The blog · since 2015

Insights for founders,
CTOs & investors.

Essays, playbooks and field notes from our CTOs, architects and leads. Written for people shipping real product.

Latest posts

AI

The fate of being too early

Strava's new AI-driven Athlete Intelligence brought me back to Addapp, the startup I co-founded nearly a decade ago. We used data from devices like Apple Watch to offer insights, like how your run affected your sleep, using traditional data science. Being ahead of time is not always good.

Leadership

What is a retrospective, and how to run one

Reflecting on work through retrospectives helps software teams improve by identifying what went well and what didn’t. This promotes continuous growth, stronger collaboration, and better performance. Creating action plans from these insights leads to higher-quality results and a more cohesive team.

Engineering

Instant feedback using the useOptimistic hook in React

Implement optimistic updates in React with the useOptimistic hook for instant UI feedback. This technique enhances user experience by updating the interface immediately while the server processes actions in the background, creating a faster and more responsive app.

Engineering

Crossing boundaries: Handling data mutations in client components

Discover how to efficiently mutate data in client components using server actions in Next.js. Learn to handle form submissions with React’s evolving hooks like useActionState, eliminate the need for API endpoints, and streamline client-server interactions for faster, more responsive applications.

Engineering

Crossing boundaries: Passing server data to client components in React

Learn how to optimize performance by fetching data server-side without blocking the page render. This guide explores passing promises to React client components and resolving them asynchronously using Suspense, ensuring a smoother, faster user experience.

AI

Integrating AI into your engineering team

How to integrate AI into your engineering team. This guide explains how AI can make your team more productive.

Leadership

Framework junkies

Developers are increasingly focusing on frameworks like Laravel or React, but deep knowledge of the underlying programming language is crucial. Mastering the basics enables better problem-solving, performance optimization, and flexibility across different frameworks or languages.

Engineering

Mobile app security: A best practices checklist for startups and scale-ups

Startups and scale-ups are vulnerable to cyberattacks as mobile apps grow. Implementing encryption, multi-factor authentication, and secure communication is crucial. Leadership should integrate security into the product lifecycle to protect both data and reputation.

Leadership

Pragmatic ways of keeping documentation up to date

While documentation is vital, too much can lead to outdated or duplicate content. To manage it, consolidate docs in one platform, separate live from historical content, archive outdated ones, move technical docs closer to code, and encourage sharing links to foster a documentation culture.

Engineering

The right tool for the job

What framework or coding language should founders of SaaS startups choose when they start building a new software product.

Leadership

Why recruiters are not expensive

Working with a specialized tech recruiter can be expensive, but not as costly as you think. These are the main reasons why recruiters are NOT expensive.

Engineering

Developer Experience and why a business should prioritize it

In today's fast-paced market, optimizing Developer Experience (DX) is key to delivering quality software efficiently. Unlike User Experience (UX), which focuses on end users, DX enhances the tools, processes, and culture developers work in, boosting productivity and satisfaction for better outcomes.

Engineering

Infrastructure is a business decision

Learn how non-technical metrics can help control operational costs in tech startups. This article explains the importance of understanding real infrastructure costs and the cost of change to prevent your business expenses from spiraling out of control.

Leadership

How to create a mobile development team for startups

Mobile devices are being used a lot. This underscores the importance of mobile app development for startups. A mobile app can give businesses a competitive edge, boost revenue strategies, and increase user engagement, making it a vital tool for growth and scalability.

Leadership

Core Protocols: improving communication within your team

Efficient communication is important for SaaS teams. Core Protocols can unlock great potential in communication. Implementing these protocols can significantly improve a team's output and overall satisfaction by creating a shared vision and setting clear expectations.

AI & agentic tooling

AI-first engineering

We use AI and agentic workflows daily. From coding agents to AI strategy, we help teams adopt what actually works.

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Engineering leadership

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