Goodbye. It's been quite a ride.
by Nick JI'm sad but also relieved to say I will be discontinuing Laska for now. It's been quite a ride: I truly started my journey into entrepreneurship with this project.
Laska is a tool that lets you build React Native UI. That was the original mission, but once I started to work on my landing page I realized I wanted to have the same experience on the web. And so Styled Page, a tool that lets you build React apps, was born.
A careful observer will notice that the two sites are almost identical. That's because they are. The underlying engine works the same way. At the time, it seemed smart to work on both ideas. I've always felt that both platforms can use a tool like this, which is true. So I kept working on Laska and SP simultaneously for quite some time.
But then I started to realize that instead of focusing my efforts on one thing, I've been spreading my efforts on both platforms and creating two half-assed products as a result. The final push I needed came from reading a blog post which describes the same evolution happening. You need to stop doing that and relentlessly focus on one thing at a time.
I've also been doing way too much development and not enough marketing. You need to do 50/50 where mine was more like 90/10. Why? Working on both platforms created a ton of edge cases and bugs for the engine that absolutely needed solving. This is much reduced when focusing on one platform. So going forward I will be focusing my efforts 100% on SP and also much more on the marketing side.
Why SP and not Laska? As of late Flutter is on the horizon, and I have a feeling that the React Native community isn't as vibrant as it once was. In addition I simply can't fulfil my promise for React Native (the ability to edit existing React Native apps in the browser) due to technical limitations ¹. SP in contrast really shines and works well with websites and web apps. I've also had good feedback so far from beta testers.
Peace out,
Nick
¹ It did work in the past, but only for static UI parts of an app. The new engine is much more dynamic and can run entire apps in the browser.
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I hope you succeed better this time. Sometimes we have to give up somethings in order to succeed in some other things. :)
Btw I love the name Laska. I wonder what is the story behind that name.
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In Polish it means „chick”/„babe” :D So it is a quite interesting name...
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Wow, what? I'm so shocked to hear that. Still, could be worse 😂
Before starting I did google the name though to make sure it wouldn't be this super embarrassing meaning in other languages lol.
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Thank you! Laska originally came from Alaska , without the first A 😊 it gave me some sense of calmness and I think the colors work well as well.
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You have a pretty nice choice! 😄
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Thanks for sharing your story. I know these decisions aren’t easy to make—but kudos to you for pushing through and doing what you think is right for you and your projects!
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Thanks Spencer!
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I hope everything works out for you.
Do you know any similar tool to yours that are successful ? One of the early visual react editors https://pagedraw.io/ is no more.
Is there even a demand for these kind tool ?-
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I remember seeing Pagedraw come and go. I feel bad because I know how much sweat and tears they must have put into it.
Some key differences between SP and Pagedraw:
- Pagedraw functions as a Sketch clone that focuses on generating code from mockups. You can then fine tweak those mockups inside their tool and again generate code from it.
- Pagedraw is one-way: it generates code. The source of truth is their own JSON format per component. This leads to collaboration problems and integration friction.
- SP is two-way: it works with your existing code. This means designers and developers can collaborate without downsides, as the code itself is the source of truth. There's also no lock-in leading to much lower integration friction.
- Because of the above, SP has the potential to work with existing apps, although we're not completely there yet. There are some early examples though.
In some ways SP is a further iteration of Pagedraw. We've been down the code generation route and realised it wasn't the right way to continue.
Judging from the amount of signups and beta tester feedback so far I would definitely say there is demand yes. I don't have revenue to show for it yet though!
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Hi! Good decision, I think. Do you already have any ideas on the marketing side?
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Lots of ideas! Thank you for asking. The main strategy though is to build pages, components and apps with SP and share them with the community.
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Sorry, where do you share them and how do you start a real conversation with who you expect to become your customer? Thanks for answering!
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Through reddit, dev communities, blog posts, twitter, email, etc. I post demos there which usually generate some leads. Then I further qualify those leads through personal emails.
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This comment was deleted 4 years ago.