six weeks ago, i decided to build & open-source a project that used as many YC W23 companies as possible. in honor of demo day, i'm launching it and sharing some takeaways.

eventbase is a simple platform to create & manage in-person events: https://eventbase.app/

it’s nothing special on its own, but was an excellent blank canvas to experiment with all of the different dev tools.

1/ the website matters: a sleek, well-crafted website is often a proxy for overall product sense & attention to detail

2/ optimize time to value: make sure users reach the “aha moment” in as little time & with as little effort as possible

3/ reduce all friction: good docs are the difference between a user successfully integrating or giving up, so eliminate any margin for error

4/ keep it simple: no matter how good the docs are, no one wants to install a bunch of junk just to experiment with a new product

5/ obsess over customers: the best founders are maniacally focused on making their users successful

6/ ship, ship, ship: shipping is the most effective way to learn alongside your customers

i’ve had a ton of fun working on this & gained so much respect for all of the yc founders out there. if you’re building a product for developers, let’s work together to integrate it into eventbase. it’s fully open-source, so feel free to clone it, play around, & submit a pull request: https://github.com/alanagoyal/eventbase