Art Krivtsov

Making software for fun and occasionally for business

[Art Krivtsov @ArtKrivtsov]

@TheMattBerman @openclaw @boringmarketer @virlomain VIEWS

[Farza 🇵🇰🇺🇸 @FarzaTV]

buildspace v0.

find and be found.

summer 2024.

[Art Krivtsov @ArtKrivtsov]

Macro focus means to discover what is important. Micro focus is to remember it at all times. One without the other can be disastrous. Combining both with consistent effort unlocks a tremendous force. I read this idea in a newsletter the other day, and I thought it was very accurate but also very hard to follow with all the distractions around us. Add to that the necessity to pivot at the right moment, and there's your "mission impossible." Nevertheless, it's one of the most important keys to success.

[Art Krivtsov @ArtKrivtsov]

@amosbastian Congrats, Amos! It’s a whole new chapter 😁

[kmaticu @Kmaticu]

Since I closed my 100th client this week, I'm going to create following guide:

33 Ways to Get Your First 100 Clients.

Using FB groups, insta, cold email, ads

With funnels and step-by-step explanations - how to follow up and how to close.

Pre-order👇
https://t.co/AvqRHTCPW7

[Art Krivtsov @ArtKrivtsov]

Good job, Ann! It definitely looks cleaner and more professional. One thing that caught my eye on the “before” side is the hand wave icon. I think the intention there was to make it look a bit friendlier and less formal. The new design is more enterprise-like and leaves less room for such things. For some reason, it made me feel a bit sad 🙂 But as long as Tony likes it, then that’s the way to go 👍

[Art Krivtsov @ArtKrivtsov]

As I embarked on my mobile app development journey, I had to make the call on which framework I’d use. My curious self always wanted to learn Swift and iOS development. My practical self, with the help of @NikolayStrikhar‘s whispering into my ears 🤣 wanted to cut it to the point. Learning is great, and I might as well do that this year. But my goal is to learn the process of delivering a mobile app vs just developing it.

I looked at React Native before, but I wanted to see what’s out there. It turned out that from a practical perspective, I was facing a choice between React Native, Flutter, Swift, and Ionic. As I said, I focused on minimizing my time on development. I’m pretty familiar with React, which leaves me with two choices: React Native and Ionic.

I chose Ionic. Why? Because it has pretty much everything I need for a simple app out of the box, including a library of UI components. I just had to add Tailwind support, which wasn’t that critical, to be fair. My app is very simple, so there’s no performance penalty that might come with a hybrid app in some cases.

I’m pretty happy with my choice so far. The only annoying thing is the permanent storage implementation, which requires a SQLite plugin. The examples I found are a bit over-engineered, so I had to spend a bit of time integrating this plugin in a more straightforward way.

I know I’ll be having quite a bit of fun going through the app publishing process 🙂 So I’ll share it here as I go. And, of course, I’ll share what the app is about when I have a link to AppStore 😉 It’s an additional motivation for me to get there faster.

[Art Krivtsov @ArtKrivtsov]

@kentcdodds @remix_run Indeed! Btw I really like how you have all the ADRs in the repo. I rarely see this approach in the wild 👏

[Art Krivtsov @ArtKrivtsov]

I just learned that there’s now an epic (that’s literally the name) starter stack based on @remix_run by @kentcdodds: https://t.co/Y8DCoW2sS0. I haven’t tried it yet, but it looks very promising if you want to ship your SaaS fast 🚀

[Art Krivtsov @ArtKrivtsov]

@NikolayStrikhar Great investment! I enjoy my Humanscale, too. Really helps with my back and neck 💯

[Art Krivtsov @ArtKrivtsov]

When you get interested in something, you start attracting things related to it even without explicitly looking for it. This works for me every time 😄 I recently started working on my first mobile app. So, I started seeing more people on X who are into mobile development, stumbling across articles on the topic, etc. I guess I can also blame targeting algorithms for that 😆

[Art Krivtsov @ArtKrivtsov]

@aliazimi86 @ThePeterMick @maximgospodinko @linhbuilds @CreateActionLtd @JanTheSaasGuy @juleswritescode @Kmaticu Sounds good! There was a paid one by Nick but it hasn’t gotten any traction really. So I agree 💯

[Art Krivtsov @ArtKrivtsov]

@aliazimi86 @ThePeterMick @maximgospodinko @linhbuilds @CreateActionLtd @JanTheSaasGuy @juleswritescode @Kmaticu I’d be up for giving it a shot

[Art Krivtsov @ArtKrivtsov]

@valsopi Tbh, the name always flips in my head when I pronounce it to something like “blogtastic” 🙂 Also, rebranding is a good reason for a re-launching campaign. If you have something catchy, I’d say go for it.

[Art Krivtsov @ArtKrivtsov]

@atunasashimi Ah, nomad life! This is truly awesome and great for creativity. The “old” ideas are forced out by the new impressions and open up space for the new ones. Also, I was curious when your inner builder shows up 😁

[Art Krivtsov @ArtKrivtsov]

@valsopi These are all great questions, Val! The tricky part for me was realizing that doing my best doesn’t mean doing as much as possible. And it also means being aware of others’ expectations, which can be hard sometimes.

[Art Krivtsov @ArtKrivtsov]

@s_chiriac I really love well-structured code and apps done “the right way,” for the lack of a better term. But delivering quicker by taking “shortcuts” where necessary to keep the validation cycle shorter is a critical skill that goes hand in hand with marketing.

[Art Krivtsov @ArtKrivtsov]

That’s interesting! I can say that I decided to switch to smaller apps (mobile apps, most likely) to keep the development-feedback cycle shorter. Potential profits, on average, would be smaller but probably quicker to get to. On the other hand, some developers are keen on investing in the apps that have shown some traction. So, I think what we see is the market pieces clicking into places 🤔

[Art Krivtsov @ArtKrivtsov]

@atunasashimi That’s an awesome post you wrote! I really enjoyed reading it 😊 Long-form writing is so tempting 😅 Sometimes, I find it easier to write a longer thread than a short tweet. But I agree, that was a good year after all!

[Art Krivtsov @ArtKrivtsov]

@norbertjurga Same here, Norbert! Looking forward to seeing where our journey brings us in 2024 🍾

[Art Krivtsov @ArtKrivtsov]

The end of the year is usually the time when we look back and reflect on what happened for the past twelve months. Even though it’s good to do it way more often than that, it is still good to review the year from a strategic perspective. It helps to summarize the most significant learnings for different aspects of life. Some people like to formalize it by looking at different facets of their lives, like health, family, friends, job, etc. I usually look across all of them and pick the ones that stand out. These are my observations that I’d like to share:

- Despite burnout, traveling, and a messed up workout routine in the second half of the year, my immune system is in better shape than the previous year. I think the reason was that I was a bit more proactive in taking a break sooner. Last year, I'd work through burnout probably, and it wouldn't have ended up being good for my immune system.

- I should be more conservative with time estimates at my job. This one is obvious. But still, I feel that I may fall into the PM trap of manufactured urgency. Which, in turn, may lead to some not-so-pleasant side effects.

- Things that aren't under your control aren't under your control indeed. I must be extra careful around those things since they can change randomly. For instance, my parents' relocation didn't go as expected. And even though everything ended up well, it took more time and money than I expected.

- Because of the previous point, I need to pay more attention to building my savings and investments.

- I must be extra careful with my time since it's also an asset. Even though I know that I'm rather good at building apps (it's been my day job for more than 20 years after all 🙂)I need to ensure I'm spending my time using this skill efficiently. Looking back at the last year, I started two projects and didn't bring any of them to a state where they'd spark any interest from the users for different reasons. Of course, I've got some experience. So, I aim to use this experience to succeed in my future projects.

Last but not least, I'd like to thank the members of this community here for being a source of inspiration and support, with special thanks to:
- @NikolayStrikhar for pushing me towards the dark (or light? 🤣) side of the marketing first approach.
- @atunasashimi for helping ignite my thought process about Weter.
- @norbertjurga for sharing his opinions and suggestions. It's very invaluable, and I really appreciate it.
- @ShvZFR for his support in my journey. And the fun time we had at s4 in Dubai 😎
And also @MrNick_Buzz, @heyolivehaus , and @aliazimi86, who make this community supportive, fun, and inspiring.