June 2019 Summaries

The developer of Checkly, a monitoring platform for APIs and microservices, recently implemented SSL encryption for customers' public dashboards using Let's Encrypt, a free certificate authority. The implementation leverages Greenlock, an NPM package that simplifies the process of obtaining and renewing SSL certificates. The setup involves configuring DNS records to point to a custom domain, integrating Let's Encrypt with a Node.js app, and deploying the app on a server or virtual machine with a clean IP address. The app uses Vue.js router magic to resolve the correct dashboard for each hostname. The end result provides customers with a secure and customizable experience, allowing them to host their public dashboards on a custom domain.

I use Trello for product development and focus on short and long term goals, while Reminders is used for day-to-day business development tasks that require less planning and more outward focus. My Trello board has a Kanban-style layout with columns for backlog, selected, TODO, DOING, and DONE, which helps me prioritize tasks and maintain a clear overview of my work. I also use Reminders to stay on top of customer interactions, follow-ups, and tasks that require less planning, such as filing bills or reviewing articles. By using these two tools in conjunction with other productivity tools like AWS and Intercom, I'm able to balance my focus between product development and business development.

Here's a neutral and interesting summary of the text in one paragraph: An aspiring SaaS bootstrapper, John, reached out to a developer for advice on how to start his cloud security product. The developer responded with guidance on how to overcome common challenges, starting by targeting smaller companies instead of enterprises, and owning the company's domain expertise. The developer also shared their own experience of finding product market fit through iterative development, deploying quickly and listening to customer feedback. Additionally, they emphasized the importance of balancing marketing efforts with bootstrapping, highlighting the effectiveness of blogging, giving away free tools, and engaging with communities like Reddit and Twitter.

Digital Ocean has locked the account of a small startup company called raisup.com due to alleged misuse of their services, sparking an online backlash and criticism from Nicolas Beauvais, the CTO of the company. The incident highlights the importance of having a disaster recovery plan in place and diversifying cloud providers to avoid dependence on a single service. Beauvais shares his experience as a solo-developer-turned-CEO who relies heavily on big cloud providers like AWS and Heroku for customer support and infrastructure. He emphasizes that small startups need to be proactive about backup and failover procedures, establishing relationships with their cloud provider's support team, and having some form of "clout" or online presence to advocate for themselves in case of an outage.