5 lessons I learned from building products for startups in the part 10+ years

#1 Maintenance of anything is expensive

Just versioning, release cycles, and communication can eat time. Try to do as much in a monorepo as possible.

Monoliths are better to start with as well. The cut down release time, and…

#2 FE + BE Separation often has wrong reasons

• Reasons why devs want it: it’s fun because it’s new
• Reasons why companies want it: FE devs are easier to find

Both reasons are wrong and lead to things taking longer.

#3 The longer something takes, the harder it gets

Either something is done right away, or it takes forever. When something takes forever, it usually comes from the fact that the planners couldn’t see over the hill

#4 When projects get slow:

Startups are slow when they overdevelop; established projects are slow when they overmanage.

#5 If you don’t have the answer, you should be scared

• Want to build a feature? You need proof that people want it
• Want to hire a person? You need to know if they are really good
• Want to choose a technology? Work with someone who has seen the limits of it