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Hey 👋

I'm opening this month's issue with a request. As you might have gathered from the title of the issue, I'm putting ChartJuice on the back-burner and have started validating a new product called MetaMonster to help SEOs automate metadata cleanup (imagine if ScreamingFrog had a fix it now button).

If you work in SEO and have to deal with clients who have missing or broken metadata I would love to get your feedback! You can schedule a time to chat with me here (or hit reply to this email): https://savvycal.com/andrewaskins/f8b071cf​

Early signals have been super positive, and I'm excited to share more as we build.

Cheers,

Andrew

P.S. This issue's original essay topic was again picked by readers! Although there's no quiz at the bottom this week because I know what I want to write about next. That said, if you have any ideas hit reply and let me know.

For bootstrappers

​The downsides of using a SaaS boilerplate​

In the latest episode of Bootstrapped Web my friend Brian Casel talks about his newest product - a component library for Rails. While talking about how he landed on the idea, he talks a lot about the downside of SaaS boilerplates. In the last few years, we've seen a lot of indie founders build super profitable businesses off of boilerplates. But I think Brian hits the nail on the head with the downsides of using one, and think his component approach (which isn't a new idea, see TailwindUI) could be a lot more useful.

​Rethinking SEO in the age of AI​

In this episode of Lenny Rachitsky's podcast, Eli Schwartz (an SEO consultant) argues that SEO isn't going away, but that top of funnel traffic might be. He paints a picture of a future where high-level info questions are answered by AI instead of search, but users pivot to search when they're ready to actually find products to try. As I've been working on MetaMonster, I've been thinking a lot about the future of SEO. In general I'm more bullish than many on the future of search, and think the model Eli describes here makes a lot of sense.

​Statamic's Wordpress comparison page​

In the midst of all the Wordpress drama, I thought I'd share this really well designed comparison page from Statamic. I love that it bucks the typical matrix format, and doesn't try to compete with Wordpress feature vs feature (because as they acknowledge on the page, they CAN'T). By the way, if you want my rundown on the WP drama, listen to the latest Small Efforts episode.

From me

​When to quit on a product idea​

As I was making the decision to press pause on ChartJuice, I started looking around for advice on when to quit on an idea. So much out there is about how to validate an idea, but there isn't as much specifically talking about when to give up after lukewarm validation signals. I compiled what I found into this post and walk you through my thought process on "giving up" on ChartJuice.

For fun

​Listen to these AI podcast hosts "learn" that they're not real​

This was one of the most futuristic and unsettling pieces of AI-generated content I've come across yet. Deep Dive is a podcast automatically generated by Google's NotebookLM tool. You feed it research papers and it creates an incredibly realistic podcast episode explaining the research for you. Someone fed the tool a paper explaining that the hosts aren't real, and this was the result. Obviously the hosts aren't actually learning, but it's pretty damn convincing.

​The worst soccer ball ever made​

My friend Jon has built a massive TikTok following and business creating handmade soccer balls. One of his latest creations is this hilarious, cursed ball. Very entertaining.

​My new favorite cocktail book​

Amazon was having a big sale, so I just ordered a couple of new cocktail books, and I'm obsessed with this one from legendary NYC cocktail bar Death & Co. They talk a lot about the history and culture of the bar, and dive into strategies for creating your own cocktails. I'm excited to dive into their recipes, although lots of them use fairly obscure ingredients or infusions that are tough to justify as a home bartender. Btw, this is the kind of cocktail nerd I am (this is the website I made for my home bar).

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