It's an incredible thing to say, but I think we're getting close to our first anniversary. That's incredible but serves in this post merely as a hook for the topic I'd like to write about.
This being the increasing throughput of problems I have to face on a daily basis to drive the project further.
Just last year, there weren't merely any. I was working on the thing myself, and also, for the first few months, I didn't even get paid to host the site.
Now, this has changed drastically and so today RPI contracts a surprising 4 people part-time. We have 49 members on our Discord - and even without me ranting on Telegram - we have a steady influx of users to our site. We've got about 15 applications for a more than sparse hiring appeal on HN's "who's hiring?" thread, and last round, something like 5 million USD voted YES on us.
All of this is pretty bonkers, particularly when scrolling down and looking at some of the old posts and the sentiment I had just months ago.
But in that time, and especially now that the dust has settled after last month's round, I've come to realize (or accept) my faith as a project founder. Building and shipping, keeping things going is basically just handling a stream of never-ending problems flying towards you.
It's daunting. Sometimes it's crazy scary. But also, many times, it's incredibly rewarding and fun.
For me, when I don't code: It has also become more difficult to track and understand progress. It's almost like being the frog in the pan that gets boiled. Without the boiling part, maybe (/hopefully).
You solve problems and work to make things happen, and those things do happen, but somehow you also don't understand what changed. It's almost like being blind. Worse, it's like seeing but not being able to interpret. Dream-ish.
I don't dread this experience - so far, I've come to enjoy it. But I've become more anxious about the project's future and the fact that I seem to carry much more responsibility than I had imagined.
It's really weird and may also sound tone-deaf for some users not being involved in our production process. The website's still the same. Everything looks as it "always has."
But looking internally, things are shifting at incredible speed, and measures are being taken daily to grow and improve.
I'm overwhelmed by the passion and precision of our contributors and by how they pump out knowledge, insights, and code continuously. It's nuts!
So maybe all these words had the following purpose: To thank everyone that has helped and believed in Rug Pull Index over the last year.
I'm grateful for you to be with us, and I'm in joy seeing that we share ideas and goals. I'm curious as ever to see where we'll go!
Thank you!