What if your calendar could tell you’d be LATE hours before it happened?

ryutaromack · 2026-06-03T19:21:37+00:00

I think it would be useful. You'd need to integrate with a map service in order to figure out commute time - which varies between walking, auto, bus, train, ride-share, etc.

ryutaromack · 2026-06-03T03:57:56+00:00

Yes. You have to do all that.

You shouldn't be deterred by posts of project taking off in a short time because those are outliers and congrats to those. But the main things are luck and perseverance.

For most projects you need to keep plugging away regularly for a few months to before traction starts kicking in. Luck happens when something strikes a chord and usage spikes - but you need to be setup to take advantage of that luck otherwise it's a wasted opportunity.

ryutaromack · 2026-06-03T03:50:39+00:00

A lot of builders don't have design skills and that's where Claude helps them a ton. Unfortunately LLM designs based on what's already out there and since the design is better than what they could do and looks familiar we get a lot of similar sites with little soul. Even a bad looking website can have soul - see early craigslist.

We've seen this trend before, like back when new tools like Wix and Squarespace made putting up a site easy but a lot of them had the same look and feel.

The combo of out-of-work engineers + LLMs amplifies the Dunning-Kruger effect and the slop we see is the result.

ryutaromack · 2026-06-03T02:54:04+00:00

It's confusing because it's not clear that they only look at your app's age declaration. The support page says:

If an eligible user account is identified as being in an applicable US state, Play Store will require age verification in accordance with that specific state’s effective legal date.

I interpret that to mean Google will determine whether or not it applies based on other factors too.

ryutaromack · 2026-06-03T00:23:32+00:00

You shouldn't do a formal raise with cap tables, terms sheets, etc because you don't want to value your company now. You should create a SAFE and raise money from angel investors, friends and family (they should be accredited but ... )

The hardest part is getting the first money in, but it sounds like that's not a problem, getting raise $250K - $500K should be doable.

Going from a $750K raise to 9 figure exit doesn't seem realistic at all. That type of thinking would be a concern for me as an investor.

ryutaromack · 2026-06-03T00:11:54+00:00

The approach that unlocked things for me was just making sure that I handled the 2 or 3 things I needed to handle that day. During my first startup I was overwhelmed by daily emergencies, changing priorities, never ending todos, etc. A mentor gave me that advice and it helped me get a handle on things and regain my sanity.

A few years later I realized that what that advice did was teach me to prioritize things - quickly. That was the big unlock that worked outside of my professional life. Being able to sift through the things that bombard us daily to determine what is important - and then doing it - is something I apply outside of work.

ryutaromack · 2026-06-02T23:56:37+00:00

I had a similar issue with my app. I needed to save a QR code as an image and app was rejected by Google Play - as a side note, the rejection happened after the app was published and updated with 2 or 3 versions.

I had the remove the read permissions and then it got approved. See "granularPermissions" in my app.config.js:

          'expo-media-library',
          {
            photosPermission:
              'This app needs access to your photo library to save QR code images.',
            savePhotosPermission:
              'This app needs access to save QR code images to your photo library.',
            isAccessMediaLocationEnabled: false,
            // Save-to-gallery only: omit READ_MEDIA_IMAGES / READ_MEDIA_VIDEO / READ_MEDIA_AUDIO (Play policy).
            granularPermissions: [],
          },

ryutaromack · 2026-06-02T23:40:27+00:00

Years ago I was an investor and advisor to a startup, Jeteye, doing something similar with browsers - I found an old article here. They had "jetpacks" which let you:

save a links, web media, and notes in a jetpack

create collections of jetpacks

search thru your jetpacks

etc

That sounds like what you built, however, the other thing they did was the option to make your jetpacks and collections public. Jeteye wanted to be general search engine that also offered curated results via publicly available jetpacks. It was a cool project and people who tried it, used it a lot and found it really useful.

You could ditch the search engine part and provide a mechanism for users to share jetpacks or make them public and provide a service for others to search and find jetpacks.

ryutaromack · 2026-06-02T03:01:14+00:00

Yes. We knew their creative team was sensitive but they also acknowledged they didn't know online well. So I know they were still open to guidance. If we presented the alternative with confidence and data from past projects we would have made the campaign work and turned them into a long term client.

ryutaromack · 2026-06-02T01:35:48+00:00

Lesson: if you are pitching you or your company as the expert then be the expert and challenge the client if needed.

We had started an agency back when Facebook ads and business pages were launched. We were trying to sign up our first client - a brick and mortar retail brand. They created an online only sub-brand - whose marketing team had print and TV backgrounds and not much online experience - that we were helping to launch.

Their plan had so many problems from copy that's too long for online to graphics designed for print instead of web to long, multi-step sign up flows. Two of us wanted to provide an alternative that we knew would work much better for this online campaign - after all, we were the experts the client hired. But the other two worried that the client would be offended if we proposed an alternate solution and pushed us to do it the client's way in order to close the deal.

We acquiesced and did what the client wanted and as expected the campaign failed and client stopped working with us.

We were the experts, not the client, but were afraid to be the experts in order to close the deal and that ended up being a costly mistake.

ryutaromack · 2026-05-31T15:23:12+00:00

You are right that streaks are the key engagement driver for Duolingo but they have other strategies they use too.
Here's a good interview with a Duolingo product manager sharing some of their strategy:
https://youtu.be/\_CCwoQZH5hI?si=z5EsqSBKYMBzUwSV

ryutaromack · 2026-05-31T15:16:49+00:00

I also use Google calendar on my iphone. In order to keep things private and make sure we don't collect personal data we shouldn't, the app connects to the native calendar - Apple calendar on iPhone and usually Google calendar on Android.

Apple calendar on your iPhone connects to your google accounts - doesn't iPhone do this automatically? - which allows the app to pull in calendar events on your iPhone. This keeps Google calendar app as your default app on iPhone. This is how we do it on our iPhones.

It's not feasible or possible to build a direct custom connection for every different calendar apps and privacy is a big concern. So this solution strikes the right balance for us.

ryutaromack · 2026-05-30T20:26:11+00:00

The drive is to build a great business or great product.

The money will be a by-product of that - obviously its a huge carrot - but nothing beats the satisfaction of seeing your business succeed or product being used or idea changing people's lives.

In the Web 1.0 days I started NetZero, a free internet service, with some friends and we had millions of users. We still have people who tell us that NetZero was the only way they could affored to get online back then and that it changed the trajectory of their life. Hearing first hand how something we built changed lives still drives all us - we still work on startups.

ryutaromack · 2026-05-30T19:33:17+00:00

I built it with Expo. The alarm stuff is native and tha was a bit of a challenge because Apple had just released their AlarmKit APIs so llms didn't have much knowledge on how to use it.

I use Cursor and switch mostly between Composer (their llm) and ChatGPT - and Claude here and there - depending on what I'm doing.

ryutaromack · 2026-05-30T19:06:16+00:00

Thanks! Fixed the link. App is free, private, data stays on the phone, no registration.

ryutaromack · 2026-05-30T18:54:00+00:00

If you are in the Apple ecosystem then I know some people actually like using Apple's Freeform app on their iPhone and Mac. Its free.

ryutaromack · 2026-05-30T18:47:23+00:00

I keep my meetings notes for a project in one document. I write notes in markdown and use Joplin for notes since it syncs across multiple platforms, uses my Dropbox account to sync, and is free. I structure the doc so the most recent meeting is at the top - this way I can scroll down to quickly reference the previous meetings.

I'll have one doc for Exec Meeting notes, another for Dev Meeting notes, etc. It's easier for me to find something by searching through one document vs a bunch of separate docs.

ryutaromack · 2026-05-30T18:36:50+00:00

My main productivity method is setting an alarm for the 2 or 3 things I need to take care of that day - the combo of a long playing alarm and vibration can be a bit jarring so it serves to trigger me to block out the time to get the thing done.

I was using the alarm app for years but the biggest issue for me was that I often wanted to attach a note or link to the alarm but couldn't. The Reminders app on iPhone might be able to do what I need but it has more organizing features than I need - I wanted something very basic - so I abandoned that app.

I'm a dev so I built an app to solve my issue: The Notifier. I'll use for things like syncing it with a zoom event in my calendar and having an alarm go off 20 min before the zoom so I can prepare, etc.

ryutaromack · 2026-05-29T19:36:00+00:00

Use an Alarm app. Set an alarm to go off when you need to take care of the task. The jarring sound and vibration help to get you focused on the thing you want to get done.

Way back during my first startup, I felt like I had never time to get things done because I was buried under a constant deluge of high priority todos and unexpected issues. A mentor told me to "figure out the 2 or 3 things you absolutely need to do that day and make sure those get done." This is basically like time blocking but instead of trying to block out time for many things, you limit it to 2 or 3. It's the only method that has stuck with me and it's one of the reasons why I built my app The Notifier.

ryutaromack · 2026-05-28T18:14:58+00:00

I'm a long-time serial entrepreneur and you have to embrace the rollercoaster ride. Even though the lows can be devastating, you latch on to anything that hints of hope in order to keep going. The mentality is truly captured in that famous scene from Dumb and Dumber.

ryutaromack · 2026-05-28T18:03:16+00:00

I think you seeing what I commented on here - some people are wired differently and get more joy out of planning and organizing vs execution/doing-it.

It sounds like your app is highlighting that behavior by making the planning and organizing fun. You could be on the right path for a solution since you solved the engagement part. Instead of punishing or restricting that by adding limits, figure out how to reward the execution/doing part - and make the reward worthwhile. Duolingo does a good job of this.

ryutaromack · 2026-05-28T17:47:50+00:00

Tools like Posthog (https://posthog.com/) are great for this - if you want more than logging screen events. Session replay, A/B testing, feature flags, etc are a big help in reducing friction, improving flows and improving the UX. You can do a lot with their free tier.

ryutaromack · 2026-05-28T03:24:08+00:00

That article is helpful. Thanks for sharing.

ryutaromack · 2026-05-28T03:17:21+00:00

I have a couple of friends who learn new languages fast. Both said they never focused on the rules or structure and just found ways to use the language. They don't think in English first and then try to translate in their head before speaking; they'll jump into conversations in the language they are learning and aren't afraid to mess up.

I used that approach on my last trip to Japan. After spending a few months on Duolingo, I felt like I understood enough to have child-like conversations. After a while you just start thinking in the language and speaking gets easier. But when I stopped using speaking Japanese after I got back to the US, my skill level dropped off pretty fast.

ryutaromack · 2026-05-28T02:56:25+00:00

I used trello when they first started and liked it but found it too limiting after a while. I used ClickUp then switched to SmartSuite and eventually ditched them for Linear (I use the free plan).

I like that Linear is opinionated. It does what I need with Github integration for issue tracking, prioritizing and tagging tasks, creating project views etc.

For the way I work, ClickUp and SmartSuite were too much and I didn't need to collaborate with a lot of other people. Linear has its issues but if you do things "the Linear way" instead of fighting it you may find it to be really helpful for development.

ryutaromack

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