There is no demand for average anymore.
I used to think shipping something decent was enough. Get it out. Iterate later.
But decent doesn't cut through. Decent gets lost in the noise.
inkStar either has to be the best tool a tattoo studio has ever used, or it's just another app collecting digital dust.
No middle ground.
That's what keeps me up at night. And also what keeps me building.
We've been building https://t.co/SmCEqgmitn for almost two years now. My girlfriend runs our tattoo studio. I write the code. We both use the app every day.
Today we sat down together to rewrite the homepage copy.
She'd read a sentence out loud and say "that's not what we do." I'd rewrite it. She'd read it again. "Closer, but nobody talks like that."
We spent hours on just the homepage. Didn't even finish it.
The words started sounding like us instead of sounding like AI. Like how she'd explain it to a friend who asked what I've been building all year.
We'll need a few more sessions. Honestly, I'm looking forward to them.
For months the inkStar website was functional but rough. Pages that didn't match. Copy that tried to say everything and ended up saying nothing AND on top of that, Missing pages.
Friday I shipped the rework. Every page redesigned. Blog system live. Full SEO foundation in place.
By Saturday, all pages were indexed thanks to RalfyIndex.
Then I spent the weekend going through every competitor I could find, pulling the keywords they rank for. 400+ keywords on the list now, AND checking out possible sources to build some links.
The website is live. Now comes the harder part: making sure the right people actually find it.
Stay tuned!
Your customer's customer should never have to install your app.
If a tattoo client needs to download something just to book an appointment or sign a consent form, you already lost them.
The studio runs the app. The client just shows up.
I used to think great engineers were just really smart problem solvers.
Then I started building inkStar.
The scheduling assistant, the forensic e-sign system, the offline-first architecture for studios with concrete walls and zero signal...
None of that came from logic alone.
It came from caring. From obsessing. From wanting the thing to feel right, not just work right.
Turns out engineering and craft aren't that different.
@FlowHaa It doesn't even have to be the usage of AI but simply using vibe-coded products that no-one has an idea of what they're actually doing and what risk they impose.
I think the current gate keeper for AI is the quality, since most AI software is just low quality slop and imo enterprise software has the biggest barrier with all the legal requirements, architecture and special needs, per industry etc.
Sure AI can one shot a ToDo app... because there are more ToDo apps out there than humans on this planet... But software is NOT simple πespecially specialized one that most companies require.
Saying that AI will replace all devs is like saying a calculator makes understanding math obsolete π
I just don't buy it.
I might be biased, but I just can't imagine a world where AI is doing 100% of the work. Whoever thinks that, must be a junior, not a dev or is trying to sell you AI.
Hear me out:
The difference between a burkin bag and some knock off is the care and hand craft that goes into the burkin
What if software engineering becomes like burkin
People start value human crafted software vs AI generated software?
I think we will reach a point where people want humanness over machines in a lot of things
If you stop moving on your product for long enough... you stop believing in it.
I've felt that with inkStar.
Two weeks of no commits, no updates, no nothing. And suddenly it starts feeling like a mistake instead of an unfinished bet.
The code didn't change. My conviction did.
@elralfchristian@PeterMindenhall HEAR ME OUT. We could make the credits on RalfyIndex an actual crypto currency and we could get people to invest in it.
There is real value behind this because you can exchange a credit for one url to get indexed.
Just saying.
@owenthcarey Agreed.
I mean I can't talk shit since I'm not really big but I would say, have a personality and post frequently π and just let it ride.