jmstfv
Joined 7 years ago
Karma
804
Submissions
224
Member since
Sep 13
Recent submissions
Comment · 2 months ago
I also added this custom instruction in Codex:
"Only report to me in ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English."
Comment · 2 months ago
I've switched to Codex a few months ago when Claude's weekly limits were getting pretty stiff, and I haven't looked back. Both GPT 5.5 and 5.6 are quite capable, especially compared to nerfed Opus 4.7 (haven't tried 5).
Also, the Codex guy regularly resets weekly limits for everyone, which is a nice bonus (I know it's a temporary gimmick to attract more users, but I might as well use it while it lasts.)
Comment · 4 months ago
oh good luck, it's a tough space to be. some indie makers have managed to make it work (like healthchecks.io for example) but it requires patience and dedication, esp dealing with some entitled people on the free plan.
btw, your docs pages look malformed; seems like markdown metadata slipping into the page content: https://boxwatch.app/docs/api/authentication
Comment · 4 months ago
1. uptime monitoring service [1]. launched in 2019. decided to enter a crowded niche so as not to reinvent the wheel and try to figure out distribution, but gave up. sold in early 2021. total sales before selling: $1,686
2. notion backups service [2]. launched in late 2021, total sales $100k, while still growing ~60% YoY. in hindsight, I should have picked an adjacent niche, since this business is technically difficult and not as easy to sell as a Notion site builder, for example.
3. churn analytics for stripe [3]. got accepted to the stripe marketplace, but still haven't gotten a single customer because I haven’t marketed it much. I use it daily and it is very helpful. for that reason alone, i don't want to kill it.
[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20210515005206/https://tryhexade...
Comment · 4 months ago
I can't open that link. seems like no DNS records associated with the site?
> nslookup cauenapier.townsquare.com
Server: 192.0.2.42
Address: 192.0.2.42#53
server can't find cauenapier.townsquare.com: NXDOMAINComment · 6 months ago
Stablecoins are typically pegged to something, like USD or EUR, so their exchange rate vis-a-vis that currency is stable
Comment · 6 months ago
this is interesting.
my hunch is that we're moving towards more surveillance, censorship and deplatforming in the future, and CBDCs are a major tool for that.
I like Bitcoin, despite its problems (price volatility and quantum vulnerability) but I think censorship-resistant stablecoins would be a better solution for people looking to protect themselves from Big Brother.
Comment · 6 months ago
I recently launched a churn analysis tool for Stripe:
It is very basic now: it tells me which of the customers have cancelled their subscription and why (Stripe lets people choose the reason before cancelling). I've yet to gain a customer despite launching on the Stripe Marketplace but it's been personally helpful for me so far.
Comment · 6 months ago
tangentially related, but as someone who built multiple internet businesses -- mostly unsuccessful, some mildly successful -- I barely have any new ideas to work on.
I don't know if this is the effect of relying on AI too much in my day-to-day work or leading a more monotonous life as of late, but I'm sure I'm not the only one. Lots of ideas that I could have built before LLMs took over now seem trivial to build with Claude & friends.
Comment · 7 months ago
They're done. They export oil/LNG, import food, invest the proceeds in the US companies/treasuries and brand themselves as logistics hubs + safe havens for the global rich. It's all out of the window now.
Comment · 7 months ago
yes. they export oil/LNG and import most of their food. and they invest their proceeds into the US economy/treasuries, which they're going to stop if this continues.
by some estimates, Qatar and Kuwait could experience ~14% GDP contraction this year if this goes on.
Comment · 7 months ago
the closure of the strait (i.e. a toll booth by Iran) will cause massive inflation, destroy the GCC, and eventually lead to a global recession and the end of a petrodollar, which is how Iran is retaliating.
And if the US attempts a ground invasion to keep the strait open, it will be a complete disaster for the US.
Comment · 7 months ago
I've finally finished the long-abandoned project that I've been meaning to build for a while.
If you use Stripe Billing for subscriptions, your customers can specify reasons why they cancelled (e.g. too expensive, not using it, switched to competitor, etc.). However, to access those, you either have to use Stripe Sigma or pull them from the API. I wanted to build a more convenient way to access those (and also act upon them).
I've submitted the app to Stripe's App Marketplace, but I have a limited number of test invites to send out if you're interested (I will happily waive your subscription for 3 months).
Comment · 10 months ago
I've been working on the same business since 2021:
The first business I started never gained traction, so I sold it in 2021 (which was a completely different time compared to now).
Notion had announced that they'd launch a beta version of their API, so while waiting for the early access, I built a landing page, login/signup, and all other plumbing for the web app.
It was a rather underwhelming launch (both for the API and my business), but I gained my first customer within a month.
Honestly, it's been a slog running this business (Notion's API is surprisingly hard to work with, so it seemed that I was stuck for months on end), so knowing what I know now, I'd probably have started a different business. My burnout didn't help either.
Claude has been incredibly helpful these last few months in solving esoteric undocumented edge cases that were plaguing the codebase for years.
I have a healthy MRR/growth rate right now and the biggest product in the niche, so I'm grateful for that.
Building notionbackups.com and dunningbear.com, also rectangles.app and httpguides.com
Previously, was running a consulting business and sold an uptime monitoring business.
jmstfv.com | https://twitter.com/jmstfv | https://github.com/jmstfv
Reach out (no spam please): [email protected]