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My first Saas was built around Facebook, Twitter and Reddits API. Facebook broke like monthly and required random updates, sometimes documented, sometimes not.

by herbst 2y ago

My first Saas was built around Facebook, Twitter and Reddits API. Facebook broke like monthly and required random updates, sometimes documented, sometimes not. Zero support. Twitter worker flawlessly until I hit some limits and there was no way to increase them because I didn't hit some other limits. No way they would talk to me. Reddit just worked until I gave up. What I learned is to never again do any business based on someone else.

gorbachev 2y ago
> What I learned is to never again do any business based on someone else. That's a little dramatic, don't you think? Supply chains are a core of many (most?) businesses out there. They depend on others to get their business done. No supply -> no business. What you probably meant is not building a business based SOLELY on irreplaceable business relationships. Unfortunately in a lot of cases involving the tech giants and little startups, there are no alternatives.
- herbst 2y ago
  More or less, however I really try to not build on anyone else ever again. I can't find a single dependency in my serious money generating chain right now that isn't replaceable with a similar product within a few minutes or hours if necessary. My most recent project didn't even last a full year as there was no replacement that worked for me for ChatGPT in that moment. It was built to die, a gamble essentially. I wouldn't waste my time for things like this if I didn't had the end calculated in already.
grobbyy 2y ago
A good lesson, but a more nuanced one is to do sure diligence. There are companies I would never build my business around (Google, Oracle, etc.) for a variety of reasons. There are ones I know I can trust (at least until they change). There are many where I need a contract. Change is also a constant, and there are plenty of good companies give bad, and a few in reverse. So due diligence is an ongoing process. That dramatically raises the price of SaaS, so I use it much less than mainstream industry practice, but much more than zero.

by herbst 2y ago

gorbachev 2y ago

> What I learned is to never again do any business based on someone else. That's a little dramatic, don't you think? Supply chains are a core of many (most?) businesses out there. They depend on others to get their business done. No supply -> no business. What you probably meant is not building a business based SOLELY on irreplaceable business relationships. Unfortunately in a lot of cases involving the tech giants and little startups, there are no alternatives.

herbst 2y ago
More or less, however I really try to not build on anyone else ever again. I can't find a single dependency in my serious money generating chain right now that isn't replaceable with a similar product within a few minutes or hours if necessary. My most recent project didn't even last a full year as there was no replacement that worked for me for ChatGPT in that moment. It was built to die, a gamble essentially. I wouldn't waste my time for things like this if I didn't had the end calculated in already.

grobbyy 2y ago

A good lesson, but a more nuanced one is to do sure diligence. There are companies I would never build my business around (Google, Oracle, etc.) for a variety of reasons. There are ones I know I can trust (at least until they change). There are many where I need a contract. Change is also a constant, and there are plenty of good companies give bad, and a few in reverse. So due diligence is an ongoing process. That dramatically raises the price of SaaS, so I use it much less than mainstream industry practice, but much more than zero.