Comment by raphaelj | Hacker News Reader

Comment by raphaelj | Hacker News Reader

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Hey Anthony,

I really like your product. It's crazy fast, might solve one of my issue, is super simple to use, and the UI is gorgeous.

I've a few questions though:

- how do you compare to other privacy focused analytics tools, such as https://usefathom.com/ or https://simpleanalytics.com/?

- it seems like you just launched your SaaS a couple of weeks ago. Why didn't you launch it earlier by removing some not strictly necessary/MVP features, such as the security login emails, the ability to manage multiple websites, a less scalable but simpler architecture ... ?

- how much time have you spent developing the product? I've been working on my personal SaaS for more than one year, planning to launch it in the next few weeks. I'm still working at my 4/5 full time job, and I really wonder how you managed to deliver this beautiful product while still working fulltime. That would be a wonderful opportunity for blog article BTW.

Great work!

Hey thanks for the nice comment :)

About your questions:

1) Fathom, Simple Analytics, and Plausible are great. They have done an incredible work too. Panelbear has already most (if not all) of the features you might find in their offerings. However, I do intend to dive into more advanced functionality, while keeping it simple to use. I will be talking more about it when I feel confident about what I can deliver.

2) I launched in September, but only with a few posts here and here. It was also a lot more barebones back then. I try to release a new feature each week, and traffic has been slowly ramping up. I guess I just haven't had much time to promote it, but I plan to keep writing blog posts if there's something interesting.

3) I try to limit work on Panelbear to 2 hours per day. If I want to be in this for the long-term, it's gotta be sustainable, and fun. I try to leverage most of the tools I already know, even if unconventional like Kubernetes, to help me focus on shipping rather than learning a new tool.

Glad you like the design :) I took courses in design when I was studying, but I actually struggle a lot with it. It has helped me appreciate just how much work goes into a good design.

Thanks!

The design is top notch, definitively one of the best simple SaaS UI and UX I've ever seen.

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