Mindaugas Šapalas

Senior Frontend Engineer | Shopware & E-Commerce | Full-Stack

Creator of

[Mindaugas Šapalas @sapalas_dev]

TripToRace week 14:

Joined 20+ communities. Listened. Didn't promote.

Athletes know the problem. They've just accepted the chaos.

My job: be visible when they're ready to try.

Still figuring out what that looks like.

#buildinpublic

[Mindaugas Šapalas @sapalas_dev]

TripToRace BIP update:

Spent 10 days joining endurance sports communities. Strava clubs, Facebook groups, trail forums.

The pattern: athletes have the races picked. The planning is in their head.

That's the gap I'm building for.

#buildinpublic #indiemaker

[Mindaugas Šapalas @sapalas_dev]

TripToRace update:

Stopped adding features for 2 weeks.

Only focused on one thing: getting trial users to come back.

Better empty states. Clearer first-session flow.

Small changes. Hard to measure. But that's the work.

#buildinpublic #indiemaker

[Mindaugas Šapalas @sapalas_dev]

Shopware Storefront tip:

Pass config from PHP to JS via data attributes, not global variables.

`data-my-plugin-options='{"key": "{{ myConfigValue }}"}'`

Then `this.options.key` in your plugin.

Clean, stateless, survives updates.

#Shopware

[Mindaugas Šapalas @sapalas_dev]

TripToRace week 11:

Trial users sign up. Add one race. Then disappear.

Not a product problem. An onboarding problem.

The gap between "signed up" and "this is now part of my routine" - that's what I'm working on closing.

#buildinpublic #indiemaker

[Mindaugas Šapalas @sapalas_dev]

Shopware SCSS tip:

Never edit core variable files to override values.

Use `abstract/variables-custom.scss` for Shopware vars, `abstract/variables-bootstrap.scss` for Bootstrap.

Your changes survive updates. The alternative doesn't.

#Shopware #shopwaredev

[Mindaugas Šapalas @sapalas_dev]

TripToRace update:

Trials are coming in.

Trial-to-paid conversion is the problem. Most users sign up and don't activate.

Testing: a better onboarding flow that forces one action in the first session.

Will report back.

#buildinpublic #runnerslife

[Mindaugas Šapalas @sapalas_dev]

Shopware Storefront JS tip:

If your custom plugin silently stops working, check that you're calling super.init() at the start of init().

Skipping it breaks the base Plugin class setup. No error thrown. Just dead code.

#Shopware #shopwaredev

[Mindaugas Šapalas @sapalas_dev]

Week 8 of TripToRace being live.

Still 0 paying customers.

Talked to 5 trial users this week. Three themes, none around price or features.

Discovery is the blocker. They didn't know it existed until the trial. Working on that now.

https://t.co/bmmxa1H5cH

#buildinpublic #SaaS

[Mindaugas Šapalas @sapalas_dev]

Shopware 6: app or plugin?

App: no PHP, event webhooks, straightforward marketplace distribution.
Plugin: direct PHP, storefront controllers, complex business logic.

Most agencies default to plugins. For lighter integrations, the app system is underused.

#Shopware #eCommerce

[Mindaugas Šapalas @sapalas_dev]

Week 7 of TripToRace being live.

Still 0 paying customers. But starting to understand why.

Trial signups exist. They don't convert. So I'm talking directly to athletes to understand what's blocking them.

Boring phase of building. Posting it anyway.

https://t.co/bmmxa1H5cH

[Mindaugas Šapalas @sapalas_dev]

If your Twig has {% if %} blocks doing price math or customer group checks, that's business logic.

Move it to an EventSubscriber, enrich the page data there, and let the template just render. Testable, portable, clean.

#Shopware #FrontendExpert #eCommerce

[Mindaugas Šapalas @sapalas_dev]

TripToRace has been live a month.

0 paying users. A handful of trial signups. Real feedback coming in.

App for endurance athletes - runners, triathletes, orienteers. Race calendar, travel planner, results tracking. 14.99 EUR/year.

Not dead, just early.

https://t.co/bmmxa1H5cH

[Mindaugas Šapalas @sapalas_dev]

Shopware 6 tip: stop putting business logic in twig templates.

Move it to a plugin service. Your future self and the agency inheriting the project will appreciate it.

#Shopware #PHP #eCommerce

[TripToRace.com @triptorace]

A practical roundup of the apps actually worth having on your phone if you train and race regularly - covering race planning, race management, travel, and results. Read here https://t.co/5ZMOzo5YbO

[Mindaugas Šapalas @sapalas_dev]

@triptorace @YouTube After months of building in spare time, I finally shipped it. 🚀

https://t.co/mW0uWexrrL is live - a web app I've been developing from scratch to solve a real problem I personally faced as an orienteering enthusiast.

[TripToRace.com @triptorace]

If you've ever managed a race weekend with a pile of spreadsheets, random notes, and 5 different apps - this one's for you https://t.co/pbWlxZZvOg via @YouTube

[Mindaugas Šapalas @sapalas_dev]

@PR_ibb Gibt es ein Frist Termin für Anträge? "Anträge, die schon vor Fristbeginn eingereicht wurden, werden nicht berücksichtigt." https://t.co/Kel4ru9p6Y

[Mindaugas Šapalas @sapalas_dev]

following my books #BooksTreeBerlin #DieBlutLinie

[Mindaugas Šapalas @sapalas_dev]

following my books #BooksTreeBerlin #Zerstört