@wcoolsA bit later than usual this time, but time for a new recap!
Last time we wrote about how we launched the landing page for Thymer.com. The last 10 days since then we’ve mostly spent on coding for the app.
Code
The two largest chunks of code so far are the editor and data layer, which we’ve started with because they are at the core of everything else in the app. We’ve been writing all those parts from scratch, so we can truly design the app from the group up to work exactly as we want. That’s a bit of a risk in terms of scope and complexity, but it’s also what we think will be at the core of the USP for Thymer in this crowded space.
For example, for the editor that means building everything from unicode support to selections to keyboard shortcuts and line wrapping. The alternative would be using an existing solution (or the browser’s contenteditable), but then Thymer could not be the app we want it to be. We’d have to adjust our vision instead of building what’s necessary to get our vision to work. The same applies to the data layer. We’re not exactly editing just flat text, and it all needs to be synced and allow for real-time collaboration. To do that, we’re building our own API based on CRDTs, or Conflict-free replicated data types. It’s a type of data structure that we can use so multiple people can type at the same time in the same document. Another problem is that all these parts need to work together such that the app is fast, which is another challenge in the browser.
We also wrote some more about our coding in An update on the coding work, Typescript without Typescript and Thinking different about technical debt. All in all, our week pretty much looked like the screen below 🙂
All the rest
It’s been quite a challenge to balance all of the coding work with writing, tweeting and marketing work. Switching between the two when you’re really focused on one or the other becomes difficult at times, but we’re trying to keep up the pace here as well.
We wrote a number of blog articles again like You need a moat, Competing with (very) large companies, Single miracle startup, Work on what you need to and Text-based user interfaces in 2022.
We also got the first signups for the private beta waiting list. It doesn’t prove anything yet, but it’s fun to see some first people interested in giving it a try! We haven’t done much marketing to promote the landing page yet though, other than sharing what we’re working on. We’re planning to also look into mentioning Thymer in other relevant communities and conversations online where people might be looking for something like this.
A quick update on the stats so far:
40 signups for the private beta waiting list
104 email newsletter subscribers
18.6K blog unique visitors
58 blog posts
~10K lines of code
159 and 129 twitter followers
Nothing spent but 33 days of time… and obviously 0 customers and $0 revenue yet 😉
Thanks again for following our story! You can see our daily updates on Twitter (@wcools and @jdvhouten). Or drop us a line at [email protected] for any reason. We’re always excited to hear from people 🙂
