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

Engineering

Getting started with performance testing

Performance bugs erode trust quietly until users explode. Three pragmatic steps help you catch slowdowns early: explore real bottlenecks with Sentry, test with production-sized data, and add lightweight API load tests.

madewithlove

Navigating Outages: lessons from recent cloud failures

Outages can strike unexpectedly, impacting businesses and users alike. In this episode of the SaaS Show, hosts Andreas and Sjimi delve into the recent outages experienced by major cloud providers like Amazon and Cloudflare.

AI

How to pragmatically leverage AI as a startup

If you believe what you see on LinkedIn, startups don't need employees anymore, real founders just have agents building their companies. You write a prompt, fire off the agent, and wait for customers. In reality, you get a vague workflow that produces a mediocre demo at best.

AI

The End of “AI-powered”

Of course your product is AI-based. There is no need mention this anymore. Tech loves a fashionable label. Web 2.0 had its moment, then mobile, then the cloud. Do not tell me your product uses AI. Tell me what your product can do that was impossible before AI existed.

AI

Cloudy with a chance of function calls

In the first of a series exploring infrastructure fundamentals, Brenden addresses the most frequently asked questions about what's really happening under the hood with complex pipelines and AI/data systems, bringing the cloud to life.

Engineering

Analyse your tables for better performance

I recently encountered a issue with MySQL query performance. A particular query would perform very badly in production, but perform very well in the testing environments.

Leadership

Stereotypes: are these the biggest misconceptions about software engineers?

Outdated myths about developers—like “they hate meetings” or “only care about code”—create friction, missed context, and rework. Learn how to build healthier collaboration across engineering and product.

AI

No designer? No problem with v0

For small teams without a designer, v0 is a game-changer. The cost justifies itself by letting you explore and validate ideas in minutes rather than days.

AI

Why I switched from BugBot to Claude for code reviews

I switched from Cursor's BugBot ($40/month) to Claude Code for code reviews. Setup is straightforward in VS Code, and Claude's bug detection has been notably better. While it still flags null reference checks like most AI reviewers, the difference in catching actual bugs is significant.

Leadership

Why freedom beats control: building a proper remote culture

Building a thriving remote-first culture takes more than allowing people to work from home. Discover how hiring for ownership, embracing asynchronous work, and saying no to misaligned projects creates a sustainable remote future.

madewithlove

The stainless steel lesson: why boring technology outlasts shiny frameworks

Shiny frameworks promise magic, but like cheap non-stick pans, they scratch, peel, and end up in the bin. Boring technology, like stainless steel, isn’t sexy, but it lasts for decades if treated well. The lesson? Build for the long haul, not the quick thrill.

AI

AI isn't optional anymore: Why developers without AI are falling behind

AI is not replacing developers, but it is replacing developers who refuse to use it. The real skill lies in how well you steer, validate, and challenge the model. Fundamentals matter, but today’s best engineers treat AI as an amplifier, not a crutch.

Engineering

The challenges and gotchas of app store releases

The most common mistake in mobile product launches is assuming the app store submission process is routine. It isn’t. From mismatched requirements between Apple and Google to last-minute policy changes, this is where launch plans unravel.

AI

From chatbots to AI agents: What do you need to know?

AI agents aren’t just chatbots. They observe, plan, and act to solve problems across systems. Powerful for workflows but costly and prone to errors, their value comes from tackling focused business problems, not the hype.

AI & agentic tooling

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Engineering leadership

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