Last week, I met a former university classmate who now works at an advertising agency. She was really happy because she had just gotten a raise. But when she mentioned the amount, it honestly seemed like nonsense to me (though I didn t say anything so I wouldn t ruin her joy).
What surprised me even more was that she had to go to her boss and ask for the raise herself (which felt like a double nonsense). But I get it...companies want to save money wherever they can.
I've got two kinds of free users, and I've only recently started admitting they're not the same.
One kind writes me thoughtful feedback, tells their friends, answers my questions honestly, and eventually converts sometimes after a year, sometimes never, but they leave the product better than they found it. They're a gift.
There's a customer who costs me more than they pay. Endless support, constant escalation, a feature demand every week, and a tone that makes me dread opening my inbox.
On paper, firing them is obvious. They're a net negative. The spreadsheet says walk away.
But they were one of my first customers. They took a chance when nobody knew who I was. And there's a nagging fear that the moment I get rid of them, word spreads that I'm the kind of founder who abandons people when the math turns.
I'm a developer. And as a developer, I probably have a huge disadvantage: I see every product with an overly critical, perfectionist mindset. Meanwhile, no-code and AI tools are making it easier than ever to build software without technical skills. But here's the paradox: this shift favors non-technical makers over developers. Why? Because they don t care (or even think) about: that slow query that might crash under load; that pixel-perfect UI; that memory-hungry process; tha non-DRY code; that perfect payment integration; Etc... I know what you're thinking: "Dude, just build an MVP and launch fast." But that's not my point. Even if I try to move fast, as a developer, it's hard to unsee the flaws. So here's my real question: Are we in an era where people with fewer technical skills are actually at an advantage? To me, it definitely feels like an advantage for non-technical makers.
I m in Spain and trying to decide between Trade Republic, Revolut and MyInvestor for investing. I m less interested in which one is best than in what makes an investing app good as a product. For me it s a toss-up between a clean interface, clear fees, and just trusting the company with your money. Revolut has the all-in-one thing going for it, Trade Republic looks like the simplest, and MyInvestor feels more like a traditional bank. For those who ve used more than one, what ended up mattering most to you? And do you prefer everything in one app or a separate one just for investing?
I ve been using prototypes a little differently since I started building more with AI.
For internal reviews, I still find simple prototypes useful. They help the team understand the overall flow and discuss whether we re looking at the same problem.
But when I want to explore how an idea actually works, I often go straight to building a working version with AI.
The interesting part is that I m not necessarily trying to skip the design process.
I've been posting discussions here for a few weeks. Some of the answers I got are better than anything I'd write alone.
Nobody in my LinkedIn network sees any of it.
Also what surprised me is how many people have never heard of PH at all. I assumed everyone in tech knew it. Turns out it's a fairly niche community, and half my network would need the sentence explained before they could care about it.
Some other things stop me to talk about it on LinkedIn Two audiences are different, so I'm not sure the conversation here means anything to someone scrolling there.
