Projects

Businesses

TinyPilot ( 2020 - 2024 )

TinyPilot is a company I created after creating a hardware device that allows customers to control their computers remotely without installing any software. In four years, I grew the company to $1M/year in revenue and sold the business in 2024 for $598k.

Zestful ( 2018 - 2020 )

Zestful is a paid API service that allows clients to parse recipe ingredients like "2 cups finely chopped red onions" into structured data like {"quantity":2.5, "unit":"cups", "preparationNotes":"finely chopped", ... }.

It has been in maintenance mode since 2020.

Is It Keto ( 2018 - 2024 )

Is It Keto allows provides a simple way for users to discover whether particular foods are compatible with the keto diet.

The site was in maintenance mode between 2020 and 2024, but it still earned a few hundred dollars per year in affiliate commissions.

I sold the site to fellow indie founder Rasul Kireev in 2024.

Portfolio Rebalancer ( 2020 )

Portfolio Rebalancer shows investors on what funds they need to buy and sell to achieve their target asset allocation. I built an MVP but couldn’t find any users interested in paying for it, so I shelved the project.

WanderJest ( 2020 )

WanderJest was a site that allowed comedy fans to find live performances of comedy in their area. I started working on it two months before COVID, and then paused it when the pandemic hit.

What Got Done ( 2019 )

What Got Done is a weekly task journaling site that lets users record their accomplishments and share them with teammates.

I worked on it for a few months to teach myself Vue.js, but I couldn’t find anyone interested in paying for it. I open-sourced the code, and I now work on it occasionally as a hobby project.

KetoHub ( 2017 )

KetoHub is an aggregator for keto recipes. It allows you to search recipes across different keto recipes and filter by meal type.

I built it without thinking of how to monetize it, and so it never made any money.

AllYourTexts ( 2011 - 2015 )

AllYourTexts is a Windows desktop application that allows iPhone users to view, search, and visualize their text messages (SMS/MMS/iMessage). It’s no longer compatible with modern versions of iOS, but it still works for old phones. It used to be a paid application, but it is now and free and open-source. During its paid lifetime, it sold 919 license keys and earned over $4,500 in revenue.

Educational

Refactoring English ( 2024 - present )

Refactoring English: Effective Writing for Software Developers is my upcoming book that teaches developers practical tips to improve their writing.

Hit the Front Page of Hacker News ( 2021 )

My video course that shows how I write high-quality blog posts that succeed on tech sites like Hacker News and reddit.

Open-Source Projects

ScreenJournal ( 2022 - present )

go sqlite docker litestream

A web app for sharing movie reviews with your friends. It’s basically Goodreads but for movies. Or it’s like letterboxd but open-source and focused on small, private communities.

PicoShare ( 2021 - present )

go sqlite docker litestream

A minimalist web app for sharing files that’s easy to self-host.

ResticPy ( 2021 - present )

python

A minimal Python wrapper around the restic backup utility.

LogPaste ( 2021 )

go sqlite docker litestream

A minimalist web app for receiving text log files. Kind of a precursor to PicoShare.