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My quick-and-dirty stack is usually LAMP. LAMP allows me to work quickly, but, that doesn't make it dirty. What makes it dirty is the fact that for a small MVP

My quick-and-dirty stack is usually LAMP. LAMP allows me to work quickly, but, that doesn't make it dirty. What makes it dirty is the fact that for a small MVP I won't write any tests at all, I won't bother to build a real API or micro-services or a fancy single-page-app client. I'll just build a simple monolithic MVC in an out-of-the-box framework. I won't worry about scalability, in fact I'll make choices that I know won't scale at all. It's all about cranking out code as quickly as possible. Yeah it ends up being ugly spagetti, but 99% of the time, nobody will ever see it, and I'll throw it away soon after. (If the project does get traction though, I'll start over and build it from scratch the right way). And no, for me, educational projects are usually open-source (i'll join a project or start one of my own if I want to get more experience in a certain area). So those projects are more likely to be libraries or utilities or helper-classes, not fully fledged businesses. So it's unlikely they'd ever even be monetizable.

frigg 11y ago
What about the design? The user interface is important obviously, do you know design 'well enough' to make a passable interface or do you work with a designer?
- MalcolmDiggs 11y ago
  I'll usually just copy an established/popular design for the MVP (this doesn't take any appreciable skills on my part), and if the product gets traction I'll bring in a real designer to rethink everything from scratch. Also, there are quite a few themes/skins/ui-kits for bootstrap and other front-end frameworks, that are worth taking a look at if you don't have a designer to work with. They won't compare to having a real designer on your team, but they're better than nothing... you can get something passable up and running that isn't embarrassingly ugly. But, this only applies if you're building products whose primary value proposition (and product market fit) has little to do with the design (think Craigslist).
J-dawg 11y ago
Thanks, this is really useful information. I'm also curious about your $2000 budget. It seems like a lot of money to me. What are you spending it on? Have you often spent up to $2000 on a project that ends up going nowhere? Presumably your successful projects are paying for your failed ones. What's your expected ratio of hits to misses? Finally if you'd be happy to share any of your projects here that would be really interesting.
- MalcolmDiggs 11y ago
  Oh, the 2k was just an arbitrary number for illustrative purposes. I try to tailor the budget to each project's needs. It could be 50 dollars, it could be 5,000. It really depends on the projects. The same with the time commitment. But to answer your question, for each project I usually spend: * a few bucks on a domain name (plus extra for private registration) * 5 bucks per month for a Google "email and apps" mailbox * $200 - $400 for hosting (spread out over a few months) * $50 - $100 for stock image licensing (via fotolia.com) * > $100 on adsense campaigns * > $100 on facebook ad campaigns * About a hundred bucks for music royalties (if I have an explainer video with background music). I usually license music through tunefruit.com * 50 - 100 bucks for font licensing if needed (rarely needed) * 50 - 100 bucks to buy a bootstrap theme that I like (sometimes needed) * If it's a company in a degenerate/high-risk space (porn, gambling, etc), I'll also spend a few hundred bucks to wrap it up as an LLC unto itself. I don't use a service for that, I just walk into the Secretary of State's office and file the form myself, and usually pay extra for expedited processing. The ratio of hits-to-misses is like 1 to 10 or worse. Most projects die halfway through the build-cycle because I realize they're unviable and kill them before I spend any more money. But of the ones that make it launch, only about 10% ever make any money. But yeah, the wins more than cover the costs of the losses. I don't like to list the projects I'm currently involved with, sorry. But here's a few examples of some failed ones from awhile back (they've all been disabled, you can't actually use them anymore...they're just live as part of my portfolio now) * itchwork.com * fonetree.com * vareay.com * streamlet.com Hope that helps.
  - J-dawg 11y ago
    Thank you sincerely for sharing, this is really great information.

frigg 11y ago

What about the design? The user interface is important obviously, do you know design 'well enough' to make a passable interface or do you work with a designer?

MalcolmDiggs 11y ago
I'll usually just copy an established/popular design for the MVP (this doesn't take any appreciable skills on my part), and if the product gets traction I'll bring in a real designer to rethink everything from scratch. Also, there are quite a few themes/skins/ui-kits for bootstrap and other front-end frameworks, that are worth taking a look at if you don't have a designer to work with. They won't compare to having a real designer on your team, but they're better than nothing... you can get something passable up and running that isn't embarrassingly ugly. But, this only applies if you're building products whose primary value proposition (and product market fit) has little to do with the design (think Craigslist).

J-dawg 11y ago

Thanks, this is really useful information. I'm also curious about your $2000 budget. It seems like a lot of money to me. What are you spending it on? Have you often spent up to $2000 on a project that ends up going nowhere? Presumably your successful projects are paying for your failed ones. What's your expected ratio of hits to misses? Finally if you'd be happy to share any of your projects here that would be really interesting.

MalcolmDiggs 11y ago
Oh, the 2k was just an arbitrary number for illustrative purposes. I try to tailor the budget to each project's needs. It could be 50 dollars, it could be 5,000. It really depends on the projects. The same with the time commitment. But to answer your question, for each project I usually spend: * a few bucks on a domain name (plus extra for private registration) * 5 bucks per month for a Google "email and apps" mailbox * $200 - $400 for hosting (spread out over a few months) * $50 - $100 for stock image licensing (via fotolia.com) * > $100 on adsense campaigns * > $100 on facebook ad campaigns * About a hundred bucks for music royalties (if I have an explainer video with background music). I usually license music through tunefruit.com * 50 - 100 bucks for font licensing if needed (rarely needed) * 50 - 100 bucks to buy a bootstrap theme that I like (sometimes needed) * If it's a company in a degenerate/high-risk space (porn, gambling, etc), I'll also spend a few hundred bucks to wrap it up as an LLC unto itself. I don't use a service for that, I just walk into the Secretary of State's office and file the form myself, and usually pay extra for expedited processing. The ratio of hits-to-misses is like 1 to 10 or worse. Most projects die halfway through the build-cycle because I realize they're unviable and kill them before I spend any more money. But of the ones that make it launch, only about 10% ever make any money. But yeah, the wins more than cover the costs of the losses. I don't like to list the projects I'm currently involved with, sorry. But here's a few examples of some failed ones from awhile back (they've all been disabled, you can't actually use them anymore...they're just live as part of my portfolio now) * itchwork.com * fonetree.com * vareay.com * streamlet.com Hope that helps.
- J-dawg 11y ago
  Thank you sincerely for sharing, this is really great information.