RoboticLi

I recently returned to Twitter, because I remembered my Twitter handle. And that sparked the interest in some programming hashtags. of course #indiehackers #BuildSell30, but also #100DaysOfCode. Using Twitter as a public diary of my work on RoboticLi.

Here is a brief overview of the first 21 days:

Day 001: Registered domain, Designed logo, installed Wave (thanks to
@thedevdojo)
Follow and join me on my #SaaS journey

Day 002: Created routes, Controllers, models and views for 'process', 'robot', 'hub' and 'apps'. Also modified the signup templates so new people are put on a waiting list by default. #100DaysOfCode #buysell30

Day 003: only a short day but still produced valuable code. First I fixed
@googledevs
blocky code, Then created an RPA robot that writes #blockly block and generator code for me by analyzing documentation.
This will save me weeks of time. #100DaysOfCode #BuildSell30

Day 004: Having a robot write code for my web-based drag and drop (Blockly based) development interface for @Robocorpinc makes me laugh.
Also did some coding myself to get the web app ready for alpha testing (friends, family, and fools) #100DaysOfCode #buildsell30 #startup

Day 005: Uploaded my dev version to the hosting provider, Set up subscription plans and added @PaddleHQ as a payment provider, added some robot framework blocks, worked on core functionality, and did some planning for the next 94 days. #100DaysOfCode #SaaS #startup

Day 006: Today I generated 24.758 lines of code!! That is 51 lines per minute. Almost humanly impossible (unless you are a human creating RPA software) I feel confident enough to publicly share the first screenshot of my product.
#AI #NoCode #LowCode #buildsell30 #100DaysOfCode

Day 007: started rewriting the UI to AngularJS. Not because that is the lean MVP approach but because it looks so much better. #100DaysOfCode

Day 008: Got me a shiny logo from @fiverr, crafted a nice-looking UI, learned some Angular basics, and worked on improving the core functionality. Suppose there are only 2 weeks of work left on the MVP.
#100DaysOfCode #startup #SaaS #sideproject

Day 009/010: Connected some UI components to the API and created a feedback loop for features that do not yet exist.

Day 011: Implemented Angular services to preload data from the API. Quite a learning curve. Getting the product ready for a developer release to test everything in staging.

Day 012: Put the @RoboticLi developer preview online - I am still weeks away from a beta launch but feedback is appreciated!
#buildsell30 #100DaysOfCode #NoCode #SaaS #startup

Day 013/014: Been working for a client building a word document generator with
@PHPOffice. Learned nothing new about coding, but learned a lot about #sustainability and saving energy. #100DaysOfCode

Day 015: built notifications and integrated that into the UI. Changed user preferences and project settings components and learned that I hate frontend work

Day 016/017: worked on a client project and took some time off. #founders #burnout is a dangerous thing to ignore. Tomorrow back with great tweets and progress updates

Day 018: with renewed energy finished building the settings and preferences screens. Almost ready for a beta release! #100DaysOfCode

Day 019: I can't believe that I'm progressing this fast!
MVP launch is coming up, and I'm actually going to make the deadline.
So excited! #100DaysOfCode #BuildSell30

Day 020: Finished integration of our #NoCode editor with the frontend, and finalized integration with my payment service provider. The MVP launch date is still set for tomorrow. #BuildSell30

Day 021: Wrote a post on #Indiehackers, did groceries, launched a MVP

Follow me on @kaasbollenvirus for the rest of my journey.

When RoboticLi first came to mind I was actually just looking for a cheap way of managing Virtual Private Servers for my freelancing customers. Because I was building Intelligent Automation robots on one of the bigger freelance marketplaces and all of my customers needed a small piece of a windows VPS.

All I needed was an app that would allow multiple clients to use the same VPS without being able to access each other's data. And every app that came close to the features I required was focussing on something unrelated. At the time it seemed easier to just create a web portal myself and let clients submit requests via a ticketing system.

Then the dreaming started (metaphorically, the idea for RoboticLi came to me in a dream) What if, how come, why, why, why.
And after some brainstorming, the idea was born to take core features from user isolation on a VPS, and a control panel that lets me run commands on the server.

One of the questions I asked myself was "Why isn't there an app for this".
And maybe that was my biggest motivator to start working on the project.

Of course, there are quite some differences between a (web)app for managing VPSs and a NoCode Intelligent Automation platform. And I considered the number of hours required to build a hosting platform, and the time it took to create a GUI to actually build the robots. Maybe it would take me a few days more. But would it be worth it?

I think it is.