LanMap

The back-end side:
First question - I need the back-end with scalable potential and ability to write thins fast. My answer is - the Laravel framework because it is simple, has a big community, a vast ecosystem, and I already familiar with it.

Second question - I need to consider what tool to use for the API purpose. My answer is - because it already has scalability by design.

Third question - how to handle my emails? My answer is - the Mailgun as one of the recommended solutions by the Laravel documentation itself.

Last but not least thing at the back-end side was the admin panel. I chose Laravel Nova because it already has a lot of packages, excellent documentation, superb community, and is a solution by the creator himself. Nova costs $99 for the startup with revenue under $20k.

The front-end side:
As a senior front-end developer, I chose tools that I already familiar with. Vue.js + typescript + Nuxt.js + sentry (to handle client-side errors) and Appolo to handle graphql requests.
Now, because my service is geographically oriented, I need to find a suitable solution for the maps itself. I never developed something huge using maps. Luckily, my friends from the Lokimo, develop cool map-service right now. So, I asked them about what will be the best solution for my project. They researched all the map tools before and told me about the service called MapBox. For their service, they chose it because of the more favorable pricing policy than google maps and support for offline maps. And in my opinion, default styles of the MapBox are much cooler than google ones!

The deployment:
To start, I fit with DigitalOcean. So, I just bought two droplets (1 for the back-end and 1 for the front-end) $20 for both of them. And one separate database droplet ($15). To minimize deployment time and set up all the Laravel dependencies, I used the Laravel Forge to care about my back-end deployment process for another $12. For the front-end deployment, I used the pm2 deployment script. Next, I set up a free, Letsencrypt SSL certificate.

The analytics:
I chose Hotjar for the simplicity it provides and to analyze the behavior of my users. Their free plan offers 2000 free pageviews per day.

Last thing that I've done - bought .gg domain for $29 from GoDaddy. And connected every component with each other.

Because right now, I have the main work and another one side-project. I spent about two months to finish the MVP of the project. I've build my application using Laravel + graphql at the back-end and nuxt.js + mapbox at the front-end. And added a simple affiliate program with JetRadar and HotelLook. Right now, the only thing is left - icons from the designer. But, the application is already deployed.

Once again me and my friend want to visit an e-sports tournament. I spent about 15 minutes to view events. Then I saw not a familiar city for me and googled it. Geographically it was close to me, but I never heard about this city. And this is how I came up with the idea.