I recently joined Eric Barnes on the Laravel News Creator Series podcast, where I discussed my journey as a developer, the origins of T.LY URL Shortener, and the lessons I’ve learned along the way. It was great to chat about Laravel, building products, and handling the challenges of running a SaaS service.
Summary of the Episode
Getting Started with Laravel
- Discovery of Jeffrey Way and Laracasts
- Early adoption of Laravel Forge
The Story Behind T.LY
- Origins of T.LY after Google shut down its URL Shortener goo.gl
- Launch of a URL Shortener Extension
Challenges in Running a URL Shortener
- Scaling a Laravel site for high-traffic
- Spam and malicious links
- Bot traffic and DDoS attacks
Lessons for Developers Building Products
- Start small and iterate
- Avoid overcomplicating initial product development.
- Prepare for unexpected challenges, such as abuse and security threats.
- Stay focused once a project gains traction.
Thanks for reading. Make sure you follow me on Twitter to stay up to date on the progress of my side projects T.LY, Weather Extension, and Link Shortener Extension. If you are interested in the tech I use daily, check out my uses page.