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Adrian Marin is a self-thought engineer and entrepreneur running Avo. Avo started as a side project, and now is a lively project with about 150 paying customers, and more than 400 apps running it in production. Building a business is not easy. Selling to developers is even harder. Adrian chose the difficult path to do both and he's been lucky enough to survive it.
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In the talk "Build a business on Open Source and Ruby," Adrian Marin, a self-taught engineer and entrepreneur, shares his journey of developing Avo, an advanced content management system and admin panel framework designed specifically for Ruby on Rails. Initially started as a side project during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Avo has since gained significant traction with over 200 paying customers and a team of three. The talk emphasizes the challenges faced when building a business targeted at developers and the learnings accumulated along the way. **Key Points:** - **Personal Introduction:** Adrian Marin introduces himself, discussing his background as a self-taught engineer and his passion for product development, design, marketing, and sales. - **Avo's Evolution:** Avo started as Project Avocado in response to the limitations of existing admin panel frameworks for Rails. Adrian aimed to create a polished tool to enhance developer productivity. - **Initial Challenges:** Despite building a seemingly useful product, Adrian faced significant skepticism from potential users, who were accustomed to free alternatives. This lack of immediate interest tested his resolve. - **Community Engagement:** Successful promotion came from community involvement, including participation in conferences and podcasts to raise awareness of Avo. - **Product Development:** Adrian shares the importance of adapting his product based on user feedback, particularly after the introduction of Hotwire, which he quickly integrated into Avo. - **Resilience and Support:** Acknowledging struggles and the critical support from his spouse and other community members, Adrian emphasizes the need for persistence. - **Financial Milestones:** Over time, Avo reached various revenue milestones, eventually achieving a level of profitability allowing him the freedom to make independent development decisions. - **Lessons Learned:** Adrian outlines key business takeaways that include starting with a minimum viable product, actively listening to customer feedback, early monetization, and refining marketing efforts to promote the product better. - **Future Outlook:** The journey is ongoing, with Adrian encouraging others to engage and share experiences within their communities to foster growth and support. In conclusion, Adrian's experience underscores that the path to building a successful business in software involves executing ideas, learning from the market, and maintaining a strong connection with the user community. The session inspires developers to overcome hesitation and focus on shipping valuable products to their intended audiences.
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