A quick update on this glorious hump day, just in time before I head out to the Atlanta PHP meetup (https://phpxatl.com).

Tomorrow, May 21st at 11:30am EDT I’ll be chatting with Brian Casel (https://briancasel.com) about his recent launch of Instrumental Components (https://instrumental.dev). Join us in the stream and if you have any questions for Brian or myself you can get them answered live!

Subscribe and join the stream: https://youtube.com/live/LyMjPhkHk3k

I am also going to be streaming to https://stream.place, a new streaming platform geared towards the Bluesky/ATProto community. So it should be fun adding another destination to consume the stream from. And, I floated the idea out on LinkedIn to see if people would be interested in watching the stream there, but just waiting to see if I can get a good signal from there or not to justify adding it.

Weigh-in on the LinkedIn stream: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ryanhefner_jam-session-launching-instrumentaldev-activity-7331038582549147650-CmcP

So, with that said, hopefully you can find the stream wherever you prefer to consumer your streaming content and we look forward to seeing you there.

And, on the Starter Packs front, https://www.starterpacks.net, I ended up getting a pretty big hosting bill last month that would make the project unsustainable if it were that high moving forward, so in an attempt to reduce costs, and because I was meaning to explore it anyways to make navigating the site potentially faster, I converted all `/profile/...` pages to use ISR (Incremental Static Regeneration). My hope is that by rendering and caching these pages indefinitely, I will serve more cached versions of the pages and reduce some of the edge requests and function invocations previously required to serve those pages. It does introduce some complexity when it comes to revalidating those pages in the future, but this is just a means to try to cap costs, and if it works I can figure out how to keep everything fresh, while still being optimized. So stay tuned...

Other links:
https://www.skylounge.social
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanhefner

To follow along, you can find me at https://www.ryanhefner.com, follow me on Bluesky @ryanhefner.com (https://bsky.app/profile/ryanhefner.com) and keep up with the show on https://www.allplay.fm and @allplay.fm (https://bsky.app/profile/allplay.fm).

Help yourself, while supporting the show, by trying some of the services that I use, and highly recommend:
Transistor FM (https://transistor.fm/?via=allplay)
Fathom Analytics (https://usefathom.com/ref/EKONBS)

#buildinpublic #podcast #startups #webdevelopment  #webdesign #bluesky #indiedev #bootstrapping #indiehackers

I listened to a podcast episode back on January 30, 2025, and there are 3 little words that have been bouncing around in the back of my head ever since whenever I turn on the mic to stream or record, "oil your chair".

The podcast episode was from Justin Jackson (https://justinjackson.ca) and Jeremy Enns (https://jeremyenns.com) on their Podcasting Marketing Trends Explained (https://podcastmarketingacademy.com/podcast-marketing-trends-explained) podcast. Here’s a link to the specific episode:

Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-10k-timeline-how-long-it-takes-to-reach-10k-dl-ep/id1725822754?i=1000651165287
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/0ojnaFU34BTMzAUEaJpLB9?si=75f58475b5824473
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbT9Z-glsrM&list=PLSbtUoUeEbPIsWA2_cM91SN3HJuUnEOz9&index=16

What's wild is that when I recorded this episode I had thought that it had only been a couple weeks since I had listened to that podcast episode, but it turns out it has been almost 4 months 😬, and it took me that long to oil my chair.

This episode digs into the little things that I (we) have a tendency of putting off. Things that you know exist, and could be easily addressed, but yet the task goes uncompleted, and consumes some of the cognitive space in the back of the head, throwing off wasted cycles whenever it resurfaces, instead of using those for things that really matter.

I’ll get back to sharing some project updates in the next episode, but just wanted to share a little thought piece about procrastination, or clearing the mind.

To follow along, you can find me at https://www.ryanhefner.com, follow me on Bluesky @ryanhefner.com (https://bsky.app/profile/ryanhefner.com) and keep up with the show on https://www.allplay.fm and @allplay.fm (https://bsky.app/profile/allplay.fm).

Help yourself, while supporting the show, by trying some of the services that I use, and highly recommend:
Transistor FM (https://transistor.fm/?via=allplay)
Fathom Analytics (https://usefathom.com/ref/EKONBS)

#buildinpublic #podcast #startups #webdevelopment  #webdesign #bluesky #indiedev #bootstrapping #indiehackers

Some quick updates on the status of https://www.starterpacks.net and announcing the new project that I am working on!

Since the last update, the crawlers have been crawling—HEAVILY—accessing the site over 24M 👀 times. Needless to say, my Vercel bill is going to be a little higher this month, but 🤞 it will be worth it. Since the last update where the number of indexed pages jumped from 3k to 17k, since the last episode that number rose as high as 45k indexed pages, but recently dropped a bit to 34k.

I think the indexes is going to be a bit of a cat and mouse game, but my hope is that more indexed pages will generally be better for driving more organic traffic to the site. As the crawlers are crawling, I am working on some articles that will showcase some of the features, and also focus on some keywords that I am going to try to start ranking for. So, no new feature development for now, but going to see how traffic to the site goes over the next couple of weeks as I focus on SEO and content.

On the development front, new things are in full swing on a new project that is also focused on the Bluesky platform and community. The project called, Skylounge, and it can be found at https://www.skylounge.social. The goal is to build a X/Twitter Spaces alternative for Bluesky, that also embraces all the things I love about the open web.

Over the last week I have been streaming the development of the project, with the goal of sharing the process and approach that I am taking for the app, along with trying to multiply the return on my effort of building. So far it has been going pretty well, but I am really looking at these live streams as an opportunity to do some co-working with people, so if you have a project you are working on and want to share what you are doing during the live stream, I am down to share your work and even have you jump on the stream—if you want!

My goal is to launch the initial version of the site on Release Day, happening Friday, May 30. If you have something you have been working on—or putting off—maybe you want to use some social accountability to fuel getting it down. You can find out more about Release Day here: https://www.creativequests.world/releaseday

Ok, I have been rambling on. If Skylounge sounds interesting and you want to be one of the early people to sign-up and help me test it out, please go to the site and sign-up to be included on the mailing list I will be using to share updates: https://www.skylounge.social

To follow along, you can find me at https://www.ryanhefner.com, follow me on Bluesky @ryanhefner.com (https://bsky.app/profile/ryanhefner.com) and keep up with the show on https://www.allplay.fm and @allplay.fm (https://bsky.app/profile/allplay.fm).

Help yourself, while supporting the show, by trying some of the services that I use, and highly recommend:
Transistor FM (https://transistor.fm/?via=allplay)
Fathom Analytics (https://usefathom.com/ref/EKONBS)

#buildinpublic #podcast #startups #webdevelopment  #webdesign #bluesky #indiedev #bootstrapping #indiehackers

You can also watch the video on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/ENFM-pQK5iM

A quick update about some recent updates I pushed out on https://www.starterpacks.net. In the last episode, I announced the addition of the Quick Starter Pack Editor to the site. Since then, I have rolled out a few tweaks to make it nicer, like preventing duplicate entries to be added to new Starter Packs—even though those were never duplicated when saved to Bluesky—along with the ability to remove people from the list before saving. I have a few more updates planned around editors, namely being able to edit an existing Starter Pack, but that has not rolled out yet. I am sure I’ll be posting an update when it does.

Other than a few editor updates, the main updates that made there way to the site are in support of trying to help crawlers discover more content and pages on the site. Since January, the number of indexed pages in the Google Search Console has dropped from 980k+ down to just over 3,000 pages. In order to try to counteract the indexed page loss, I figured it was time to address some crawling issues that I introduced when I added infinite scrolling to the site. Now, in addition to supporting infinite scrolling when a user visits the site, there are links that crawlers can follow to continue discovering content and pages linked from those lists. At first when I tried to re-validate some of the issues via the Google Search Console, the number of indexed pages ended up dropping to just over 2,000 pages, but after a few tweaks and re-validating a few other issues that number has jumped up to over 17k pages, and based on the logs I am seeing from the site I am hoping that I can get back into the 6 digit+ range for indexed pages, which I am hoping will help to drive more organic traffic to the site.

In addition to the making the site updates, I am going to try to start posting more updates in the different communities to hopefully drive awareness, and also start building more backlinks back to the site. The first update was posted over on Indie Hackers, just announcing to project and enabling the profile so I can post more. You can read that one here: https://www.indiehackers.com/post/starter-packs-is-born-fe2Z1KTOK7spuf84v0i7

There is a bunch of other stuff I should probably work on next for Starter Packs, but I think I need a new project to be able to ping-pong on when my interest wanes. Want to see what I plan on working on next? Subscribe to this channel, ⁨@ryan_hefner⁩, and I’ll be live streaming the development of it. And, if you have a project you’re working on that you would like to share, I welcome guests on the stream. Show off what you’re working on!

To follow along, you can find me at https://www.ryanhefner.com, follow me on Bluesky @ryanhefner.com (https://bsky.app/profile/ryanhefner.com) and keep up with the show on https://www.allplay.fm and @allplay.fm (https://bsky.app/profile/allplay.fm).

Help yourself, while supporting the show, by trying some of the services that I use, and highly recommend:
Transistor FM (https://transistor.fm/?via=allplay)
Fathom Analytics (https://usefathom.com/ref/EKONBS)

#buildinpublic #podcast #startups #webdevelopment  #webdesign #bluesky #indiedev #bootstrapping #indiehackers

After a few weeks away I am back with some fresh updates that have been deployed to Starter Packs (https://www.starterpacks.net). The first—and best feature, imho—is the Quick Starter Pack Editor. This feature makes it easy to add people to your existing Bluesky Starter Packs in as little as 3 clicks (maybe more if you want to add them to multiple packs at the same time). This was a feature that I had wanted to add to the site since I started working on it, and I finally had the time—made the time—to sit down and build it out.

The next addition to the site is more for the curious, or the competitive, which is the Bluesky Starter Packs Leaderboards (https://www.starterpacks.net/leaderboard). Here you can find a list of the top Bluesky Starter Packs that people have joined Bluesky through either that week, or all-time. My hope is that these pages help to drive traffic to the site and encourage people to create and share more Starter Packs to try to climb the ranks.

I rolled out a few more features, but those were the main ones that made their way out. Now my focus is on building more value for the subscription plans and optimizing the site to appease the SEO gods so that more pages are indexed and available in search results. If you are interested in watching those updates come to life, I plan on live streaming those updates, so follow the channel (@ryan_hefner) and get notified when I go live.

To follow along, you can find me at https://www.ryanhefner.com, follow me on Bluesky @ryanhefner.com (https://bsky.app/profile/ryanhefner.com) and keep up with the show on https://www.allplay.fm and @allplay.fm (https://bsky.app/profile/allplay.fm).

Help yourself, while supporting the show, by trying some of the services that I use, and highly recommend:
Transistor FM (https://transistor.fm/?via=allplay)
Fathom Analytics (https://usefathom.com/ref/EKONBS)

#buildinpublic #podcast #startups #webdevelopment  #webdesign #bluesky #indiedev #bootstrapping #indiehackers

Watch the video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/WNmupzrWcAA

What goes into setting and justifying your SaaS (Software as a Service) pricing? I had the goal of getting subscription plans setup for https://www.starterpacks.net before a queued job I had running to backfill data that I needed to support those plans was done processing. I ultimately did get the Stripe integration setup, along with defining the plans and everything that goes into supporting subscriptions on the site, but when it came to actually surfacing these plans publicly is where I got tripped up.

In this episode I dig into the plans, some of my thoughts around building value to justify the price, and some ideas I have to get to that value.

To follow along, you can find me at ryanhefner.com, follow me on Bluesky @ryanhefner.com and keep up with the show on allplay.fm and @allplay.fm.

Help yourself, while supporting the show, by trying some of the services that I use, and highly recommend:
Transistor FM
Fathom Analytics

#buildinpublic #podcast #startups #webdevelopment  #webdesign #bluesky #indiedev #bootstrapping

The queues are up and running on Starter Packs and I have roughly 2 days before they are done, so my goal is to get all the pricing and subscriptions integrated into the site before they are done. I also dig into some background on getting the queues working in the NestJS app, and how I had to tune them to get them running efficiently—and fast!

Watch the video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/DzHzOaR_lDA

To follow along, you can find me at ryanhefner.com, follow me on Bluesky @ryanhefner.com and keep up with the show on allplay.fm and @allplay.fm.

Help yourself, while supporting the show, by trying some of the services that I use, and highly recommend:
Transistor FM
Fathom Analytics

#buildinpublic #podcast #startups #webdevelopment  #webdesign #bluesky #indiedev #bootstrapping

While I was working on some updates for Starter Packs, I ran into an authentication bug that I wanted to fix. As I was working through the bug, and deploying the updates, all of a sudden my feature branch on Vercel stopped loading pages properly, but not all pages. In this episode, I dig into facing and overcoming obstacles that get in the way of making real progress on the project you’re working on.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GEJV6989RwQ

To follow along, you can find me at ryanhefner.com, follow me on Bluesky @ryanhefner.com and keep up with the show on allplay.fm and @allplay.fm.

Help yourself, while supporting the show, by trying some of the services that I use, and highly recommend:
Transistor FM
Fathom Analytics

#buildinpublic #podcast #startups #webdevelopment  #webdesign #bluesky #indiedev #bootstrapping

After last week’s Jam Session with Brian Casel, I was on the fence on which project I wanted to commit to in 2025. After that conversation, and a little reflection, I realized that I wanted to see Starter Packs through to the original vision for the project. Also, the amount of effort to get it there—I think—will be less than I had originally thought, now that some of my client work has chilled out a bit.

With that said, I am excited to share some initial updates that I pushed to the site yesterday that lay the foundation for the initial vision. They include:

• ability to log in with your Bluesky account
• quick follow/unfollow people from Starter Packs or Profile pages
• a bunch of design updates, including full support for both light and dark mode
• optimizations under the hood for loading various data from Bluesky, like followers and starter packs
• some–🤞–updates to some of the page metadata in hopes it will make Google happy again and start driving some lost traffic back

I am still committed to getting an early version of Open Graphs out in March, like I committed to Brian on the episode, but luckily that work will also benefit Starter Packs, since I will be using Starter Packs, and my other sites, as early consumers of the open graph images that Open Graphs will be generating.

In the meantime, more updates will be rolling out to Starter Packs over the coming days, including: Follow All on Starter Packs, along with the background work that will start to link profiles with the packs they have been added to as a premium feature to subscribe to on the site. We’ll see how subscriptions will go, and I am sure I am going to have to build some real value to justify them, but I also have some plans on how to make the experience of unlocking the packs kind of fun, and hopefully notable.

Watch the latest episodes on YouTube at: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuFdIOfmEGP0xvjt2yng9FErsMTVTk1Of&si=H0RpnIlvOhwg5Q2j

To follow along, you can find me at ryanhefner.com, follow me on Bluesky @ryanhefner.com and keep up with the show on allplay.fm and @allplay.fm.

Help yourself, while supporting the show, by trying some of the services that I use, and highly recommend:
Transistor FM
Fathom Analytics

Welcome to 2025! I have been kind of having mixed emotions going into the new year, doing a lot of reflecting and projecting what I want to achieve this year. Definitely feeling mostly excited, but also a bit nervous.

I get into creating my new LLC, Commune Software (https://commune.software), looking forward to the live stream today with Mubs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckaGzVTvx98) talking all things side projects and Bluesky with his project https://blueskydirectory.com/ and my https://www.starterpacks.net/, and this podcast going video (right here now!). You can find the video podcast on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuFdIOfmEGP0xvjt2yng9FErsMTVTk1Of

I am looking forward to 2025 and trying to make this a year focused on building new connections and projects for the years to come. I hope you’ll follow along.

To follow along, you can find me at ryanhefner.com, follow me on Bluesky @ryanhefner.com and keep up with the show on allplay.fm and @allplay.fm.

Help yourself, while supporting the show, by trying some of the services that I use, and highly recommend:
Transistor FM
Fathom Analytics