pawprintfblog

This week marks an end to easyAstrology, the first app published by pawprintf in the month of its inception. It honestly feels hard to take this call while fighting the temptation to revive the product instead, for sentimental reasons. But the truth is that it has outlived its purpose.

easyAstrology was created and published as a proof of concept, a sandbox to establish that pawprintf can create and publish a minimum viable consumer app.

As pawprintf matured, the mission became clearer: to create highly rigorous, deeply useful software that fights the enshittification of the internet. AI-generated horoscopes did not fit that mission as it took shape. While building wrappers with pretty UI was fun, all it did was add clutter to the web.

And it was cluttering the pawprintf portfolio as well, especially with the products due for launch over the next few months that raise the bar significantly.

For instance, the upcoming Rectangle One features arguably the best AI implementation in its category of consumer SaaS applications by running the generated output through rigorous evals that check for consistency and bias, offering deterministic ATS checks and measured keyword coverage. It is perhaps the only product in its category to publicly post its methodology with full transparency https://rectangle.one/methodology

This decision is timely. With Rectangle One’s public launch on the horizon, a little more room will allow a little more wiggle.

Last month, we celebrated a year at pawprintf - me and my agents.

the year

It was a chase, constantly learning how to build at the standard pawprintf has set for itself while pushing that standard up faster. Which is why, for example, Rectangle One, the first flagship product to roll out, took several months to build, far from the initial 'quick tool' it was supposed to be - long story short, we kept raising quality requirements, expanded the scope, built a much larger product, brutally cut it down and went through several rounds of finishing touches.

easyAstrology acted as a proof of concept, establishing internally that pawprintf can deliver a decent consumer app.

Later, born out of a friend's frustration at being deceived into paying £50 by a PDF editing tool, pawprintf tools was the first attempt at delivering on the core philosophy of privacy and user-centricity. It was our claim that you can truly offer users software that does the simplest of tasks for free, without having to harvest their data in return. However, these too were a very simple set of utilities - offered as quick solutions with the comfort of simplicity and security. They served a core purpose, but did not raise the benchmark for pawprintf.

Rectangle One will serve that purpose. It is emerging as a world-class SaaS tool in its category that only large teams in well-funded startups could build in as much time.

the year ahead

Last month pawprintf delivered Sliced Chat - what was meant to be a weekend side project / tech demo, but grew into a polished product over 2 weeks of near sleepless nights. Sliced Chat will soon be made available as a mobile app on the iOS App Store and Google Play Store, along with a packaged PWA on the Microsoft Store.

As we prepare for the launch of Rectangle One, we also have a pipeline full of projects in development, mature product concepts, and some more on scribbled notes that are being built in parallel at breakneck speeds. Simultaneously, pawprintf is also perfecting the chisel to deliver exceptional UI / UX; the refinement levels in upcoming products will set benchmarks for independent software studios, and compete with the well-funded ones!

The building problem is solved now.

This new year is all about reaching out, shouting about pawprintf from the rooftops and from server racks. There’s going to be lots of trying and learning around getting users to experience our products - social media experiments, launch platforms, app store editorials, press outreach, personal networks & groups, podcasts, networking events, and even this blog - basically anything that can be a substitute for advertising, and therefore prevent compromising our independence. This will be the year to learn how to grow organically, and much of it will be documented out here.

Stay tuned if you’d like to follow a story of an independent software studio growing. It will be honest. It will be real. And it will always be written by a human. Promise.