Running a Web Service as a Single Developer

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RUNNING A WEB SERVICE AS A SINGLE DEVELOPER PRESENTATION FOR STOCKHOLM RUBY BY @ANDREASZECHER MARCH 2014

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PROUCT BACKGROUND PRESS TRACKING FOR GAME+APP DEVELOPERS FIRST VERSION MADE IN 4 HOURS FOR HOME USE 1500 COMMITS OVER 4 YEARS COMMERICAL PRODUCT SINCE SEPTEMBER 2011 SELF-FUNDED WITH FREELANCE WORK NO INVESTORS

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UPGRADE PATH HEROKU STACK ASPEN � BAMBOO � CEDAR RUBY 1.8.6 � 1.9.3 � 2.0 RAILS 2.3 � 3.0 � 3.1 � 3.2 WEBSERVER THIN � UNICORN DATABASE SHARED � PRODUCTION+FOLLOWER RUBY VERSION MANAGER RVMRC � RBENV GEM DEPENDENCIES 10 � 54 BACKGROUND JOBS CRON � DELAYED JOB � SIDEKIQ � SIDEKIQ PRO

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RAILS PROS/CONS RAPID DEVELOPMENT SENSIBLE DEFAULTS RICH ECOSYSTEM TECHNICAL DEBT DEPRECATION MAINTENANCE

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CRITICAL GEMS RAILS FEEDZIRRA SIDEKIQ-PRO ACTIVEADMIN

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SEARCH VOLUME (~30 MIN PER BATCH) 2081= 2096 ACTIVE PRODUCTS 1210= 1212 RSS FEEDS

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CONVERSION RATE (FREE�PAID) 2. 94%

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PURCHASES PER PAID PLANS SOLO (75 EUR/YEAR) STUDIO (150 EUR/YEAR) COMPANY (1500 EUR/YEAR)

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PAID PLAN LENGTHS (MONTHS) 1M,3M,6M,12M

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REVENUE PER MONTH (FEB 2013–FEB 2014) 16+52+52+40+20+77+74+69+76+45+100+74 8568 SEK- 1389 SEK-

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SERVER COST PER MONTH (FEB 2014–) HEROKU 2 WEB DYNOS (1X) 1 SIDEKIQ DYNO (2X) 2 CRANE DATABASES PAPERTRAIL REDIS TO GO SENDGRID 221 SEK 461 SEK 640 SEK 44 SEK 250 SEK 64 SEK HARVEST 76 SEK GECKOBOARD 58 SEK TOTAL 1814 SEK

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TIME COST (FEB 2013–FEB 2014) 295 HOURS @ 900 SEK/HOUR OPPORTUNITY COST PER MONTH 265500 SEK 22125 SEK

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WORTH THE OPPORTUNITY COST INTERNAL USE INTRINSIC REWARDS CUSTOMER VALUE FULL-STACK EXPERIENCE DIVERSIFY INCOME

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ADVANTAGES DOMAIN EXPERTISE RAPID CUSTOMER SUPPORT DO THINGS THAT DON’T SCALE PERSEVERANCE & PATIENCE

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CHALLENGES ALWAYS ON CALL UPTIME & PERFORMANCE SECURITY PATCHES GEM DEPENDENCIES PAYMENT PROCESSING PRICING USER INTERFACE USER EXPECTATIONS BACKLOG

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REFERENCES STARTING + SUSTAINING STARTINGANDSUSTAINING.COM START SMALL, STAY SMALL STARTUPBOOK.NET PATRICK MCKENZIE NEWSLETTER TRAINING.KALZUMEUS.COM RAILSCASTS PRO RAILSCASTS.COM THOUGHTBOT LEARN LEARN.THOUGHTBOT.COM