A tour behind the scenes of
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How tostart and growyour side project
Freek Van der HertenPartner & developer at Spatie@freekmurzefreek.devAbout me
spatie.be/open-source
spatie.be/postcards
About this talkThis is not a sales talkProduct demoWhy & howCode diveQ&A
Product demo
ohdear.appLaunched February 2018More than 3 billion checks performed+ 1 000 paying users+ 15 000 EUR MRRGrowing 10% a month
Oh Dear
Why and how
WhyOther tools either:•do too much•confusing•ugly•expensive
Oh DearOh Dear! aims to be•beautiful, easy to use•no feature bloat•built with companies like Spatie in mind•easy price structurePro-tip: build something for yourself
WhyThere are a lot of competitors out thereDoesn't really matterFinding your audiencePro-tip: focus on what your audiencefinds important
HowNo planningNo budgetNo roadmapNo clients
HowAlready had a lot of things in the open source spaceFirst meetings in August of 2017 Started building September 2017Pro-tip: build in the open
HowFirst working version late November 2017Tested with sites belonging to Spatie & Combell customersInvited some close friendsLaunched in beta February 2018About 10% - 15% conversion from our mailing listPro-tip: don't be afraid to launch
HowBuild in the openIdea mustn’t be originalExecution is everythingExecution can’t be copied
HowDividing the workloadMattias: SSL knowledge + customer supportFreek: codingLaravel Spark took care of the boring stuffDesign: outsourced to SpatiePro-tip: team up with someone
MarketingContent bloggingDiscount codesCode snippets on TwitterDoing talksPro-tip: provide value in your marketing
Marketing
ToolsMain web server at CombellUptime satellites: DO and Vultr serversFlareFreshdeskGitHubPro-tip: use services you know and love
Code Dive
In closing
Documentation
IntegrationsAPIPHP SDK / JS SDKWebhooksCLILaravel Nova ToolStatamic / CraftCMS
Future plansMonthly reportsOverhaul of the UI of the app
Resourcesfreek.dev/1609-complex-forms-with-laravel-livewire-in-oh-dearfreek.dev/1622-replacing-web-sockets-with-livewirefreek.dev/1767-why-and-how-you-should-monitor-scheduled-tasksfreek.dev/960-displaying-sites-that-are-down-on-a-dashboard-using-oh-dear-webhooks
Resourcesohdear.app/blogindiehackers.com/interview/bf8cf22b27ma.ttias.be/how-are-users-finding-our-saastwitter.com/i/moments/949273295635079168
Try it out!Free trial for 10 daysohdear.app/registerCoupon: HELLO-PHPBENELUX (30% off for yourfirst 3 month)
front-line-php.com
front-line-php.comA close look at modern PHP featuresActionable tips to build quality applicationsAdvanced features (FFI, JIT, async) clearly explainedFree chapter: front-line-php.com/object-orientedCoupon: HELLO-PHPBENELUX (25% off)
speakerdeck.com/freekmurze/ohdear-phpbeneluxohdear.app@freekmurzeThank you
Thanks!