Pud
pud.com · Personal blog · on HN since 2007
Pud, a startup founder who ran Blippy, writes about building products, getting users, handling theft, and his own projects.
What HN saysHN commenters praise his post "Why Must You Laugh at My Back End" and his advice on getting users, and call him a nice person.
24HN people shared it
14linked it in comments
28stories submitted
3.7Kstory points
1 year agolast shared
2007people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1Why must you laugh at my back end7 people · first shared 2011
- 2Fucking Sue Me4 people · 1.7K points · first shared 2011 · 194 comments on HN
- 3Show HN: My new personal website4 people · 24 points · first shared 2011 · 12 comments on HN
- 4How To Get Users For Your Startup (2011)4 people · 4 points · first shared 2011 · discussion on HN
- 5The duck technique3 people · first shared 2015
- 6Here's how I deal with users who steal2 people · 774 points · first shared 2013 · 211 comments on HN
- 7What I've been up to for the past year1 people · 616 points · first shared 2013 · 171 comments on HN
- 8I have 404,772 users. Now what?1 people · 345 points · first shared 2012 · 189 comments on HN
- 9Why I Can't Use PayPal To Buy Your Product1 people · 97 points · first shared 2012 · 70 comments on HN
- 10How I increased conversion on my checkout form1 people · 71 points · first shared 2014 · 21 comments on HN
- 11Sonus silentii fallacy1 people · 34 points · first shared 2013 · 31 comments on HN
- 12How I increased conversion on my checkout form by 60%1 people · 13 points · first shared 2014 · 6 comments on HN
- 13Cloud Hosting Single Point Of Failure - Your Credit Card1 people · 13 points · first shared 2013 · 5 comments on HN
- 14Being Honest And Taboo Ingratiates You To Some People1 people · 3 points · first shared 2011 · 1 comments on HN
- 15A founder I look up to (but now compete with) basically slammed my company1 people · 3 points · first shared 2014 · discussion on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
econner · 2017-02-15
Met @pud once while he was CEO of Blippy. Very nice guy and great to talk to. I also absolutely love his post: "Why Must You Laugh at My Back End" (http://pud.com/post/9582597828/why-must-you-laugh-at-my-back-end). He's built lots of crazy impressive stuff by himself and DistroKid is no different.
tombrossman · 2015-03-04
Me too, especially when the presentation of the contract indicates that the other party desires information asymmetry (e.g. they look impatient and try to rush you, or they have a huge contract in a tiny scrolling window on their site). You have to be ready to walk away from the deal too, or why bother?
Still, I see some totally one-sided (and what I believe to be unenforceable) terms sometimes and I may sign anyway. For the other party to actually get what they want requires a lot more work than just getting my signature, and I'm firmly in the "Fucking sue me" camp. Classic blog post from Pud that everyone worried about contracts should read: http://pud.com/post/10103947044/fucking-sue-me
Dexec · 2012-04-17
Pud, as I said here (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3520013) 80 days ago, the way you keep putting out quality products is great. It's funny that your post on getting users (http://pud.com/post/5239917032/users) isn't even a year old (although you don't seem to be using a lot of those methods for this project).
Do your project ideas (big and small) just come to you or do you have a process?
And any thoughts on doing a small post on a day/week in the life of Pud? Like how much time you spend on projects (planning, coding, designing), and whatever else you do like jamming. You clearly know at least a little about time management and/or avoiding procrastination.
tg3 · 2011-11-14
You're going to hate this answer, but it depends.
Reddit has good CPC and engagement rates, so long as you have content or an application that appeals to that crowd. (See Gabriel Weinberg's post on the topic).
StumbleUpon has a more mass-market appeal, but relatively high cost-per-view with low engagement.
Adwords is expensive unless you spend a long time honing in on niche keywords. Even then it is expensive.
There was a great post on ASmartBear this morning (guest post) about how effective cold-calling can be. And that's essentially free (not counting your labor hours).
Pud has a great write-up on this topic: http://pud.com/post/5239917032/users
This is something I struggle with too, so I'll be interested to see the other responses.
swalkergibson · 2011-09-18
Why do you suppose it is difficult to hire smart PHP developers? Facebook seems to be doing just fine, and as far as I know, most of their codebase is still straight up PHP. Bottom line, build something that customers want. The customer cares that the solution solves their problem, not that your technology stack is bright and shiny.
This is worth reading:
http://pud.com/post/9582597828/why-must-you-laugh-at-my-back-end
pud · 2011-08-30
Several of these: http://adhdinc.com and http://pud.com
rabidrat · 2018-05-06
And the queen had a duck!
http://pud.com/post/59851751577/the-duck-technique
lmkg · 2018-04-21
It's called The Duck Technique, after an apocryphal story of an animator for Battle Chess.
http://pud.com/post/59851751577/the-duck-technique
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Chess#Development
TwelveNights · 2017-09-03
I really like the writing style in this post, so I went to check on some other posts he had made.
He seems to be a pretty nice guy overall! This one was particularly fun to read: http://pud.com/post/65374847162/how-i-deal-with-users-who-steal
startupdiscuss · 2017-02-16
@Pud
There are many people who want to know about your tech stack. I think the thinking goes: with one developer, it must be an insanely productive stack.
http://pud.com/post/9582597828/why-must-you-laugh-at-my-back-end
is old, do you still use the same set up?
prawn · 2017-02-16
May not be up to date, but past info on his stack:
http://pud.com/post/9582597828/why-must-you-laugh-at-my-back-end
depsypher · 2015-11-11
The "get rid of the duck" story comes to mind:
http://pud.com/post/59851751577/the-duck-technique
jyu · 2013-09-24
Pick the right tools for the job. If you're doing an MVP web app, NodeJS, Rails, PHP, Django, ColdFusion (N other frameworks here) will all get it done.
Yes, I said ColdFusion. That thing that was hot the 90's.
This post reminds me that customers don't care what stack you use, as long as it solves their problem: http://pud.com/post/9582597828/why-must-you-laugh-at-my-back-end
masonhensley · 2012-04-17
He wrote a post about his backend in August, I think it relates to this project. (He uses ColdFusion)
http://pud.com/post/9582597828/why-must-you-laugh-at-my-back-end