Build In Public (BIP) Newsletter #5

Hi Reader, it’s Friday, and here’s this week’s edition of the Build In Public newsletter.

I’m Pierre, documenting my journey of starting a software consulting business from scratch.

Metrics Update

• LinkedIn: 418 impressions, 137 people reached, 20 engagements (likes, comments).
• Audience breakdown: 14.9% decision-makers, 11.5% software engineers.
• I’m wondering how relevant it is to track these metrics, as I’ve decided to write not for reach but for raising my profile. It's interesting to see the progression, so I'm keeping them for now.

Unplanned Issues: Renovations and Airbnbs

This week had quite a few unplanned issues. The renovations are taking longer than expected, so we had to stay in an Airbnb longer than planned. The internet there was less than ideal, making video calls difficult. Despite that, I still managed to squeeze in some interesting calls with several people. Some were about the business of freelancing, and others about potential projects or collaborations.

AI Tools and Coding Experimentation

In terms of tools, I’ve been experimenting with AI as a coding tool. I configured my Neovim to use Codeium yesterday and I’m curious to see how much difference it makes. Are the code suggestions really relevant, or do they just look nice?

I tested it by having Codeium write a decimal-to-Roman numeral function, and it did the job. But I wonder how it will perform with more complex scenarios on existing codebases—does it use the entire codebase as context for generating its suggestions?

Additionally, I played around with Vercel’s v0 to create a toy app. I fed it some made-up haikus and proverbs, and it picked one at random on each page load to display. I generated the content with ChatGPT and the code with Vercel. While it’s a simple app, it would’ve taken me a couple of hours to build it manually. With v0 and ChatGPT, I had it running in minutes. Impressive, though the example is a bit trivial.

When I added extra requirements (like dark mode and tests), things started to fall apart, and I ran out of free messages to troubleshoot.

Content Creation and Lead Magnets

I had planned to draft a guide to promote my quality and automation audit services this week, but given everything that’s happened, I didn’t get as far as I hoped. I’ll keep you posted on that front.

Sustainable Software and Circular Economy

I had a fascinating chat with someone working on software to reduce carbon emissions. They’re building a SaaS to help businesses in the repairing and circular economy become more efficient. The software automates things like updating customers on the status of their repair and managing parts inventory.

It’s a pretty cool idea, and there’s a growing demand for services like this—not just for smartphone repairs, but even shoe cobblers and sewists. It’s refreshing to hear because repairing is always a better option for reducing carbon emissions than buying a new product and throwing away the old one.

Final Thoughts

That’s it for this week! It’s been a bit of a chaotic one, with some challenges but also some interesting developments. As always, feel free to hit reply if you have any thoughts or want to chat. I read every message.

Have a great weekend, and see you in the next one!