Insights
Notes from building real products: what broke, what worked and the decisions behind them.
Launch videos built like softwareReal product screens, a voice timed to the word and a soundtrack mixed to broadcast level. How I make the launch video for every product I ship.Taking payments in Nigeria without losing a single orderHow BelleFood accepts card, Paystack transfer and direct bank transfer, and why an order is only ever marked paid by the server.A gym check-in that decides at the doorHow Zenthos Gym turns one printed QR code into a membership check, a live front desk feed and a fair start date for every member.A rest timer that rings with the screen offHow the Zenthos Gym workout screen hands a running rest timer to the server, so the member's phone still buzzes when it ends, and never rings twice.Referral rewards people actually openWhy Zenthos Gym stopped adding free days silently, and how a gift that waits to be unwrapped is granted, counted and opened exactly once.Push notifications that never repeat and never get lostHow Zenthos Gym delivers every alert to every device exactly once, with database claims, retries that expire and a five-minute backstop.The browser never sets the priceHow BelleFood keeps prices, payment status and points out of the customer's reach, with one ordering function and column guards in Postgres.One business, many branches: permissions in the databaseHow Zenthos Gym lets a receptionist see only their own branch while the manager sees everything, using one function and Row Level Security.