Build Failed Startups—Not Side Projects
summary
Argues that choosing intent to go to production changes every decision: code is deployable, flows navigable, and gold‑plating stops. Recommends shipping 0.0.1 to someone else's machine (Render, Vercel, GitHub Pages), measure with analytics (Umami), and integrate Discord webhooks for real notifications. Emphasizes atomic commits, pivot quickly, protect user data, and treats small live projects as failed‑startup experiments — example: a deployed flagplays.org app used with coaches, shipped, iterated, and taught concrete lessons.
AI-written summary · about
chapters (8)
- 0:00Introduction
- 1:10Build failed startups
- 6:05Startups vs side projects
- 9:32Avoid stealth mode
- 12:21Production means someone else's machine
- 18:21Deploy to production
- 21:30Measuring success
- 24:57Call to action
related talks
27mStop overthinking and go create things
38mBuilding a high quality product
51mHow Not to Break a Simple Idea
33mSoftware development practices for companies that want to make an impact
43mLessons Learned Live Coding in Public
42mBuilding Scalable Mobile Projects: Fast Builds, High Reusability and Clear Ownership
20mFireside Chat with Emily Freeman
26mSoftware Delivery from First Principles