Ruud Visser

Are Dutch and European founders not ambitious enough? 🤔 I just read Techleap's latest report: "AI Scaling Challenges for Dutch Founders." (Okay, I got AI to read it and share the highlights with me. 😜) This quote caught my (& Claude's) eye: "𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘧 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 4% 𝘰𝘧 𝘋𝘶𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘈𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 10𝘔. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯..." Almost every day, I see posts and jokes about European founders thinking too small. As someone who works with Euro-founders everyday, I have a different view. I see: - Massive visions - Global mindsets from day one - Founders ready to take on the world It's not the founders who lack ambition. They're just working within the realms of what's possible in Europe. That's why many of them get funded from and/or move to the US. 💰 The real lack of ambition? That's from investors and governments in Europe. 🇪🇺 I'm still working on an article, "The Case for European Optimism." And I think it will show that European founders are just as ambitious as their US counterparts. The real question we should be asking is: - How can we create an environment that allows founders to dream bigger and reach higher? 🚀 And yes, I know this quotes mentions deep ecosystem issues... --- ↳ What's your take? Are European founders thinking too small, or is it the ecosystem that's holding them back? 👇

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Update: CodeSee has been acquired by GitKraken! --- I am very sad to announce - officially - that CodeSee will be closing its doors and shutting down commercial operations on Thursday, Feb 22nd. All paying customers and free users can continue using CodeSee until Feb 22nd. We have a team that will maintain the service during this period and continue to support you. Thank you to everyone Thank you to all the customers who partnered with us. You were invaluable for helping us build CodeSee. Thank you to the open source community who were our closest collaborators from the very beginning. Thanks to all the employees who joined CodeSee. We’re proud of both the team and the product we built. Thanks for taking a bet on this startup journey. Lastly, thank you to all our investors who bet and supported us on our journey. Why we made the decision I can only apologize to everyone for this difficult turn. The company had more than doubled the number of new product logos in 2023 and grew by many thousands of free users. However our sales growth was inconsistent, and we needed to make revenue faster and more consistently. Given the nature of trying to solve code understanding, this meant being able to deeply cover more complex codebases, more IDEs, more tech stacks, and more programming languages which would have taken time that we didn’t have. And Gen AI has made this space even more complex, both as a tool to help and a source of ever more code to understand. As any startup founder, I had to make some tough calls on where to focus our efforts, but in the end those choices did not lead to the consistent revenue we needed for us to continue. Although we did receive a term sheet to continue going, we ultimately decided that it wasn’t enough to cover this mandate and deliver a truly valuable product. Here's our goal with CodeSee right now... Plan A: - Complete the process of finding a home for the tech and team. We're already in talks with several companies now and want to find the best mutual fit asap. Plan B: - If we don't find a good mutual fit, the team will (sadly) go our separate ways. Code Understanding is still awesome After this journey, we have no less enthusiasm for developer productivity and developer experience. We still think that when developer’s lives are easier, it’s pure magic. After speaking with thousands of companies, it’s clear that code understanding is still a vital problem to solve. It’s been an absolute pleasure to build tools to bring new and impactful ways of understanding code to the developer community. Even though CodeSee’s journey may be coming to an end, our passion to serve this amazing community is as strong as ever.

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Don't Let Your Startup Fail: Test Your Idea Fast with an MVP Imagine putting all your effort into creating a product, only to find out no one wants it. Ouch! This happens to many startups. In fact, 42% of startups fail because they build products nobody wants (Clutch survey). Here’s where an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) comes in to save the day! An MVP is a basic version of your product with the key features needed to solve a problem. It's simple, efficient, and designed to learn from real users. Why MVPs are awesome: ✅Get real feedback from users quickly. ✅Avoid wasting money on something nobody wants. ✅Use user feedback to make your product better. Think of it like this: You wouldn’t build a whole house without first making a blueprint, right? An MVP is your blueprint for a successful product. It lets you test the basics, make improvements, and create something people actually want. MVP = Launch faster, learn faster, succeed faster. P.S. You can launch your Minimum Viable Product (MVP) in just 4 weeks. #StartupSuccess #MVPDevelopment #FailFastLearnFast #UserFeedback #LeanStartup #ProductValidation #MarketFit #AgileDevelopment #Innovation #Entrepreneurship #BusinessTips

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We recently touched on how to pick the best European country to incorporate your startup. To continue that discussion, I’d like to tell you about a few European countries that offer residence permits through their Startup Visa programs. Here are some worth considering: 🇳🇱 1. Netherlands: Their program grants a one-year residence permit to startup founders, with the option to extend it later as a self-employed. To qualify, you need an innovative business plan and must work with a recognized facilitator, like a business incubator. I'll share some details with you later. 🇪🇪 2. Estonia: The Startup Visa allows entrepreneurs to develop their projects and hire foreign workers. To be eligible, your startup should show a high level of innovation and growth potential. 🇫🇮 3. Finland: They offer a Start-up Permit for foreign entrepreneurs, allowing them to work in Finland while building innovative projects. The application is assessed based on your business plan and growth potential. 🇵🇹 4. Portugal: With the Startup Visa program, founders get a residence permit to grow their projects in Portugal. Your project needs to be innovative and have the potential to create jobs. 🇪🇸 5. Spain: Spain’s "Entrepreneur Visa" program offers a residence permit for startup founders. Your startup should contribute to the country’s economy and be innovative. 🇫🇷 6. France: The French Tech Visa program is designed for startup founders, investors, and employees of tech companies. To qualify, you’ll need an innovative business plan and approval from the French Tech program. 🇱🇹 7. Lithuania: Lithuania’s Startup Visa is available for entrepreneurs looking to launch their innovative business in the country. You need to demonstrate both growth potential and an innovative business model. 🇮🇪 8. Ireland: The "Start-up Entrepreneur Programme" offers a residence permit to those who plan to invest in innovative business projects in Ireland. These are just a few countries with similar programs. Each has its own requirements for both the applicant and the startup, so be sure to do your research before applying. In my next post, I’ll dive into more countries offering these types of programs. If you have specific questions, feel free to ask in the comments! #venturecapital #startups #innovation #technology #founders #immigration #startupvisa

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#MadeByGoogle 2024 updates: Yesterday, at the ninth Made By Google event, Google shared about bringing the best of Google AI to more people and more phones with updates across Gemini, Android and the Pixel portfolio. Google is innovating with AI at every layer of the tech stack — from research and models that make new features and capabilities possible, to Android OS that brings the apps and services to billions of people to use every day, to premium hardware built with a custom silicon chip. Here’s everything announced across Gemini and Android — plus bringing these new capabilities to the latest Pixel devices. A) 9 things to know about Pixel 9 cameras - A look at the upgraded cameras and AI photography features on the latest Pixel phones. B) Loss of Pulse Detection: A first-of-its-kind feature on Pixel Watch 3 C) 4 new AI-powered Pixel and Android accessibility updates - new AI-powered features across Pixel and Android help make the world even more accessible. D) Android is reimagining your phone with Gemini -  with AI at the core of Android, rebuilt Gemini and tailored it for your device, in a private and secure way. E) Introducing Pixel 9 Pro Fold: Google's newest foldable phone - thinnest foldable phone with biggest display, supported by most powerful Tensor G4 processor. F) Gemini makes your mobile device a powerful AI assistant - Google shared how Gemini is evolving to provide AI-powered assistance that will be infinitely more helpful. G) The new Pixel 9 phones bring you the best of Google AI - Take a look at three latest Pixel phones that have upgraded cameras, improved performance and helpful AI. H) 14 new things you can do with Pixel thanks to AI - Learn more about AI-powered features for Google Pixel devices. I) Google Pixel Watch 3: bigger, brighter, fine-tuned for fitness - Pixel Watch 3, the latest version of flagship smartwatch, offers a stunning design combined with even better performance. J) Meet Pixel Buds Pro 2, the first Buds built for Gemini - Twice the noise cancellation in a design that’s smaller, lighter, more comfortable and secure. Here’s everything announced - https://lnkd.in/gFkactpG #Gemini #pixel9 #pixel #pixelbuds #pixelwatch3 #pixel9cameras #Google #madebygoogle2024 #AIassistant #announcement #community #communitymanager #programmanager #developerrelation #devmarketing Google Google developers Google for Developers Google Cloud Google Developer Groups (GDG) Android Developers Android #developer #India #GoogleAI #Googleproducts #android

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I'm currently working on a web application that is 100% built/coded by generative AI. It will soon be available in beta to anyone. So I thought, why not redesign and code my personal website 100% by AI. Here is the result: https://lnkd.in/evFJQwaG I let Claude 3.5 Sonnet do the design part into a HTML mockup and transformed it with ChatGPT 4o into a Wordpress theme. I absolutely did not anything other than copy paste code. What do you think? I used the starting prompt: "Act as a visual designer. I need a design for a personal website. It must be visually appealing, modern, and responsive. I am a digital strategist and digital transformation lead. My focus includes consultancy, advisory work, customer experience, generative AI, and guiding clients in their digital ambitions, CX via digital channels, composable architecture, and more. Create the design using vanilla HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in the artifact window." From there I prompted for an hour or so in refining, changing and improving the design, animations, etc. #generativeai #artificialintelligence #ai #claude #chatgpt

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It’s always hard being a founder and running a company. But it’s been a tough year. No lie. Q1 nobody’s buying. Put us on back foot. Budgets didn’t increase or decreased. Spend on SaaS events seemingly down inline with software spend. Always feeling behind and late Pressure of delivering events felt harder. My dog and loyal companion of 12 years died. Second kid diagnosed with autism. Felt like one thing after the next. Sleep was shit. Almost felt like a year of what’s next? Yet: I felt these set of challenges made me and SaaStock stronger. USA event grew. SaaStock Europe experience improved and NPS up YoY. Lots of new client logos. Team stronger as a unit. Helped shape our focus for 2025 and beyond. Became a better dad and partner. Made some bigger bets for the company. We never gave up. Kept on keeping on and learning and improving as we go. Ready and better for 2025.

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𝗜'𝗺 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝘄𝗲𝗯𝟯 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁-𝗠𝗩𝗣, 𝗽𝗿𝗲-𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲, 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗵𝗼’𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱. 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆, 𝗮𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗲-𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 £𝟱 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 If only ChatGPT could show me startups raising funds that matched this exact search. Luckily, Chainvest can. For investors: Imagine describing your ideal startupand having a variety appear. Chainvest’s AI-driven platform makes that a reality. Finding the right startup shouldn’t feel like finding a needle in a haystack. For founders: Forget endless cold emails and repetitive pitches. With Chainvest, the right investors will find you. Real connections, no guesswork. We’re launching soon. Investors and founders—join our waitlist at www.chainvest.io Tag a founder who needs a better way to connect with investors. Sam Simpson Ekaterina Manoilenko, MBA Jan McGinley Cait Pilkington Ricardo Pascual Duc Zambrini Vasily Alekseenko Kristina Pereckaite David Levine Samuel Izzard Ed Prior

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🚀  Llama 3.1 is a game-changer! I had to blink my eyes today when I ran some tool-calling experiments (in Dutch): the 70B version performed perfectly on tough cases, just like GPT-4o. And Officially Llama 3.1 does not even speak Dutch. I ran it on a double RTX 4090 GPU for 80ct/h (20 euros a day)! ‘Tool calling’ is the glue between human speech and the system executing the spoken request. So far self-hosted LLMs were not strong enough to do this reliably even after fine-tuning, so an external LLM like OpenAI GPT-4 was always needed. No more! Now banks, insurance companies, and governments who are afraid of privacy and security issues with external LLMs can run a high-quality model on 4000 euros of graphics card! The limit is gone! Last but not least, the 8B version (which you can host for 15ct an hour) is also really good at tool-calling. It has minor glitches, but if your use case is not too demanding it is a blazingly fast-responding little beast.

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The best thing about a thriving startup team? 🤔 → They’re not your typical 9-to-5 grinders. They’re problem-solvers, hustling to create something extraordinary. This week, our lead developer, Edwin showed his entrepreneurial spirit like never before. In this week’s Friday broadcast [BTS] of Team RogerRoger, I’m spotlighting Edwin’s hard work. Tech teams know it well, releasing a tech feature is no small feat. It’s late nights, early mornings, and pure chaos. Systems break. Servers get overloaded. And yet, some people rise to the occasion, no matter how tough it gets. This week, Edwin was that person. For three nights in a row, he worked tirelessly until 4 a.m. to bring our new email feature to life. 💻 When the system overloaded and challenges kept piling up, Edwin didn’t flinch. He found faster, smarter solutions. And now? The feature is live—and it’s better than we ever imagined. 🎉 Remember… Startups don’t succeed because they have perfect plans. They succeed because of people like Edwin. 💪 Here’s to the grit, the hustle, and the relentless drive to build something great. From Team RogerRoger, we say thank you, Edwin! 👏

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How to structure your venture studio SaaS portfolio company right from the start Venture studios are keen on creating SaaS portfolio companies. If structured right, SaaS companies can become profitable cash machines for venture studios. Combining fifteen years of experience with SaaS business models and researching venture builders for a PhD project, these are my five major learnings: 🔗As most SaaS products may be copied. Excellent distribution and long-term customer relationships are crucial. Long-term and strong relationships impact many important KPI's including ARR growth, Churn, NPS and eNPS. ➡️For venture studios, that means building on the existing network to creating legitimacy for the portfolio start-up. ---- 🚥A streamlined organization where everyone knows what to do makes recruiting during scaling much easier. Hiring too fast, before the need of more team members occurs, may hinder efficiency. Create job descriptions, routines and procedures for the organization open enough not risking losing founder mode. ➡️For venture studios, that means knowing what competence to look for in different states. Use accumulated knowledge timing and managing recruitment as best as possible. ---- 📈 Keep track on the blended CAC ratio. Inefficiency and high cost in acquiring new ARR will eat up your EBITDA margins. Most B2C SaaS gets scalable through higher numbers of customers. In B2B SaaS, expansion, cross-selling, and price increases are fundamental for fast growth. ➡️For venture studios, that means share customer databases, cross-sell as much as possible, and develop a value-based pricing structure as soon as possible. ---- 🔁 Having routines and procedures in place capitalizing from a management quality system (we used ISO) helps bringing your start-up from a healthy creative chaos to an efficient scale-up. ➡️For venture studios, that means creating a management quality system and put it in place in each portfolio company will help increase speed of development and growth. ---- 💻 An understanding that an intuitive and ‘friendly’ user interface with few bugs in the product, allow support and customer success to be part of the sales organization focusing on the core product, rather than being a business unit trying to help customers handle an in-efficient product to avoid churn. ➡️For venture studios, that means accumulate knowledge in software development in relation to user friendliness and learn from previous start-up attempts to avoid churn. From your experience, what other learnings should be added here? #venturestudio #venturebuilder #entrepreneurship #scaling #saas ________________________________ Did you like this post? Connect or Follow @john-erik hassel

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Got inspired by a dutch podcast that creates stories from wikipedia pages. I used gpt-4o and their text-to-speech model to build something that sounded human. Of course it's not as great as the original podcast but this tech works way better than expected! Try it yourself 👇 Huggingface Space: https://lnkd.in/eKdT3XBY How did I do it? - Use <break time="1s"/> tag on strategic places to create breaks. - The TTS model is smart enough to understand these tags! - Prompt to use colloquialism english. - Use filler words like "um", "well", ... Bonus: I also generated an intro song using facebooks "MusicGen" and tweaked it a bit with with online tool called "AudioMass" Tools I used: AudioMass: https://audiomass.co/ MusicGen: https://lnkd.in/eAfjHZzA If your dutch speaking; the original podcast is called "Nooit Geweten", I can highly recommend: https://lnkd.in/ex66X6_a #gpt-4o #text-to-speech #tts #huggingface #spaces #podcast

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Are you someone who wants to make a real impact and look back one day and say, "𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭"? Then you (🫵🏽) might just be the developer who can help bring Starflow’s vision to life! Let’s get one thing straight: working at Starflow isn’t just about writing code. It’s about creating something new from the ground up, breaking boundaries, and tackling challenges head-on. But rest assured – the founders promised me there’ll also be plenty of fun along the way! Curious if you and Starflow could be the right match? Check out the job ad in the comments! 👇🏽 Jonas Helmikstøl Nikolai Konopelko Ola Stengel

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Before investors ask the question, ask yourself first. Your solution is the best solution that will save customers. Thats great. But why now? What makes the timing right for your startup to exist? Incorporating the 'why now' in your startup story is not about proving that your idea is good; it’s about showing that your idea is good, right now. The Case for 'Why Now': 1. Market Readiness: Market readiness is paramount. A solution introduced too early may flounder due to lack of customer awareness or readiness to adopt, while one launched too late risks irrelevance in a saturated market. Your 'why now' should address the unique convergence of needs, technology, and customer readiness that makes this the opportune moment for your solution. According to a Bill Gross study, timing accounts for 42% of the difference between success and failure in startups. If the market isn’t ready for your solution, it won’t matter how groundbreaking it is. A Harvard Business School report highlighted that products launched during a period where market demand is peaking experience initial sales volumes up to 3x higher than those launched in a lukewarm market scenario. 2. Technological Feasibility & Innovation Cycles: Technology evolves in waves, and your startup's timing may align with the rising tide of an emerging technology, enabling solutions that were previously impossible or impractical. The 'why now' should illuminate how current technological advancements or shifts in user behavior uniquely position your startup to address previously unmet needs or create new market opportunities. Gartner’s Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies shows that the window for achieving a competitive advantage can be narrow before a technology matures and becomes widely adopted or deprecated. 3. Socio-economic Shifts: Socio-economic shifts can rapidly transform market landscapes, catalyzing new needs and opportunities. Demonstrating an understanding of these dynamics and articulating why your startup is especially relevant in the context of recent shifts can strongly validate the 'why now'. The COVID-19 pandemic led to a 500% surge in demand for remote collaboration tools, according to a report from Zoom Video Communications. A McKinsey Global Survey found that companies have accelerated the digitization of their customer and supply-chain interactions by three to four years due to the pandemic. Beyond Meat tapped into a confluence of consumer readiness, with a growing concern for health, sustainability, and ethical eating, and technological advancements in food science. By addressing these factors, Beyond Meat answered the 'why now' perfectly - introducing plant-based meats that closely mimic the taste, texture, and experience of animal meat at a time when consumers were actively seeking alternatives. #shahriarsuncommonsense

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Just tried a newly hyped version of ChatGPT! And it started to hallucinate IMMEDIATELY... you can do better, ChatGPT, I wasn't even trying to test you! 🤣 (not denying the progress and the coolness of the search feature) #ai #aiisnotaiyet #chatgpt

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How to Avoid the Startup Growth Stall Ever experienced this rollercoaster? You launch with a killer product/service, your warm network loves it, sales soar... then BAM! Growth stalls. Here's why: Businesses need 2 engines to thrive: *Lead Generation Engine* The health of your business, after exhausting your warm network, is primarily determined by the *Lead Inflow Rate*. This engine attracts new, enthusiastic customers. *Delivery Engine:* Fulfills promises and keeps the customers happy. While attracting new customers is crucial, a strong Delivery Engine ensures they come back for more. You must be a master at this, after all, it's likely the reason you started this business. Warm networks are great, but finite. Don't wait for a sales slump to build your Lead Generation Engine! Generating quality leads takes time and effort: - Crafting compelling marketing materials - Implementing effective promotion strategies After all, you need to let the world know that you are here and you can solve their problems! Invest in marketing EARLY to keep your lead engine humming and avoid the growth stall. When should you start? The answer: *Before* your warm network runs dry! What are your experiences with scaling beyond your warm network? When did you realize you had to setup a Lead Generation Engine? #startup #growth #marketing #leadgeneration #business

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Can Your Fridge Build a Website? The Rise of Citizen Developers in No-Code Remember the days when coding a website felt like deciphering ancient hieroglyphics? Those days are fading fast! Thanks to no-code, the ability to build websites is no longer limited to tech wizards. But who exactly are these "citizen developers" emerging in the no-code revolution? Think beyond programmers! No-code empowers a diverse group of individuals to build applications and websites without extensive coding knowledge. Here are some surprising examples: The Marketing Whiz: Imagine crafting interactive landing pages or building targeted marketing campaigns – all without relying on developers. The Design Guru: No-code platforms unleash the power of drag-and-drop design, allowing anyone with an eye for aesthetics to create stunning and user-friendly interfaces. The Solopreneur: Entrepreneurs can now breathe life into their business ideas by building MVPs (minimum viable products) and online storefronts without breaking the bank. The Non-Profit Changemaker: No-code empowers non-profits to build internal tools for volunteer management, create engaging donation portals, or develop communication platforms to connect with their communities. So, can your fridge ACTUALLY build a website? Not quite yet. But no-code is rapidly bridging the gap between complex technology and everyday users. What are YOUR no-code dreams? Share your ideas in the comments, and let's explore the possibilities together! #nocode #citizendevelopers #democratizingtechnology #buildanything

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That's Pieter Levels. The guy who created a bunch of lucrative start-ups that are generating him $3M/year. Did he use Angular, React or Vue? No, just good old PHP, HTML, CSS and jQuery. No fancy design patterns or architecture either, just inline code. Did he use some fancy IDE? No, wrote all using Sublime text, recently switched to VS Code. Is he paying $20K / month for hosting with containers and K8S? No, just $400 for a single VPS with 16 cores and 64GB of RAM. And that's for all of his apps combined. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. #programming #webdevelopment

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