How did I do with last month’s goals?

**SkinTheory: Move on Gmbh papers**
- Result: C+
- Found out I need a lawyer to help us, which sounds like death. Had a chat with Moé about it. We’re both focus on our new jobs now and just want to get SkinTheory working on its own. SkinTheory has been completely healthy with 0 (!) upkeep, increasing to 400 WAU! So we shouldn’t throw away the opportunity. Our next option is to find a European bank outside of Germany that will allow us to open as a subsidiary. The german banks have been almost impossible to work with.
**ExpatPhone: Build MVP**
- Result: B
- I see why no one has built this product. Dealing with Phone numbers is a tangle of webs and shit to deal with due to old carriers and spam prevention.
- First I tried Twilio, had to go back and forth with support to get my account unlocked for receiving from short codes, adding more subaccounts, etc. Then in the end, I couldn’t receive to my provisioned number from 2FA processes like Google’s. It seems to be touted as the biggest and most dev friendly option, but I found it clunky and expensive.
- So then I went and read a load of reviews about other providers. I found this hilarious fight with the CEO of telynx on reddit. Note to self: Don’t bad get in public fights with the customers. Won’t be using that company.
- Then I came across what appeared to be pure gold: Nexmo (now Vonage SMS API). I was able to get a bunch of free credit in their startup system, a direct startup support line who ran through my API procedure with me (amazing!), and some amazing prices and phone availability. I really learned was able to grasp a principle here that I’ve heard a ton about: I was so excited to pay for their product. Need to keep an eye out for pain in the ass processes to deal with, and how I can build products to solve them.
- But then came reality: When I tried my Vonage US phone number with Google 2FA, the msg didn’t arrive at the webhook. Support then informed me that I can’t receive 2FA as part of their TOCs. It ruined my day, but then I chatted with them the following day and they said that was only in the US. So I plan to expand to using Nexmo for their great APIs and Number Availability across countries, but I had to go back on the hunt for an SMS provider for the US.
- Now I’m checking out Plivo, who look kinda crappy for number availability and have this strange UI called PHLOs for setting up webhooks, but they seem to work in the US and are cheap! So I think I can start with them, but I got my number soft blocked by google for starting too many test 2FA proceses 😬
- Retrospective on this process: It’s basically taken me a month to find working APIs. Lot’s of docs read, support emails typed, POST requests sent... This is slow for an MVP, but I think it also shows a glimmer of hope for my soon-to-be project because: If it were easy, someone would’ve done it by now. I’m not sure how I can improve my MVP turnover time going forward, but it’s worth continually improving.
**MyGroove: Deliver Next.js App**
- Result: A+
- We released the new landing page in time, but new requirements caused the web shop to be delayed. But that’s not my problem 😛
- The new job is bringing in the bacon. Got my 2nd paycheck, which is so freeing compared to the paycheck-less fulltime startup life. Can eat at restaurants without guilt now! What a world!
- Really honing my Next.js, Elastic Beanstalk, CSS (Tailwind) skills this month on the new MyGroove website. Haven’t done so much web dev in ages, and I’m really surprised how important and time consuming CSS still is compared to how far other tech has come with JS/HTML. Tailwind is tight tho.
**CORP. - Get in touch with Agencies**
- Result: C
- Didn’t spend to much time on finding agencies for the band.
- Had an amazing meeting with a local, Berlin funded, music agency that gave us some decent tips on how to start finding bookers/labels/managers for the band. If someone reading need it it is: Music Pool Berlin. Helped me and Wouter put a plan together that we’re acting on now, but we need to get face to face with people with real connections. He stressed how important face to face is and it’s really stuck with me.

What else got done last month?

I started waking up early to get my coding for ExpatPhone done before work
- This has been a super power 🦸
- After coding all day, looking at the screen for the fulltime job, I often wasn’t arsed to scroll through shitty SMS API docs
- Doing this for 30-60 min before work daily has been easy to keep up and refreshing
- People also don’t bother me as much in the AM from work, but by 5pm there’s loads of messages
- Honestly, it feels like I’ve been really good at working on my good habits (going to gym, practice german, wake up early, etc) this last 2 weeks because of this routine change. I can see the results in my routine tracker app as well.
Played 3 gigs with CORP. Lakeside in Brandenburg, Cafe Glocksee in Hannover (Amazing gig in an old squat with a >100 person turnout), Holy Noise (in a rented out Korean Church).
- So many gigs, happy to have a break now, but definitely getting way more relaxed playing on stage.
Bought a new guitar of kleinenzeigen: Stagg M350
Bought a new Sampler (Rhythm Circuit)
- Waited for a decent deal, so got it for €260 on ebay.de
- This is probably the coolest thing I currently own. The design thinking that went into it, within its constraints is incredible. Its both quick to pick up an put a beat down, and fully featured enough to put together full songs and play hours long sets. This is exactly what I wanted it for: The Ableton Push 2 I own is a bit too cumbersome to quickly pick up an put a beat under my guitar stuff when I have an idea
- I’m thoroughly enjoying going through the manual as opposed to using Youtube like normal. It feels like it’s all gonna stick in my head much better.
Saw 2 gigs: Blockhead @ Urban Spree & Vacations @ Badehaus
Started learning German again in a super cool way with Chatterbug (referral link)
- It’s like a mix between italki and real classes
- I’m getting WAY more speaking time in the one on one settings but also learning through a straightforward curriculum
- I’m doing 2 lessons a week now, and found some teachers I really like, I think this is SO MUCH BETTER than all those classes I was taking before
It was my birthday! I turned 28 and had a chill one on the park. My mate got me a cool new mouse as well, I may be done with the Magic Mouse 😱 with my new Mx Master 3s
I dyed my hair blond

Lessons Learned?

Focus on meeting people face to face in the music (startup, and every other) scene to get ahead
Some problems are such a PITA that you will love the opportunity to pay for a product. Find those PITA problems/processes
It’s hard to move fast with some MVPs