I recently built PunyPress to conveniently generate summaries because I was tired of reading news articles full of fluff, laggy ads and other junk for the sake of SEO. If you’ve felt the same way then definitely check it out.

So you can tell I don’t like unnecessarily long articles so without further ado here are 5 things I learned from launching PunyPress.

1) Set A Goal

MVP.

Minimum Viable Product.

If you’ve built a product before then you know what it is. If you haven’t then its basically the version of your product that you can realistically launch with the least amount of features.

Without an MVP you risk adding features forever and never launching.

So moral of the story is just take an hour to define an MVP goal so you don’t end up like me and keep moving the goalpost for yourself.

Production beats Perfection.

2) Make It Kinda Reusable

Developers already know the importance of reusability so I’ll keep it short. Reusability is important but there are levels to it.

Does a component have to be fully reusable with every scenario thought out? Nope.

Should you be able to copy and paste the component for it to work? Nah.

Is making components reusable a waste of time for side projects? Not really.

The perfect balance I’ve found is making components in a way that you can copy and paste them and make minimal modifications to have them working.

Trying to make a component perfectly reusable when your goal is launching isn’t the best use of energy.

3) Show Them How It Works

Okay this one may sound obvious but as I was developing PunyPress I was always in the mindset of being logged in and never thought about how to show what PunyPress can do to people who weren’t signed up already.

My code was so structured to the user being signed in that making a free version would take a lot of effort. I ended up implementing a stop gap solution by hardcoding some free generated summaries for users to check out so they could understand how PunyPress works.

Going forward I’m gonna plan to either have a limited anonymous free tier or at least make a video of how it works.

4) Build Quickly With Boring Tech

Pick a tech stack you’re familiar with and then guard it well against all the new tech that comes out.

Trust me I understand that temptation to use the newest and shiniest framework.

I suggest using them but in smaller toy projects and not something you want to launch in an ideal timeframe. Once you’re comfortable then you can decide whether or not to let that new library in to your main tech stack.

Currently I’m using React + AntUI + Node + Supabase. Using the same tech stack has helped me build the product out faster because I know the tools well.

5) Invest Time When Its Worth It

Most indie hackers these days emphasize shipping quickly and frequently.

I agree with this but it’s also important to know when to slow down and spend a little more time developing something.

Need an extra day to fix up the spacing to make it look clean and professional? Do it.

Have a list of extra features that are cool but not required for MVP? Don’t do it.

If you have a good track record of releasing projects with an established audience then you can get away with more stuff. If you’re still developing an audience then knowing where to be quick and where to be slow is crucial.

Thats it for my takeaways from releasing PunyPress and hope you got some value out of this. I’m always on Twitter/X if you want to know what I’m working on next.

Thanks for reading.

Until next time keep building.

— Nadim