Talks
One engineer company with Ruby on Rails
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One engineer company with Ruby on Rails
by Radoslav StankovIn Radoslav Stankov's talk at the Balkan Ruby 2024, he discusses his journey of creating the facility management software, Angry Buildings, as the sole technical person on the team. The presentation covers the inception of the idea, the development process, and the challenges faced while building a successful product aimed at businesses. Stankov emphasizes the importance of context in engineering decisions and shares insights on achieving Product-Market Fit. Key points discussed include:
- Product Background: Angry Buildings is a facility management software evolving from a side project into a scalable ERP system.
- Motivation: Stankov’s focus shifted from his responsibilities as a CTO to a passion for working on Angry Buildings, leading him to pursue it full-time.
- Team Dynamics: The team consists of primarily non-technical positions, with Stankov managing all technical aspects alone.
- Business Strategy: The initial audience targeted were individuals, but a pivot to facility management companies was made based on market needs and available resources.
- Customer Acquisition: Maintaining zero churn illustrated the product's reliability, with current users managing approximately 30,000 apartments.
- Mistakes and Learning: Stankov openly discusses the challenges and mistakes made during development, such as misnamed database fields and premature expansions.
- Technical Stack: The software utilizes Ruby on Rails as its primary technology, with React Native for mobile applications, emphasizing simplicity and functionality.
- Client-Centric Approach: Success in serving clients was achieved through an import feature that streamlined data transition, emphasizing the importance of feedback and user needs.
- Development Practices: The speaker describes effective coding practices, such as using specific gems for functionality, maintaining extensive test coverage, and ensuring organized project management.
In conclusion, Stankov advises future developers to target businesses with non-existent systems to facilitate easier transitions and stresses the necessity of integrating sales and customer support roles within the developer framework to enhance product development. This talk serves as a guide for engineers looking to transition into product development and the importance of agile responses to customer feedback.
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I'm Radoslav. You can find me online as R Stankov pretty much everywhere.
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I started a newsletter this year because I thought I could use the free time in my life.
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All my slides are here; I will show a lot of links and information.
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I noticed that people try to take photos, but I switch slides very quickly.
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So, if you're missing something you want to capture, the URL is provided here.
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As engineers, we always say, 'It depends.' Everything depends on context.
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Let's start with some context. My company is called Angry Buildings, and it's not related to Angry Birds.
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It is facility management software, specifically accounting software for facility management.
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Actually, every software evolves into an ERP system if it lasts long enough.
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We are transforming the ERP system for companies. It started as a side project.
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Many people ask me how the idea originated. A few friends came to me with a proposal.
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I initially thought it was a stupid idea. They returned with a much better idea.
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I suggested what they needed to do, and this is how it came to fruition.
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The project began three years ago. I held the title of CTO at my previous job.
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Last year, I realized I was more excited to work on weekends than at my day job.
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This is our team; most people have short titles.
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As you can see, there's only one technical person on the team.
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That's the Bulgarian way of being the only engineer in the company.
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However, it's not just about that; in a business setting, there are several areas to manage.
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There are customer pipelines, marketing, sales, and onboarding, especially for business software. You need to provide training and support.
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These areas are usually not favored by developers.
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Let's do a little quiz here: what scares us the most?
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Is it a coffee machine that doesn't work? In my case, it can have too many buttons.
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Another scary thing is when a PM says, 'This should be easy!' Or when someone calls, expecting you to have all the answers.
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In those moments, I can’t help but think of a specific scene from a TV show.
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But the thing is, my team handles these phone calls. They are the ones who speak with businesses that still prefer calling in the 2000s.
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We move fast and have breakfast.
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The project officially started on April 1st. Our first commit dates back to then.
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We kept building, building, and building until we reached some business milestones.
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Currently, we are in a default alive state, which means if we stop doing anything, the business remains operational.
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My favorite metric is zero churn so far. We have not lost a single customer, which is fantastic.
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We usually see a 5000% growth, but that's from one to two customers.
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Right now, we manage around 30,000 apartments through our software.
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Our company's lifecycle involved discovering something we call Product-Market Fit.
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The key is that sales must become repeatable and scalable.
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In a way, we want to create a formula that can be replicated by more salespeople.
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However, achieving Product-Market Fit isn’t a one-time event. We find it can vary from one segment to another.
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When building an MVP, the common advice is often misguided.
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It's better to start with something that almost works and manually push it out until it's automated.
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This often involves fixing bugs through the Rails console until the software operates seamlessly.
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Ultimately, you will want to develop something that is clean and effective.
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Regarding competition, surprisingly many companies still use pen and paper.
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Others may utilize Excel or Google Sheets, which almost amounts to the same thing.
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We also have competitors who seem like they haven't modernized in the last 10 years.
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Our product journey initially focused on individuals managing their own buildings.
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Over time, we pivoted to target companies because they have the resources.
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We focused on what are called non-consumption companies, as these were the only ones talking to us.
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Non-consumption companies typically used pen and paper and Excel, which meant adding our software was appealing.
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Even if our software didn't cover all their needs, it still offered them a safer pathway to transition.
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Our initial focus was on construction companies, given their prevalence in the market.
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The market shifted, and we also targeted facility management companies that were just starting.
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This approach allowed us to develop more features tailored to serve them and encouraged them to cancel their Microsoft subscription.
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We focused on competitors once we believed our software was strong enough.
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We identified growing companies in the facility management space since many competitors were still outdated.
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We found that addressing the needs of growing companies was key.
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However, a significant challenge is convincing stable companies to switch software.
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Even though we can import their data and offer better features, many still resist change.
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Mistakes were made during this journey, often resulting from chaotic decision-making.
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One of my biggest mistakes involved incorrectly named database fields.
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While fixing code is often straightforward, changing a database name can be challenging.
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Even when there is a typo spanning a decade, no one seems eager to correct it.
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Making a decision regarding the user model turned out to be quite technical.
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On the business front, we tried to launch a service marketplace linked to our mobile application.
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Every person living in the building is given access to a mobile app, but we lacked the necessary usage.
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We tried to expand prematurely to Spain, which turned out to be an overcommitment.
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Many mistakes occurred simply because we attempted things without a solid plan.
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As one developer, I would often ship a singular pipeline.
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The product growth is currently on an upward trajectory, moving us toward reaching early majorities.
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Our next challenge is to convince companies to transition to our software.
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Some words of wisdom: when starting a product, target businesses that aren't currently using anything.
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That could mean replacing Excel with something they can easily implement into their workflows.
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As a developer, you should be involved in sales, support, and onboarding.
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Some of our biggest customers even have my personal phone number.
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When you hear 'no' from potential clients, grab that feedback quickly and understand why they aren't interested.
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One of our significant growth opportunities emerged when we learned about clients holding onto past data.
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So we created an import feature that facilitated their transition.
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Receiving precise problems rather than solutions from customers and sales is crucial.
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This forms the basis of building better products that truly cater to their needs.
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Having intuition in decision-making is vital for becoming an expert in any domain.
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This intuition helps determine if a specific feature is applicable to only one client or if it's a broader need.
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It's easy to get swept up in saying 'yes' to everything when trying to stay afloat.
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Allow me to share three examples of how we address client needs.
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Firstly, we have ePay in Bulgaria for paying facility bills like electricity.
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One of our clients, managing over 200 buildings, requested the ability to import payments from this system.
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This simplification saved them from spending days in Excel.
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However, I had to create a straightforward solution despite the varied building names across different systems.
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Thus, I generated an Excel template for the client to export and upload their data effortlessly.
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It's about making life easier for them, even if it takes slightly longer.
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Often, I find myself lacking intuition on how to best serve our customers.
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I created a module called 'special cases' for unique requirements, allowing customized software adaptations.
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This offers a quick overview of how many clients desire specific features.
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Another example links back to our clients wanting to print documents.
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I grew tired of creating PDFs and opted to let users select their desired settings.
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This functionality became a favorite, often garnering incredible reactions from potential clients.
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I realized that helping our customers is essential to ensuring our business's success.
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Managing priorities as the sole developer necessitated careful organization.
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The primary focus became reducing churn, followed by gaining new customers.
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The final point is saving the company money, which often correlates with generating revenue.
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Another key strategy is the 10-minute fix; small changes are usually highly valued by clients.
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Additionally, Fridays are my time for bug fixing and technical maintenance.
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This leads to weekly reviews of all sales, features, and support under a relaxed atmosphere.
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Now, let's delve into more technical aspects. When I started the project, I faced the challenge of managing everything alone.
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I had to oversee the management portal and mobile applications for both iOS and Android.
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Our tech stack consists mainly of Ruby on Rails, with React Native used for mobile apps.
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The majority of complexity resides in the Rails app, which handles essential business operations.
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My domain model revolves around accounts, buildings, and apartments.
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Rails facilitates aggregation; for instance, querying apartments under an account is straightforward.
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Currently, I have more than 563 routes and 105 Active Record models in the codebase.
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I've managed to run 2,176 tests in just three minutes, supporting three languages.
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My focus has been on keeping things simple yet effective, avoiding unnecessary complexity.
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For automation, I relied on the annotate gem to help track table names and indexes.
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By minimizing dependencies and sticking to vanilla Rails, I've reduced development friction.
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One essential component was ensuring internalization was in place from the project's inception.
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Some features not officially documented in Rails needed custom solutions, which I promptly addressed.
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I'm particularly fond of the Counter Culture gem for managing smart counter caches.
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View components have also streamlined our ability to build and manage reusable UI elements.
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For authorization, I utilize a DSL I built during my time at Product Hunt.
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Setting permission levels allows us to grant or restrict actions for various user roles.
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I leverage service objects when making decisions, keeping everything organized.
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MiniForm is another gem I depend on for creating streamlined form validations.
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Finally, I employ search objects for effective filtering and data retrieval.
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Metadata organization keeps everything in its rightful place to avoid confusion.
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I prefer structured layouts for easy navigation of the project's components.
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Tests play an essential role in ensuring uptime and reliability.
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Our end-to-end feature tests provide excellent coverage, ensuring all UI components function correctly.
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Custom helpers simplify interactions and testing within our framework.
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Thank you for your time! It's almost time for lunch, and I appreciate your attention.
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