Praveen Pendyala
@pkp.io
Ex-Google & Ex-Microsoft. Bootstrapping my own indie apps.
Profitable 💰
Now Scaling up 🚀🤞
Transcriptions - https://transcript.lol
Content repurposing - https://repurpose.lol
Travel planning - https://roamaround.app
Personal portfolio - https://pkp.io
Profitable 💰
Now Scaling up 🚀🤞
Transcriptions - https://transcript.lol
Content repurposing - https://repurpose.lol
Travel planning - https://roamaround.app
Personal portfolio - https://pkp.io
I'm glad I added dark mode to Transcript LOL. I spend most of day building / dogfooding transcript - cannot look at a bright screen for so long!
May 11, 2025 at 7:41 PM
I'm glad I added dark mode to Transcript LOL. I spend most of day building / dogfooding transcript - cannot look at a bright screen for so long!
Personal moats in tech are eroding fast! Are distribution and sales the only skills with long term moat?
A year ago: skilled programmer is a scarce and sought after skill.
Now: demand shifted and effective scarcity is low.
A year ago: skilled programmer is a scarce and sought after skill.
Now: demand shifted and effective scarcity is low.
May 5, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Personal moats in tech are eroding fast! Are distribution and sales the only skills with long term moat?
A year ago: skilled programmer is a scarce and sought after skill.
Now: demand shifted and effective scarcity is low.
A year ago: skilled programmer is a scarce and sought after skill.
Now: demand shifted and effective scarcity is low.
What’s your main motivation to work for yourself?
I started out just for the fun of building. Freedom is another big factor I discovered along the way.
It was rainy this weekend so, worked on Sunday and took Monday off instead 😅
I started out just for the fun of building. Freedom is another big factor I discovered along the way.
It was rainy this weekend so, worked on Sunday and took Monday off instead 😅
April 29, 2025 at 2:42 PM
What’s your main motivation to work for yourself?
I started out just for the fun of building. Freedom is another big factor I discovered along the way.
It was rainy this weekend so, worked on Sunday and took Monday off instead 😅
I started out just for the fun of building. Freedom is another big factor I discovered along the way.
It was rainy this weekend so, worked on Sunday and took Monday off instead 😅
Week 33: Email sequences - example where it really helps knowing how to code + sell 🔥
Spent a lot of time researching techniques specific to each sequence:
- 🔢 # of emails in the sequence
- 💬 Key message in each email
- ⏱️ Timing the message
Spent a lot of time researching techniques specific to each sequence:
- 🔢 # of emails in the sequence
- 💬 Key message in each email
- ⏱️ Timing the message
April 26, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Week 33: Email sequences - example where it really helps knowing how to code + sell 🔥
Spent a lot of time researching techniques specific to each sequence:
- 🔢 # of emails in the sequence
- 💬 Key message in each email
- ⏱️ Timing the message
Spent a lot of time researching techniques specific to each sequence:
- 🔢 # of emails in the sequence
- 💬 Key message in each email
- ⏱️ Timing the message
Week 32: Started off feeling defeated 😞
📢 Ad campaigns:
Weeks of work leading up to this moment! Launched our first Google Ads campaign on Sunday. Got rejected with an inconspicuous policy error. I have tried everything I could think of to get around this - Google is very unhelpful here!
📢 Ad campaigns:
Weeks of work leading up to this moment! Launched our first Google Ads campaign on Sunday. Got rejected with an inconspicuous policy error. I have tried everything I could think of to get around this - Google is very unhelpful here!
April 18, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Week 32: Started off feeling defeated 😞
📢 Ad campaigns:
Weeks of work leading up to this moment! Launched our first Google Ads campaign on Sunday. Got rejected with an inconspicuous policy error. I have tried everything I could think of to get around this - Google is very unhelpful here!
📢 Ad campaigns:
Weeks of work leading up to this moment! Launched our first Google Ads campaign on Sunday. Got rejected with an inconspicuous policy error. I have tried everything I could think of to get around this - Google is very unhelpful here!
Week 31: Bottom of funnel optimisations
Moved to Spain for the next couple of months. Same consistency in the routine just a different location.
Rebuilt the pricing page and upsell components. Focusing on the final step in the funnel:
Visitor -> User -> Key feature use -> Subscriber
Moved to Spain for the next couple of months. Same consistency in the routine just a different location.
Rebuilt the pricing page and upsell components. Focusing on the final step in the funnel:
Visitor -> User -> Key feature use -> Subscriber
April 12, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Week 31: Bottom of funnel optimisations
Moved to Spain for the next couple of months. Same consistency in the routine just a different location.
Rebuilt the pricing page and upsell components. Focusing on the final step in the funnel:
Visitor -> User -> Key feature use -> Subscriber
Moved to Spain for the next couple of months. Same consistency in the routine just a different location.
Rebuilt the pricing page and upsell components. Focusing on the final step in the funnel:
Visitor -> User -> Key feature use -> Subscriber
Who Is Your ICP? An onboarding survey can capture this! Inspired by @TallyForms I'm adding this. But...
I don't want to overload the path to key feature usage. I plan to show this right after user requests their first transcript and waiting for the result. Are there better ways to gather this?
I don't want to overload the path to key feature usage. I plan to show this right after user requests their first transcript and waiting for the result. Are there better ways to gather this?
April 3, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Who Is Your ICP? An onboarding survey can capture this! Inspired by @TallyForms I'm adding this. But...
I don't want to overload the path to key feature usage. I plan to show this right after user requests their first transcript and waiting for the result. Are there better ways to gather this?
I don't want to overload the path to key feature usage. I plan to show this right after user requests their first transcript and waiting for the result. Are there better ways to gather this?
Week 29: No one cares about your product...
It's your job to convince your users to care! We have to get users to the wow moment as quickly as possible! In practice, this means: keeping the funnel to key feature usage as short and distraction free as possible.
It's your job to convince your users to care! We have to get users to the wow moment as quickly as possible! In practice, this means: keeping the funnel to key feature usage as short and distraction free as possible.
March 28, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Week 29: No one cares about your product...
It's your job to convince your users to care! We have to get users to the wow moment as quickly as possible! In practice, this means: keeping the funnel to key feature usage as short and distraction free as possible.
It's your job to convince your users to care! We have to get users to the wow moment as quickly as possible! In practice, this means: keeping the funnel to key feature usage as short and distraction free as possible.
Week 28: Marketing, marketing, marketing
Word of mouth has been good but not enough for the growth I want to see in Transcript. This week's focus has been on doing some ground work to test new marketing channels. Excited to hit the ground running by next week!
Word of mouth has been good but not enough for the growth I want to see in Transcript. This week's focus has been on doing some ground work to test new marketing channels. Excited to hit the ground running by next week!
March 21, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Week 28: Marketing, marketing, marketing
Word of mouth has been good but not enough for the growth I want to see in Transcript. This week's focus has been on doing some ground work to test new marketing channels. Excited to hit the ground running by next week!
Word of mouth has been good but not enough for the growth I want to see in Transcript. This week's focus has been on doing some ground work to test new marketing channels. Excited to hit the ground running by next week!
Week 27: Marketing work
Been doing some groundwork for a consistent marketing push. Need to crack the distribution problem well or everything else I’m building is for nothing
Also, I have finally taken a few days off this week with a long weekend trip to Norway.
Been doing some groundwork for a consistent marketing push. Need to crack the distribution problem well or everything else I’m building is for nothing
Also, I have finally taken a few days off this week with a long weekend trip to Norway.
March 14, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Week 27: Marketing work
Been doing some groundwork for a consistent marketing push. Need to crack the distribution problem well or everything else I’m building is for nothing
Also, I have finally taken a few days off this week with a long weekend trip to Norway.
Been doing some groundwork for a consistent marketing push. Need to crack the distribution problem well or everything else I’m building is for nothing
Also, I have finally taken a few days off this week with a long weekend trip to Norway.
Recharging 🧠 with this little boy 🐶
March 9, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Recharging 🧠 with this little boy 🐶
Week 26: A slow week 🐢
🔢 Dashboard to track conversions per channel
📢 Prep for Ads and organic experiments
🚀 Fixed bottlenecks with database
🔢 Dashboard to track conversions per channel
📢 Prep for Ads and organic experiments
🚀 Fixed bottlenecks with database
March 7, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Week 26: A slow week 🐢
🔢 Dashboard to track conversions per channel
📢 Prep for Ads and organic experiments
🚀 Fixed bottlenecks with database
🔢 Dashboard to track conversions per channel
📢 Prep for Ads and organic experiments
🚀 Fixed bottlenecks with database
The look and sound of real luxury….
I’m grateful that I get to wake up to this and build my company on my own terms.
I’m grateful that I get to wake up to this and build my company on my own terms.
March 5, 2025 at 11:38 AM
The look and sound of real luxury….
I’m grateful that I get to wake up to this and build my company on my own terms.
I’m grateful that I get to wake up to this and build my company on my own terms.
I will give investor updates bootstrapping.
I will give investor updates bootstrapping.
I will give investor updates bootstrapping.
I will give investor updates bootstrapping.
I will give investor updates bootstrapping.
I will give investor updates bootstrapping.
I will give investor updates bootstrapping.
March 3, 2025 at 10:00 AM
I will give investor updates bootstrapping.
I will give investor updates bootstrapping.
I will give investor updates bootstrapping.
I will give investor updates bootstrapping.
I will give investor updates bootstrapping.
I will give investor updates bootstrapping.
I will give investor updates bootstrapping.
Week 25: I survived a week without AI 🤖 Here's what I learned...
Thanks to @EE I'm practically cut-off from internet this week so, I challenged myself to build offline!
Thanks to @EE I'm practically cut-off from internet this week so, I challenged myself to build offline!
February 28, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Week 25: I survived a week without AI 🤖 Here's what I learned...
Thanks to @EE I'm practically cut-off from internet this week so, I challenged myself to build offline!
Thanks to @EE I'm practically cut-off from internet this week so, I challenged myself to build offline!
I gave the same problem to ChatGPT, Deepseek R1, Claude and Grok. The results tell a very different story to benchmarks!
Models tested:
- o3-mini-high (ChatGPT)
- DeepThink R1 (DeepSeek)
- Claude 3.5 Sonnet
- Grok 3 beta (thinking on)
Models tested:
- o3-mini-high (ChatGPT)
- DeepThink R1 (DeepSeek)
- Claude 3.5 Sonnet
- Grok 3 beta (thinking on)
February 27, 2025 at 12:00 PM
I gave the same problem to ChatGPT, Deepseek R1, Claude and Grok. The results tell a very different story to benchmarks!
Models tested:
- o3-mini-high (ChatGPT)
- DeepThink R1 (DeepSeek)
- Claude 3.5 Sonnet
- Grok 3 beta (thinking on)
Models tested:
- o3-mini-high (ChatGPT)
- DeepThink R1 (DeepSeek)
- Claude 3.5 Sonnet
- Grok 3 beta (thinking on)
One thing I learnt from successful founders and good programmers.
Successful founders 🏎️
When building something, built it fast so you can do: users 🔁 feedback 🔁 improve
Good programmers 🧠
When building something, build it right so you don't have to keep coming back to it
Successful founders 🏎️
When building something, built it fast so you can do: users 🔁 feedback 🔁 improve
Good programmers 🧠
When building something, build it right so you don't have to keep coming back to it
February 26, 2025 at 12:00 PM
One thing I learnt from successful founders and good programmers.
Successful founders 🏎️
When building something, built it fast so you can do: users 🔁 feedback 🔁 improve
Good programmers 🧠
When building something, build it right so you don't have to keep coming back to it
Successful founders 🏎️
When building something, built it fast so you can do: users 🔁 feedback 🔁 improve
Good programmers 🧠
When building something, build it right so you don't have to keep coming back to it
0 ➡️ 25 ➡️ 0 - in just a few minutes.
Very happy with the results of scaling work last week. Transcript LOL demonstrated it can scale, and more importantly scale quick!
Onto improving other areas now!
Very happy with the results of scaling work last week. Transcript LOL demonstrated it can scale, and more importantly scale quick!
Onto improving other areas now!
February 25, 2025 at 12:01 PM
0 ➡️ 25 ➡️ 0 - in just a few minutes.
Very happy with the results of scaling work last week. Transcript LOL demonstrated it can scale, and more importantly scale quick!
Onto improving other areas now!
Very happy with the results of scaling work last week. Transcript LOL demonstrated it can scale, and more importantly scale quick!
Onto improving other areas now!
What did you do last week?
Everyone should be asking this question themselves. It’s a basic pulse check if you want to grow! I been answering this question every week, publicly, for 24 weeks now!
Everyone should be asking this question themselves. It’s a basic pulse check if you want to grow! I been answering this question every week, publicly, for 24 weeks now!
February 24, 2025 at 10:08 AM
What did you do last week?
Everyone should be asking this question themselves. It’s a basic pulse check if you want to grow! I been answering this question every week, publicly, for 24 weeks now!
Everyone should be asking this question themselves. It’s a basic pulse check if you want to grow! I been answering this question every week, publicly, for 24 weeks now!
I been getting a lot of requests lately to chat about startups. I'm always enthusiastic to listen and share my experience! If you do book a meeting, please show up because, I will! And it's not fun sitting in a cold room (where I take my calls), in my weekend, waiting for you to never join the call!
February 23, 2025 at 11:00 AM
I been getting a lot of requests lately to chat about startups. I'm always enthusiastic to listen and share my experience! If you do book a meeting, please show up because, I will! And it's not fun sitting in a cold room (where I take my calls), in my weekend, waiting for you to never join the call!
I gave ChatGPT $500 budget. Watch me turn it into $50,000 - these are the FOMO bros I do not miss!
February 22, 2025 at 1:21 PM
I gave ChatGPT $500 budget. Watch me turn it into $50,000 - these are the FOMO bros I do not miss!
Week 24: Scaling up: millions of hours per year ⬆️
💪 Transcript is now ready to handle ~100 hours of transcription per minute
🛣️ Clear path to scale this further 2-5x
⌛️ Cold boot optimisations
Scaling is an endless pit of things to do. Will revisit after demand catch ups.
💪 Transcript is now ready to handle ~100 hours of transcription per minute
🛣️ Clear path to scale this further 2-5x
⌛️ Cold boot optimisations
Scaling is an endless pit of things to do. Will revisit after demand catch ups.
February 21, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Week 24: Scaling up: millions of hours per year ⬆️
💪 Transcript is now ready to handle ~100 hours of transcription per minute
🛣️ Clear path to scale this further 2-5x
⌛️ Cold boot optimisations
Scaling is an endless pit of things to do. Will revisit after demand catch ups.
💪 Transcript is now ready to handle ~100 hours of transcription per minute
🛣️ Clear path to scale this further 2-5x
⌛️ Cold boot optimisations
Scaling is an endless pit of things to do. Will revisit after demand catch ups.
Stress tested Transcript LOL’s scaling mechanism today. Hit a peak of 200 hours per minute, no problems 🔥🔥
Making improvements to cold boot speeds before the next test.
Making improvements to cold boot speeds before the next test.
February 20, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Stress tested Transcript LOL’s scaling mechanism today. Hit a peak of 200 hours per minute, no problems 🔥🔥
Making improvements to cold boot speeds before the next test.
Making improvements to cold boot speeds before the next test.
The simple autoscaler we use in production. Can make it smarter as we know so much else that we don't use:
- Size of each active job
- Size of each queued job
- Mean-time to completion per job per size
- Size of each active job
- Size of each queued job
- Mean-time to completion per job per size
February 20, 2025 at 10:00 AM
The simple autoscaler we use in production. Can make it smarter as we know so much else that we don't use:
- Size of each active job
- Size of each queued job
- Mean-time to completion per job per size
- Size of each active job
- Size of each queued job
- Mean-time to completion per job per size