The Benefits Of Spammers Abusing Your Service

Published by Tom on 29/09/2011

If there is a way to make money online by abusing a service, you can guarantee spammers will give it a try. They have so little regard for the service, the spammers will club it to death without a second thought, all to increase their chances of making a fast buck.

Somewhat ironically, spammers do have their benefits: at some point you will be forced to harden your systems, both against spammers and against Things That Can Go Wrong. Let me tell you how this worked out for one of my apps, TweetingMachine.

Continue reading The Benefits Of Spammers Abusing Your Service

Hiring a designer is a premature optimization

Published by Tom on 07/09/2011

UPDATE: When I wrote this post, I was writing about design in the sense of pretty little boxes – and NOT how the user interface comes together and so on. I’m now aware that the terms “design” and “designer” cover an awful lot of ground

Design is one of the biggest challenges for pure programmers who want to build web apps. When bootstrapping your startup, I’ve read that some people seem to be very keen to hire a designer. I can’t think of a bigger mistake. Continue reading Hiring a designer is a premature optimization

Getting the job done is way more important than the tools you use

Published by Tom on 30/08/2011

A fantastic blog post by Philip Kaplan illustrates the importance of getting on with the job and not spending your time worrying about which toolkit…

Continue reading Getting the job done is way more important than the tools you use

If you wouldn’t pay for my app, your pricing advice is worthless

Published by Tom on 26/08/2011

What price should I charge people for using my app? It’s a pretty basic question, and one fundamental to your business: charge too little, and people won’t use your service. Charge too much, and you’ll have the same problem.

But – and there’s always a but – if you’re taking pricing advice from people who will never pay for your service, you’re making a big mistake. Continue reading If you wouldn’t pay for my app, your pricing advice is worthless

Programming – an awesome job to have

Published by Tom on 24/08/2011

Have you ever felt a distinct lack of respect in the office? Or that you’re not being paid fairly? That’s the gist of a post currently being debated on Hacker News. I disagree with the post on several counts; after all, programming is an awesome job to have! Continue reading Programming – an awesome job to have

Failing Fast Is Not Fun, Satisfying or Pleasant

Published by Tom on 08/08/2011

One principle behind developing web apps is that you should aim to fail fast, meaning that if your idea isn’t working out, it’s better that you find out it’s not viable before you invest a lot of time and effort in it. The problem is: it’s not always easy to give up on your dreams.

This is what is currently happening with CampaignBar, a tool that I very much believe in, but that has not brought in a single paltry cent. Continue reading Failing Fast Is Not Fun, Satisfying or Pleasant