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I think the logos it generates are fun to look at, and probably useful as inspiration or even as a final logo for some smaller projects. I find the writing sty
by lionkor 4y ago
I think the logos it generates are fun to look at, and probably useful as inspiration or even as a final logo for some smaller projects.
I find the writing style a little bit annoying, like reading 3:30am discord message from one of the people I mentor, but I understand it was written as they developed the product? Maybe some editing would have been nice. Maybe using a thesaurus to find some other swearwords to keep it fresh (I'm only half joking).
There is something in there which definitely confirms some beliefs I personally had about people who make such kinds of "startup-y" closed source products. Consider the following quotes from the article:
> I’m trying to convert a curl I found into an Axios function
> some tweaking using chatGTP
> hour spent trying to convert TWO LINES OF PYTHON INTO NODE.JS [...] GTP chat can’t even do it
> spent 1 hour doing research and using GTP to convert the Python code [...] into node
- Commit messages such as "aaazaez" and "aaa"
> I even was able to fully set up AWS S3 using ChatGTP
> sold the app for $65,000
The next few paragraphs may be a little harsh, but I can't help it.
The most surprising part to me was the absolute lack of explanation or even basic excitement about the inner workings of the AI, or any of the technical details in general. To me, this demonstrates a lack of understanding, or even interest, in the core tech of their product. Being able to explain something is generally the number one sign someone understands what they're doing, and this article does nothing but brag and admit to simply feeding everything to ChatGPT.
It confirms my belief that some of these startup-y products, with their shiny UIs, are likely complete and utter horseshit in terms of testability, readability, and likely only work at all because of very lenient tooling and a lick of luck.
There are a lot of things one could have spent time on during the development of such a product, but really, it shouldn't be "converting python to node" for multiple hours, especially when the core AI part took ~5 hours. It's easy to say when you, like me, have never launched a product that made 65k, but it also is not something you (the possibly unqualified reader) should base your workflow off of.
It's very impressive that it worked for them, and that they were able to capitalize on it, and I think 65k can be a load of money depending on where you live. Don't let this cloud your judgement in thinking you can build a high quality app that will actually last more than one major dependency update into the future.
Whoever bought it for 65k either 1) has the money to throw away, or 2) got shafted.
- Jeannen 4y agoMainly wrote the blog for myself, so I don't put any formatting or try to make it looks nice haha I don't give much details about the AI part because it would have been dumb to make a how-to showing how people can replicate the app And yes, my code is prob terrible, I learned to code last May, I'm fine with it, as long as the app works As for the buyer, I'm under NDA so I can't give details, but he has a very good vision for the app and the skills necessary to improve it. It's faster to buy an app already generating revenues and with data than starting one from 0
- latexr 4y ago> I'm fine with it, as long as the app works For how long? That’s the crux of the question. If you don’t know what you’re doing and your code “is prob terrible” the app will break in unexpected ways which are hard to diagnose and fix. If you were a carpenter, would you be proud to sell a chair which held up the two or three times you’ve sat on it but which you can’t confidently say won’t break in six months when your client’s spouse is using it? If you ever wonder why software today is terrible, that’s a big part of it: people throwing stuff at the wall until it kind of works instead of taking care to make it good and correct which isn’t that much extra effort. You’re far from the only one doing things that way. And that’s a shame, because we’re all worse off for it.
- Jeannen 4y agoApp haven't crashed so far, so, I'd say it's doing fine! I was pretty clear when I sold the app that it needed lots of improvements, and that's why I didn't listed it for more (x2.5 total revenues), the buyer know that And no, I never wondered why software today is terrible, I'm not a dev, and I'll never be, I'm just a guy who learned to code. But it's good, it means there is a market for people who like "taking care to make it good and correct", and I'll never be able to compete there. Let customers choose :)
- csomar 4y agoIf you watched Silicon Valley (the series), there is a line where one of the veterans asks Richard what the product of the startup is. Richard is a bit confused but fails to answer correctly. The veteran (Jack Barker) corrects him that the product of the startup is its stock. Richard was shocked for a while. This guy is not a software developer and might not be interested in becoming one (he straight jumped into AI). However, he is definitively a skilled seller and despite his lack of a good command of the English language, he was able to compile some garbage with minimal technical knowledge and sell it for $65k. Welcome to Web 4.0.