Want to learn more Postgres? Check out my Postgres course: https://masteringpostgres.com. 

In this interview, I talk with Jesse Hanley, founder of Bento, about running a lean email service from Japan. We chat about the challenges of scaling infrastructure, managing databases, and maintaining a calm business while serving a global customer base. 

Links Mentioned: 
Bento: https://bentonow.com 
Database school on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLI72dgeNJtzqElnNB6sQoAn2R-F3Vqm15 
Database school audio only: https://databaseschool.transistor.fm 

Follow Jesse: 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jessethanley 
Bento on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Bento 

Follow Aaron: 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aarondfrancis 
Website: https://aaronfrancis.com - find articles, podcasts, courses, and more. 

Database school on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLI72dgeNJtzqElnNB6sQoAn2R-F3Vqm15
Database school audio only: https://databaseschool.transistor.fm 

Chapters: 
00:00 - Introduction to Jesse Hanley 
01:02 - Running Bento from Japan 
01:48 - The Lean Team Structure at Bento 
03:00 - Managing Support via Discord 
05:01 - Benefits of Using Discord for Customer Support 
06:45 - The Role of Community in Customer Feedback 
09:01 - How Bento Gained Traction 
13:00 - Bootstrapping Bento and Profitable Growth 
16:00 - Running Your Own Mail Servers 
19:03 - The Economics and Redundancy of Email Delivery 
21:00 - Bento's Heroku Setup and Scaling Challenges 
26:00 - Handling and Querying Massive Data in Bento 
29:52 - Leveraging Elasticsearch for Data Queries 
35:40 - Moving Toward Multi-Database Solutions 
37:45 - Exploring Crunchy Data and Citus for Database Scaling 
42:00 - Optimizing Bento for Performance and Scalability 
54:02 - Jesse’s Advice on Building a Calm and Profitable Business 
57:00 - How Bento Uses WebSockets and Background Jobs 
1:00:00 - Optimizing Bento with Action Cable 
1:02:25 - Avoiding N+1 Queries with WebSockets 
1:04:50 - Scaling Redis and Postgres at Bento 
1:09:00 - Jesse’s Approach to Managing Growth and Multiple Services 
1:11:00 - Final Thoughts on Scaling and Optimizing Databases 
1:13:10 - Advice for Aspiring Builders: Stay Patient and True to Your Vision 
1:16:00 - Bento’s Unique Approach to Email Marketing and Transactional Emails 
1:19:50 - Closing Thoughts and Where to Find Jesse Hanley Online