’d like to...
mtlynch.io
Sia-Minio Integration Postmortem
One of the best things I learned from working at Google is the practice of blame-free postmortems....
over a year ago
One of the best things I learned from working at Google is the practice of blame-free postmortems. When something goes wrong, you wait until the dust settles, then write a report analyzing what happened. The report explains how the problem occurred and defines concrete steps the...
mtlynch.io
Paternity Leave: Month 3
Highlights I’m finding it easier to balance my time as a new father. I moped about two of my blog...
a month ago
Highlights I’m finding it easier to balance my time as a new father. I moped about two of my blog posts doing poorly, and then they did well. I experimented with a stacked diff workflow for software development and liked it except for git’s weaknesses. Goal grades At the start of...
Build In Public...
Still on the fence on learning no-code? What's stopping you?
It’s not an understatement when I say no-code practically changed my life and my career. In 2018, I...
over a year ago
It’s not an understatement when I say no-code practically changed my life and my career. In 2018, I was a different KP. Stuck at a corporate job where I felt like I was a tiny cog in a huge wheel, surrounded by uninspiring peers who I didn’t resonate with, bringing home a...
mtlynch.io
Is It Keto: Month 11
Highlights Two of my blog posts reached the front page of Hacker News. I may have finally discovered...
over a year ago
Highlights Two of my blog posts reached the front page of Hacker News. I may have finally discovered a way to scale my keto site profitably. I’m putting Portfolio Rebalancer on the backburner due to lack of traction. Goal Grades At the start of each month, I declare what I’d like...
High Signal
Black Friday 2023 deals for entrepreneurs
Here's a list of some of the best Black Friday discounts for entrepreneurs and developers. This page...
a year ago
Here's a list of some of the best Black Friday discounts for entrepreneurs and developers. This page contains affiliate links.
Courses
Grow and Monetize your Newsletter - 60% off
Monetize Your Newsletter - 60% off
Grow Your Newsletter - 60% off
WesBos - Beginner JavaScript -...
Max Rozen
Understanding Integration Testing in React
Moving from Enzyme to React Testing Library is rough. You can't do a lot of things you used to, and...
over a year ago
Moving from Enzyme to React Testing Library is rough. You can't do a lot of things you used to, and there are new best practices. Let's learn them!
Val Sopi
A fresh new start: Investing in myself towards financial freedom and sharing my personal and...
<p>
<i>This is the first of many updates in the <a...
over a year ago
<p>
<i>This is the first of many updates in the <a href="https://valsopi.com/financial-freedom">Financial Freedom</a> series, where I hold myself publicly accountable for my big challenge ahead!</i>
</p>
<p>
<i><b>TLDR:</b> Towards the end of this article,...
Tony Dinh's...
My solopreneur story: zero to $45K/mo in 2 years
Today is exactly 2 years since I quit my job and become a full-time indie hacker.
a year ago
Today is exactly 2 years since I quit my job and become a full-time indie hacker.
mtlynch.io
TinyPilot: Month 6
Highlights TinyPilot had another record-breaking month, with $15k in revenue. I sold $1.1k in...
over a year ago
Highlights TinyPilot had another record-breaking month, with $15k in revenue. I sold $1.1k in pre-orders for my first ever video course. My attempt to slow down sales ended up doing the opposite. Goal Grades At the start of each month, I declare what I’d like to accomplish....
mtlynch.io
Running NixOS on Proxmox
One of the stumbling blocks I ran into when trying out NixOS was that I couldn’t run it under...
a year ago
One of the stumbling blocks I ran into when trying out NixOS was that I couldn’t run it under Proxmox, my preferred virtual machine server.
Through some trial and error, I figured out how to install NixOS as a Proxmox container.
Download the NixOS container image First, download...
Max Rozen
The Definitive Guide to Commonly Used Words in React
Do some words in React have you scratching your head? Ref? Stateless component? Let's learn some...
over a year ago
Do some words in React have you scratching your head? Ref? Stateless component? Let's learn some words!
Max Rozen
How to write semantic HTML
Writing semantic HTML markup is one of the first steps to writing accessible websites. Let's learn...
over a year ago
Writing semantic HTML markup is one of the first steps to writing accessible websites. Let's learn how to get started!
Tony Dinh's...
$322 → $2K MRR in 60 days by building in public
Hello everyone, this is Tony! 👋 Today is a special day. I want to share with you all this post I...
over a year ago
Hello everyone, this is Tony! 👋 Today is a special day. I want to share with you all this post I originally posted on Indie Hackers, but I think you all will also be interested! It’s a long post about my journey growing Black Magic to $2K MRR in the last 2 months.
mtlynch.io
TinyPilot: Month 40
New here?
Hi, I’m Michael. I’m a software developer and the founder of TinyPilot, an independent...
a year ago
New here?
Hi, I’m Michael. I’m a software developer and the founder of TinyPilot, an independent computer hardware company. I started the company in 2020, and it now earns $80-100k/month in revenue and employs six other people.
Every month, I publish a retrospective like this one...
Build In Public...
Your New Brainstorming Buddy 🧠💡
Meet Scrintal, a new canvas that's like a playground for your mind.
2 months ago
Meet Scrintal, a new canvas that's like a playground for your mind.
mtlynch.io
TinyPilot: Build a KVM Over IP for Under $100
TinyPilot is my inexpensive, open-source device for controlling computers remotely. It works even...
over a year ago
TinyPilot is my inexpensive, open-source device for controlling computers remotely. It works even before the operating system boots, so I use TinyPilot to install new OSes and debug boot failures on my bare metal homelab servers.
This post details my experience creating TinyPilot...
mtlynch.io
End-to-End Testing Web Apps: The Painless Way
Okay, I know you’re skeptical. Other guides have promised you painless web app tests only to reveal...
over a year ago
Okay, I know you’re skeptical. Other guides have promised you painless web app tests only to reveal that their solution requires some hyper-specific tech stack or a paid third-party service. I won’t do that to you.
This guide provides a straightforward and flexible template for...
Val Sopi
Work less
<p>A friend recently boasted how they're working 15 hour days. To which I replied with a concerning...
over a year ago
<p>A friend recently boasted how they're working 15 hour days. To which I replied with a concerning "Why?" and was met with a distant look.</p>
<p>My friend thought I'd metaphorically pat him on the back.</p>
<p>I didn't. No surprise there.</p>
<p>Supposedly the industry he's in...
Tony Dinh's...
Nov 2022 updates: learning new skills
Indie updates, B2B vs B2C, Black Friday, surfing, skimboarding, hardware.
over a year ago
Indie updates, B2B vs B2C, Black Friday, surfing, skimboarding, hardware.
mtlynch.io
TinyPilot: Month 19
Highlights I published my fourth annual retrospective about being a bootstrapped founder. TinyPilot...
over a year ago
Highlights I published my fourth annual retrospective about being a bootstrapped founder. TinyPilot sales continue running strong despite a delay in launching our next product. I analyze how I’m spending my time and figure out ways to allocate my hours better. Goal Grades At the...
High Signal
$270k ARR from a Notion form app
Julien Nahum caught my attention on Twitter by pulling in $22k MRR with his Notion form app, Notion...
a year ago
Julien Nahum caught my attention on Twitter by pulling in $22k MRR with his Notion form app, Notion Forms. Back in August he was at $10k MRR
mtlynch.io
A Follow-Up and Space Duck
The response to yesterday’s post about leaving Google has been unexpected and overwhelming.
It was...
over a year ago
The response to yesterday’s post about leaving Google has been unexpected and overwhelming.
It was extremely gratifying to hear that my story resonated with so many people. Hundreds of readers from a variety of industries all across the globe have written me to tell me how they...
mtlynch.io
Rough Experiments with Llamafile and LLaVA 1.5
I read Simon Willison’s post about using Llamafile to experiment with open-source chatbots / LLMs....
a year ago
I read Simon Willison’s post about using Llamafile to experiment with open-source chatbots / LLMs. He made it sound so easy, so I decided to try it out.
One of my longtime hobby projects is WanderJest, a site for finding live comedy. One of the challenges of that site is that the...
Tony Dinh's...
Oct 2021 Updates: Vietnam, DevUtils 1.12, and Magic Sidebar ✨
👋 Hello everyone, it’s Tony again. Lots of things happened in October 2021. I released DevUtils...
over a year ago
👋 Hello everyone, it’s Tony again. Lots of things happened in October 2021. I released DevUtils 1.12, worked on a new exciting feature for Black Magic, moved back to Vietnam, and other small updates. Just want to say this quickly: Thank you all so much for following my journey!...
Tony Dinh's...
Jan 2021: I got a $500K acquisition offer!
...and other updates in January 2022 from me
a year ago
...and other updates in January 2022 from me
Build In Public...
Building In Public 101
Here's a crash course on the rising trend of building in public
a year ago
Here's a crash course on the rising trend of building in public
Tony Dinh's...
Late promotion update
Hi everyone!
2 weeks ago
mtlynch.io
How Litestream Eliminated My Database Server for $0.03/month
Here’s a riddle. My web app keeps all of its data in a SQL database. I can spontaneously tear it...
over a year ago
Here’s a riddle. My web app keeps all of its data in a SQL database. I can spontaneously tear it down, deploy the code to a different hosting platform, and the app will still serve all the same data. Running my app in production costs $0.03 per month.
How is this possible?
That’s...
Max Rozen
How to style react-select with styled-components or emotion
Styling react-select can be annoying. Here's a quick guide on how to do it with popular CSS-in-JS...
over a year ago
Styling react-select can be annoying. Here's a quick guide on how to do it with popular CSS-in-JS libraries.
Val Sopi
What it's like to make and launch a product, for me.
<p>I've been making Saas products since 2013. My very first product was a project management tool...
over a year ago
<p>I've been making Saas products since 2013. My very first product was a project management tool that included invoicing, time-tracking, and a plethora of other functions.</p>
<p>The idea was to be better than others at cheaper prices. Whatever "better" and "cheaper"...
mtlynch.io
Bowling Alone by Robert D. Putnam
The idea of social capital has interested me for a long time, but when I finally sat down to read...
over a year ago
The idea of social capital has interested me for a long time, but when I finally sat down to read this book, it was painfully dry. It offers an eye-opening investigation into the many ways that civic engagement has declined in the US, but it was a real slog to get through.
mtlynch.io
How to Make Your Code Reviewer Fall in Love with You
When people talk about code reviews, they focus on the reviewer. But the developer who writes the...
over a year ago
When people talk about code reviews, they focus on the reviewer. But the developer who writes the code is just as important to the review as the person who reads it. There’s scarcely any guidance on preparing your code for review, so authors often screw up this process out of...
Max Rozen
OnlineOrNot Diaries 17
On learning screencasting, cleaning up tech debt, and focus
a year ago
On learning screencasting, cleaning up tech debt, and focus
mtlynch.io
How to Grow Quickly and Never Turn a Profit
Early last year, I launched a nutrition site called Is It Keto. From November 2018 until March 2019,...
over a year ago
Early last year, I launched a nutrition site called Is It Keto. From November 2018 until March 2019, the site was my full-time focus. Every month, visitors increased by 50% to 150%, an exhilarating growth rate that far outpaced any of my previous projects.
There was only one...
I Have No Idea What...
The Problem With Slack
In deciding what startup to start, I’ve been thinking about what problem space I want to tackle. An...
over a year ago
In deciding what startup to start, I’ve been thinking about what problem space I want to tackle. An area that’s drawing my attention is team communication and collaboration, especially for knowledge workers. This is for several reasons: With the trend towards distributed/hybrid...
mtlynch.io
TinyPilot: Month 1
Highlights This is my highest revenue month ever, at $9.8k across all of my projects. Tiny Pilot had...
over a year ago
Highlights This is my highest revenue month ever, at $9.8k across all of my projects. Tiny Pilot had the biggest first month of anything I’ve ever launched, at 52 sales and $8.7k in revenue. The sudden surge in customers also made it one of my highest-stress months since going...
mtlynch.io
Happy City by Charles Montgomery
Given how much urban design affects our lives, it’s surprising how little we think about and...
over a year ago
Given how much urban design affects our lives, it’s surprising how little we think about and participate in it. This book was eye-opening in terms of the way I look at cities and how its inhabitants interact with them.
I took for granted the idea that cities should be friendly to...
mtlynch.io
Is It Keto: Month 12
Highlights I added 88 new programmatically-generated articles to Is It Keto. With 100k monthly...
over a year ago
Highlights I added 88 new programmatically-generated articles to Is It Keto. With 100k monthly pageviews, it’s time to explore new ways of working with Is It Keto’s audience. I created a KVM over IP device that requires <$100 in hardware. Goal Grades At the start of each month, I...
Grow With Less
How to Write a SEO Title Google and Your Visitors Love
Writing a SEO title (also called page title or Google title) is considered difficult because you are...
over a year ago
Writing a SEO title (also called page title or Google title) is considered difficult because you are writing for 3 main audiences.
Visitors coming from search engines.
Search engines.
Visitors from social media.
And writing a SEO title that ranks high on Google and gets shared on...
Max Rozen
OnlineOrNot Diaries 1
On marketing, and shipping a CLI
a year ago
On marketing, and shipping a CLI
Grow With Less
A Day in the Life of a Full-Time Blogger
Search “blogger working” in Google Image and you will see thousands of smiling bloggers working on...
over a year ago
Search “blogger working” in Google Image and you will see thousands of smiling bloggers working on their laptop while drinking coffee in a trendy coffee shop.
And while these things can definitely be part of a blogger’s day, they are only the visible part of the iceberg.
Blogging...
Grow With Less
The Overwhelmed Business Owner's Guide to SEO
What do you do when you spent hours writing awesome articles only to realize your mom and your best...
over a year ago
What do you do when you spent hours writing awesome articles only to realize your mom and your best friend Dave are the only people reading them?
That’s the question I asked myself 7 years ago after writing dozens of articles for my new blog French Together.
I followed 10,000...
mtlynch.io
Notes from PyGotham 2019
Overview This past weekend, PyGotham invited me to speak at their annual conference in Manhattan. In...
over a year ago
Overview This past weekend, PyGotham invited me to speak at their annual conference in Manhattan. In an effort to maximize the benefit I get from the event, I’ve prepared notes that capture what I learned by attending. I’m sharing them in hopes that it might be interesting or...
mtlynch.io
Nonviolent Communication by Marshall B. Rosenberg, Ph.D.
Nonviolent Communication describes a communication style centered around sharing vulnerability and...
over a year ago
Nonviolent Communication describes a communication style centered around sharing vulnerability and offering empathy. One of its biggest strengths is in how it highlights common patterns of lazy communication that exclude personal feelings or critical thinking. I also found its...
mtlynch.io
KetoHub: Month 2
Prior to February 2019, I published all my retrospectives on Indie Hackers:
KetoHub Month 2
over a year ago
Prior to February 2019, I published all my retrospectives on Indie Hackers:
KetoHub Month 2
mtlynch.io
TinyPilot: Month 31
New here?
Hi, I’m Michael. I’m a software developer and the founder of TinyPilot, an independent...
a year ago
New here?
Hi, I’m Michael. I’m a software developer and the founder of TinyPilot, an independent computer hardware company. I started the company in 2020, and it now earns $60-80k/month in revenue and employs six other people.
Every month, I publish a retrospective like this one...
mtlynch.io
My Eight-Year Quest to Digitize 45 Videotapes (Part Two)
In part one, I described my arduous journey to capture my old home movies in digital format and...
over a year ago
In part one, I described my arduous journey to capture my old home movies in digital format and divide them into individual scenes. After processing all the clips, I wanted the experience of exploring them to be as simple as looking up clips on YouTube. Because these videos are...
Scott DeLong
Weeks 31-34: Banned
Sometimes business can be boring and sometimes you see set backs, but this is where you...
a year ago
Sometimes business can be boring and sometimes you see set backs, but this is where you perservere.
The post Weeks 31-34: Banned appeared first on Scott DeLong.
Max Rozen
OnlineOrNot Diaries 21
I was young, and needed to ship...
3 months ago
I was young, and needed to ship...
Val Sopi
A change in how I share my open finances and a new self–imposed public challenge
<p>
A bit over a year ago, I wrote <a href="https://valsopi.com/setting-sail">a post</a> in...
a year ago
<p>
A bit over a year ago, I wrote <a href="https://valsopi.com/setting-sail">a post</a> in which I talked about embarking on a journey to financial freedom. Specifically speaking — I took out a personal loan so I could focus on solely building products.
</p><p>
With that...
mtlynch.io
Failed Attempts to Install NixOS on the Raspberry Pi 4
In creating the tutorial, “Installing NixOS on Raspberry Pi 4,” I ran into a ton of paths that...
a year ago
In creating the tutorial, “Installing NixOS on Raspberry Pi 4,” I ran into a ton of paths that didn’t work.
I’ve collected them here for the sake of saving others time retrying the same steps.
The standard NixOS aarch64 image doesn’t work When I checked the NixOS download page, I...
Val Sopi
The Word that guides my year
<p>Sort of without fail and unplanned, every year in December, I usually think of a word that I want...
over a year ago
<p>Sort of without fail and unplanned, every year in December, I usually think of a word that I want to live by the upcoming year.</p>
<p>Depending on what kind of year I have had, the Word for the upcoming one should represent the practical step ahead for...
Tony Dinh's...
Apr 2023: I sold Black Magic
And other updates in April 2023
a year ago
And other updates in April 2023
mtlynch.io
Why Good Developers Write Bad Unit Tests
Congratulations! You’ve finally written so many lines of code that you can afford a beach house. You...
over a year ago
Congratulations! You’ve finally written so many lines of code that you can afford a beach house. You hire Peter Keating, an architect world-famous for his skyscrapers, who assures you that he has brilliant plans for your beachfront property.
Months later, you arrive at the grand...
Tony Dinh's...
July 2022: Aftermath of a viral tweet
I gained 1,500 new users, but how many will convert? And other updates in July 2022...
over a year ago
I gained 1,500 new users, but how many will convert? And other updates in July 2022...
Tony Dinh's...
July 2023: $6K MRR – getting back on recurring revenue
small updates from me in July 2023
a year ago
small updates from me in July 2023
Max Rozen
OnlineOrNot Diaries 5
In which I doubled my conversion rate without trying too hard.
a year ago
In which I doubled my conversion rate without trying too hard.
mtlynch.io
The Dumbest Task I Ever Outsourced
I derive immense satisfaction from outsourcing my chores. All of my friends have heard me encourage...
over a year ago
I derive immense satisfaction from outsourcing my chores. All of my friends have heard me encourage them to place a higher value on their free time and delegate their errands. Few of them heed my advice, and it’s probably because they know about the time I paid someone $96 to...
High Signal
$100k from building a SaaS boilerplate for Django
Cory Zue has built a living making Django SaaS boilerplates for founders. It means you can get...
a year ago
Cory Zue has built a living making Django SaaS boilerplates for founders. It means you can get started with your SaaS much quicker
mtlynch.io
Run a Simple Go Web Service on NixOS
I have a few toy utility apps that I run 24/7 on cloud infrastructure. One example is PicoShare, a...
2 weeks ago
I have a few toy utility apps that I run 24/7 on cloud infrastructure. One example is PicoShare, a simple web app that makes it easy for me to share files with friends and teammates.
There are several convenience apps I would run if it were easy to run them constantly. But...
mtlynch.io
Badass: Making Users Awesome by Kathy Sierra
Overall, this was an interesting read, but I found it hard to apply the lessons to my product. The...
over a year ago
Overall, this was an interesting read, but I found it hard to apply the lessons to my product. The book contains compelling case studies and ideas from the field of meta-learning, but most of the ideas were either too theoretical or too specific to large companies.
Max Rozen
Start your own app with React, GraphQL and Serverless architecture: Part 2 - Deploying to a real...
Start your own app with React, GraphQL and Serverless architecture: Part 2 - Let's get this running...
over a year ago
Start your own app with React, GraphQL and Serverless architecture: Part 2 - Let's get this running in production
mtlynch.io
My Sixth Year as a Bootstrapped Founder
Six years ago, I quit my job as a developer at Google to create my own bootstrapped software...
10 months ago
Six years ago, I quit my job as a developer at Google to create my own bootstrapped software company.
For the first few years, all of my businesses flopped. The best of them earned a few hundred dollars per month in revenue, but none were profitable.
Halfway through my third...
Grow With Less
A Quick and Easy Win for the New Year (and an Important Check)
2020 is finally over (thank God.)
Which means it’s time for some New Year cleaning.
You may have...
over a year ago
2020 is finally over (thank God.)
Which means it’s time for some New Year cleaning.
You may have articles or copyright notices that reference previous years.
Now is the perfect time to update these and make sure they say “2021” and not “2020” or even “2019.”
To find pages...
Grow With Less
7 Lessons Every Blogger About to Quit Should Know
As someone who has been blogging for 10 years, I find most articles designed to encourage people to...
over a year ago
As someone who has been blogging for 10 years, I find most articles designed to encourage people to start blogging infuriating.
They paint blogging as this wonderful activity that will free you from your 9 to 5 job and solve all your problems.
They show you pictures of happy...
mtlynch.io
TinyPilot: Month 27
New here?
Hi, I’m Michael. I’m a software developer and the founder of TinyPilot, an independent...
over a year ago
New here?
Hi, I’m Michael. I’m a software developer and the founder of TinyPilot, an independent computer hardware company. I started the company in 2020, and it now earns $60-80k/month in revenue and employs six other people.
Every month, I publish a retrospective like this one...
mtlynch.io
TinyPilot: Month 5
Highlights TinyPilot revenue grew 20% to $12k. I released a new high-end model of TinyPilot. I...
over a year ago
Highlights TinyPilot revenue grew 20% to $12k. I released a new high-end model of TinyPilot. I launched my first ever paid course. Goal Grades At the start of each month, I declare what I’d like to accomplish. Here’s how I did against those goals:
Release a high-end version of...
mtlynch.io
How to Hire a Cartoonist to Make Your Blog Less Boring
I had just completed a passionate blog post.
Too passionate, maybe, as I had written over 8,000...
over a year ago
I had just completed a passionate blog post.
Too passionate, maybe, as I had written over 8,000 words. That’s 1000x longer than the average Buzzfeed article. Worse, it was a giant wall of text with nary a visual element to break it up aside from some screenshots and a few tables....
mtlynch.io
Update: Stripe's Response Regarding User Tracking
Last week, I published a blog post describing how Stripe recorded visitor behavior on their...
over a year ago
Last week, I published a blog post describing how Stripe recorded visitor behavior on their customers’ websites. In short, Stripe’s JavaScript library collected information about URLs users visited and telemetry about their mouse movements, even when the site never displayed any...
Tony Dinh's...
Oct 2023: side project, interview on Indie Hackers
Going viral, my thoughts, and updates from me in October 2023.
a year ago
Going viral, my thoughts, and updates from me in October 2023.
Val Sopi
Quitting is for the naive
<p>Pop culture glorifies quitting. I have done it. There's nothing glorious about it. Having your...
over a year ago
<p>Pop culture glorifies quitting. I have done it. There's nothing glorious about it. Having your savings dwindle fast is no fun. Time is relative. You have no idea how fast it flies when you need it the most. Especially when you have no contacts in the industry nor an audience....
Build In Public...
Build In Public - Community Edition (Nov 2021)
Hey everyone 👋 Here’s a powerful quote to kick us off into the Thanksgiving week: “Gratitude...
over a year ago
Hey everyone 👋 Here’s a powerful quote to kick us off into the Thanksgiving week: “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more.” - Melody Beattie I’m grateful for many things this year including my son’s birth
Max Rozen
OnlineOrNot Diaries 16
On content marketing, starting a YouTube channel, and improving status pages
a year ago
On content marketing, starting a YouTube channel, and improving status pages
mtlynch.io
Noah Bragg's First Stoke Fire Livestream
I’ve been interested in Ethereum the past year, especially the Base ecosystem. The problem is that...
3 months ago
I’ve been interested in Ethereum the past year, especially the Base ecosystem. The problem is that after hours of reading about Base, I still don’t get what Base is.
Every few months, I check back in on the Base website’s developer section to see if there’s a path to building on...
Val Sopi
I'm done making
<p><em><strong>UPDATE:</strong> This post got such a great response that it inspired me to start...
over a year ago
<p><em><strong>UPDATE:</strong> This post got such a great response that it inspired me to start playing and building <a href="https://claritask.com">Claritask</a> while documenting it out in the open</em></p>
<p>—</p>
<p>I'm going to let you in on a great secret.</p>
<p>Do you...
Tony Dinh's...
$500K milestone – my reflections after 1 year of building Typing Mind
Also in this issue: one-off purchase vs. subscription, selling Xnapper, and other updates from me in...
10 months ago
Also in this issue: one-off purchase vs. subscription, selling Xnapper, and other updates from me in Feb 2024
Max Rozen
Indiehacking: a review of my 3rd year
A review of my third year of trying to start an internet business.
over a year ago
A review of my third year of trying to start an internet business.
Val Sopi
The Benefits of NOT Being Online
<p>Hey, you probably know me as the founder of <a href="https://claritask.com/">Claritask</a> or as...
over a year ago
<p>Hey, you probably know me as the founder of <a href="https://claritask.com/">Claritask</a> or as a Podcaster where I nakedly talk about my <a href="https://bootstrapping-saas.transistor.fm/">Bootstrapping Saas</a> journey.</p>
<p>Since early this summer I took a sabbatical...
Max Rozen
What it means to not test implementation details in React
Most guides to testing React these days preach: 'Test functionality, not implementation details'....
over a year ago
Most guides to testing React these days preach: 'Test functionality, not implementation details'. This article explains what that means, and how to do it.
mtlynch.io
WanderJest: Month 2
Highlights I’m betting big on a publicity campaign that’s at risk of failing spectacularly....
over a year ago
Highlights I’m betting big on a publicity campaign that’s at risk of failing spectacularly. WanderJest finally earned its first dollar of revenue, but in a way that is definitely unsustainable. Poor work habits have left me with the most stress I’ve felt in a year. Goal Grades At...
mtlynch.io
Notes from PyTexas 2019
Overview This past weekend, PyTexas invited me to speak at their annual conference in Austin,...
over a year ago
Overview This past weekend, PyTexas invited me to speak at their annual conference in Austin, Texas.
It was a fun trip, and I learned a lot. It was also expensive, both financially and in terms of time. I’m taking these notes partly to share what I learned and partly to help me...
mtlynch.io
Reset Month
No update this month I’m skipping my normal retrospective this month, as I sold TinyPilot and am...
6 months ago
No update this month I’m skipping my normal retrospective this month, as I sold TinyPilot and am taking some time to figure out my next project.
Retrospectives will hopefully resume in a month or two!
Val Sopi
What a year!
<p>One of the things I'm most proud of in 2022 was that I stuck to some personal habits like going...
a year ago
<p>One of the things I'm most proud of in 2022 was that I stuck to some personal habits like going to the gym, eating well, and meditating.</p>
<p>I believe these habits helped me get more in tune with myself and get the confidence necessary to take bold steps, like taking out a...
mtlynch.io
A Simple Pre-Rendered Web App Using Vue + Nuxt
In this post, I’ll show you how to pre-render pages using Vue and Nuxt. This method combines the...
over a year ago
In this post, I’ll show you how to pre-render pages using Vue and Nuxt. This method combines the convenient development experience of Vue without forfeiting critical features like social sharing or search engine optimization.
This tutorial assumes no experience with Vue or Nuxt....
Max Rozen
How to implement a Higher-order component in React with TypeScript
You probably know how to implement a HoC, but do you know how to write types for one?
over a year ago
You probably know how to implement a HoC, but do you know how to write types for one?
Max Rozen
Automatically testing for accessibility (a11y) issues with jest-axe
Automatically test your code for accessibility issues in the same way you catch bugs with jest-axe.
over a year ago
Automatically test your code for accessibility issues in the same way you catch bugs with jest-axe.
mtlynch.io
Start Small, Stay Small by Rob Walling
I wish that I had found this book nine years ago. It taught me a great deal about choosing the right...
over a year ago
I wish that I had found this book nine years ago. It taught me a great deal about choosing the right product to build and the advantages of targeting small niches. The author makes compelling points about the importance of marketing and small founders’ common pitfall of treating...
I Have No Idea What...
A New Project: Remote Rocketship 🚀
In my last post, I talked about how I going about searching for a new idea to work on. I’ve now...
over a year ago
In my last post, I talked about how I going about searching for a new idea to work on. I’ve now landed on Remote Rocketship, a job board for remote roles. In this post, I’ll talk about how I got there, what I’ve been up to and how I’m thinking about moving forward.
Tony Dinh's...
February 2022 updates – 6 months milestone
Hello everyone! It’s me again – Tony 👋 Time flies! February 2022 marks the 6 months milestone of me...
over a year ago
Hello everyone! It’s me again – Tony 👋 Time flies! February 2022 marks the 6 months milestone of me going indie hacking full time! 🥳 In this issue, I’ll share my regular updates from February and some thoughts on the first 6 months of my journey. Let’s go!
👋 Hello, I'm...
Why I’m leaving the Shopify Apps business
a year ago
mtlynch.io
I'm Probably Procrastinating
Highlights A change to Zestful’s website boosted it to the front page of Google results within days....
over a year ago
Highlights A change to Zestful’s website boosted it to the front page of Google results within days. I’m going to try to make a better version of a decades’ old application for managing machine shops. I’m doing lots of coding to avoid talking to customers. Goal Grades At the...
Tony Dinh's...
My entire marketing strategy (+ December 2021 updates)
Hello everyone! This is Tony 👋 Hello Hacker News! For context, this post is the latest issue of my...
over a year ago
Hello everyone! This is Tony 👋 Hello Hacker News! For context, this post is the latest issue of my monthly newsletter where I share the progress building BlackMagic.so & DevUtils.app. Check my previous issues to see more details about the products and my journey. Cheers!
Max Rozen
Examples of large production-grade, open-source React apps
All of the to-do apps are great for starting to learn React, but what about real-life? Let's see...
over a year ago
All of the to-do apps are great for starting to learn React, but what about real-life? Let's see what real production React apps are like.
mtlynch.io
Is It Keto - Month 9
Highlights After six months of consistent gains of ~30% in revenue and traffic, Is It Keto’s growth...
over a year ago
Highlights After six months of consistent gains of ~30% in revenue and traffic, Is It Keto’s growth finally flattened out. I’m preparing to sell premium meal plans on Is It Keto. I’m ready to make bigger bets on my businesses. Goal Grades At the start of each month, I declare...
Grow With Less
Don't Trust Keyword Difficulty Scores (Do This Instead)
Keyword difficulty or SEO difficulty is the likelihood of ranking for a keyword. And the way most...
over a year ago
Keyword difficulty or SEO difficulty is the likelihood of ranking for a keyword. And the way most bloggers estimate it is dangerous.
They use SEO tools like Ahrefs, Keysearch, or SEMrush and rely on their keyword difficulty scores to tell how easy ranking for a keyword should...
I Have No Idea What...
Starting Over
Abandoning the idea of building a Slack Alternative
over a year ago
Abandoning the idea of building a Slack Alternative
Val Sopi
Hello world
<p>I started toying with the web circa 2000. Since then, I have always wanted to have my own space...
over a year ago
<p>I started toying with the web circa 2000. Since then, I have always wanted to have my own space where I can spit out my thoughts, unfiltered, on my very own domain.</p>
<p>I was able to start a personal blog several times, but then got sidetracked.</p>
<p>I aim to keep this...
mtlynch.io
TinyPilot: Month 38
New here?
Hi, I’m Michael. I’m a software developer and the founder of TinyPilot, an independent...
a year ago
New here?
Hi, I’m Michael. I’m a software developer and the founder of TinyPilot, an independent computer hardware company. I started the company in 2020, and it now earns $60-80k/month in revenue and employs seven other people.
Every month, I publish a retrospective like this...
Val Sopi
Marching into March
<p>February was yet another month with unexpected expenses on top of my planned budget of -2500....
a year ago
<p>February was yet another month with unexpected expenses on top of my planned budget of -2500. They were again family related.</p><p>The lesson here is that my personal budget is way too tight without much margin for any unexpected expenses, especially with two growing kids and...
Grow With Less
How to Use Haro to Build Backlinks from the World's Best Websites
You know you need backlinks
You may even have tried broken link building, the skyscraper technique,...
over a year ago
You know you need backlinks
You may even have tried broken link building, the skyscraper technique, and other link building tactics but they made you feel desperate.You don’t want to send hundreds of emails, you just want to build backlinks.
You are in the right place.
I love...
mtlynch.io
Adventures in Outsourcing: Cooking with TaskRabbit
Overview For the past few years, I’ve been outsourcing tasks from my daily life whenever possible. I...
over a year ago
Overview For the past few years, I’ve been outsourcing tasks from my daily life whenever possible. I tend to be more limited in time than money, so if paying $30 can save me an hour, I consider that a good deal.
I recently started experimenting with the keto diet, which focuses...
mtlynch.io
Is It Keto - Month 10
Highlights I sold my first meal plan on Is It Keto. I then tried five different experiments for...
over a year ago
Highlights I sold my first meal plan on Is It Keto. I then tried five different experiments for increasing sales. Is It Keto’s revenue dropped for the month as I redirected resources toward its failing meal plans. Goal Grades At the start of each month, I declare what I’d like to...
Tony Dinh's...
2023 Recap
I turn 30, built a new app, and other updates in December 2023
12 months ago
I turn 30, built a new app, and other updates in December 2023
👋 Hello, I'm...
Bootstrapping to €600k MRR and getting killed by Shopify. The story of Checkout X.
...
a year ago
Grow With Less
I was living the dream, then my dream collapsed
Everything was going great.
My blog French Together had just hit 357k monthly visitors, the French...
over a year ago
Everything was going great.
My blog French Together had just hit 357k monthly visitors, the French Together course had exceeded $300k in sales.
Then COVID happened.
My traffic slowly started to decrease, conversions got worse.
I ignored it at first, I guess I was in denial. I...
Grow With Less
Stoicism: Can the Ancient Philosophy Make You a Better Business Owner?
I have always considered philosophy to a strange topic full of mysterious sentences and complicated...
over a year ago
I have always considered philosophy to a strange topic full of mysterious sentences and complicated concepts.
So I was pretty surprised when I read Epictetus’ Manual for the first time.
The advice in the book was not only understandable but also surprisingly actionable.
I have...
Dominik Sobe's...
Travel hard, work harder or: on being a digital nomad
a year ago
Dominik Sobe's...
The reason I got hooked on being an Indiehacker
a year ago
Build In Public...
How Twitter helped me with the 1st ever BUILD IN PUBLIC NFT 💎
Happy Friday everyone, Below is the story of: how I found an artist to collaborate and mint my 1st...
over a year ago
Happy Friday everyone, Below is the story of: how I found an artist to collaborate and mint my 1st ever NFT project on the theme of “build in public” how it all came together on Twitter DMs how we plan to auction/sell it to a thoughtful buyer how we intend to donate all the...
mtlynch.io
Paternity Leave: Month 2
Highlights I’m finding it surprisingly difficult not to work. Sleep is getting a little better. I...
2 months ago
Highlights I’m finding it surprisingly difficult not to work. Sleep is getting a little better. I used Nix to create a slick and reusable fuzz testing workflow. Goal grades At the start of each month, I declare what I’d like to accomplish. Here’s how I did against those...
mtlynch.io
TinyPilot: Month 25
Highlights My blog post about redesigning the TinyPilot website became my second most popular...
over a year ago
Highlights My blog post about redesigning the TinyPilot website became my second most popular article of all time I’m exploring ways to preserve more knowledge on my blog I’ve lowered TinyPilot’s prices in an effort to reduce inventory Goal Grades At the start of each month, I...
mtlynch.io
ArchiveBox is Super Cool
Have you ever used archive.org’s Internet Wayback Machine? It’s a free tool that’s been archiving...
11 months ago
Have you ever used archive.org’s Internet Wayback Machine? It’s a free tool that’s been archiving the web since 1996. So, if you want to see what Google looked like in 1999, they’ve got it.
Internet Archive capture of Google from April 22, 1999
ArchiveBox is like your own,...
Max Rozen
OnlineOrNot Diaries 20
Dipping my toe in enterprise sales
8 months ago
Dipping my toe in enterprise sales
High Signal
Building a mentor marketplace to 20,000 users
Mentorcruise is an impressive mentor marketplace which has grown to 20,000 users.
a year ago
Mentorcruise is an impressive mentor marketplace which has grown to 20,000 users.
mtlynch.io
TinyPilot: Month 34
New here?
Hi, I’m Michael. I’m a software developer and the founder of TinyPilot, an independent...
a year ago
New here?
Hi, I’m Michael. I’m a software developer and the founder of TinyPilot, an independent computer hardware company. I started the company in 2020, and it now earns $60-80k/month in revenue and employs seven other people.
Every month, I publish a retrospective like this...
mtlynch.io
What Got Done - Month 2
Highlights What Got Done received 32 new user sign-ups (growth of about 5x since May) Zestful may be...
over a year ago
Highlights What Got Done received 32 new user sign-ups (growth of about 5x since May) Zestful may be rising from the dead, with four new inbound customer inquiries. Is It Keto earned $184, and Zestful earned $26, making it my highest revenue month since quitting my job. Goal...
mtlynch.io
How I Stole Your Siacoin
A seedy reddit post The night was June 9th, 2017. It was a typical Friday night for me. I was...
over a year ago
A seedy reddit post The night was June 9th, 2017. It was a typical Friday night for me. I was watching Netflix and checking reddit partying with cool kids.
Suddenly, I saw this post on the “New” tab of the /r/siacoin subreddit:
If you’re not familiar with Siacoin, it’s a...
Max Rozen
2018: Reflections on trying to start an internet business
A review post on what I've done this year in terms of trying to start an Internet business
over a year ago
A review post on what I've done this year in terms of trying to start an Internet business
High Signal
The ultimate guide to bootstrapping a business
Bootstrapping a business has come back into fashion lately, especially as investment from venture...
11 months ago
Bootstrapping a business has come back into fashion lately, especially as investment from venture capitalists is drying up and people want to increase their income due to the cost of living crisis. This article will teach you everything you need to know about bootstrapping a...
Build In Public...
🚨 Announcement Alert 🚨 I'm dropping a mega Twitter resource on BUILD IN PUBLIC
Hey everyone, Some of you know my story but if I have to summarize the last 3 years in 10 bullets of...
over a year ago
Hey everyone, Some of you know my story but if I have to summarize the last 3 years in 10 bullets of inflection points, here’s how it would look like: Jan 2018, I was a nobody in startups, stuck in a dead-end corporate job due to visa challenges Oct 2018, read a book called...
mtlynch.io
Should I Invest in iBonds?
In a recent Hacker News thread about preparing financially for a possible recession, a commenter...
over a year ago
In a recent Hacker News thread about preparing financially for a possible recession, a commenter suggested investing in iBonds.
iBonds are one of those investments I’ve seen in passing every time I read a personal finance book, but I’ve never paid much attention to them.
When I...
Max Rozen
Demystifying useEffect's clean-up function
useEffect's clean-up function can be pretty confusing, especially if you're still trying to think in...
over a year ago
useEffect's clean-up function can be pretty confusing, especially if you're still trying to think in lifecycle methods. Let's clarify the clean-up function in this article.
Max Rozen
How do you make relay-compiler run automatically?
Getting tired of running the relay-compiler every time you change your GraphQL schema/resolvers?...
over a year ago
Getting tired of running the relay-compiler every time you change your GraphQL schema/resolvers? There's a plugin in webpack for that!
mtlynch.io
Why I Quit Google to Work for Myself
For the past four years, I’ve worked as a software developer at Google. On February 1st, I quit. It...
over a year ago
For the past four years, I’ve worked as a software developer at Google. On February 1st, I quit. It was because they refused to buy me a Christmas present.
Well, I guess it’s a little more complicated than that.
The first two years Two years in, I loved Google.
When the annual...
mtlynch.io
TinyPilot: Month 9
Highlights I plan to open TinyPilot’s first real office next month. TinyPilot’s revenues continue to...
over a year ago
Highlights I plan to open TinyPilot’s first real office next month. TinyPilot’s revenues continue to plummet, but I’m learning to accept it. I’m inching ever closer to the freedom to take short vacations. Goal Grades At the start of each month, I declare what I’d like to...