The Hive

The Hive by Abi Raja explores the intersection of technology, entrepreneurship, and personal development. Posts span from AI and blockchain advancements, to startup life, including hackathons and the challenge of building and scaling products. Recurrent themes include the importance of user-centric design, rapid experimentation, and learning from market feedback.

Artificial Intelligence Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Startup and Entrepreneurship Product Development and Management Programming and Software Development Hackathons Personal Development Investment and Finance Travel

The hottest Substack posts of The Hive

And their main takeaways

In the age of rapidly advancing base models, where are the AI moats?

78 implied HN points • 19 Mar 23
🕹 Technology
  1. AI moats are hard to find in the age of rapidly advancing base models.
  2. Investing time in building optimization tricks for AI-driven products may not be worthwhile with new, better models constantly being released.
  3. To beat incumbents in the AI space, consider building a radically different user interface to address user needs.

Lessons from an AI building spree

78 implied HN points • 08 Feb 23
  1. In hackathons, having a cool demo idea is key to winning.
  2. Winning hackathons doesn't guarantee success in building real products.
  3. To build a successful business, focus on solving user problems and consider being a fast follower in the market.

What if it’s too easy?

39 implied HN points • 24 Jul 23
🕹 Technology Innovation Coding AI Competition
  1. Sometimes things may seem hard or impossible, but seeing others do it can change your perspective.
  2. Try short spikes of work to test if something is actually as difficult as it seems.
  3. Competition in your space can be beneficial, as you can learn from others' mistakes and plans.
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Building Recap (Nov '22 - Jan '23)

39 implied HN points • 05 Feb 23
  1. The author worked on 8 different projects over the past 3 months.
  2. Building and releasing products can be challenging but rewarding in the end.
  3. The current project, WhimsyWorks, focuses on validating user needs before building a full product.

Weekly Update #8

39 implied HN points • 22 Feb 22
  1. The author evaluated SaaS ideas based on 5 criteria, choosing to work on blockchain analytics.
  2. The author decided not to work on education or Solana Pay, focusing instead on individual transaction analysis in blockchain analytics.
  3. The author outlined goals for the next 2 weeks including marketing, product development, and content creation.

Weekly Update #2

39 implied HN points • 15 Dec 21
  1. Finished mastering Bitcoin book, found it informative and interesting.
  2. Explored Rust and wasm for AI applications, enjoyed the toolchain and building a face detector.
  3. Started building a Solana NFT showcase, faced challenges with Solana documentation.

Weekly Update #7

19 implied HN points • 09 Feb 22
  1. The author participated in a fun hackathon and enjoyed building a product end-to-end.
  2. After the hackathon, the author is taking time to rest, consolidate knowledge, and plan next steps.
  3. Focus for February is on exploring SaaS opportunities in the Solana ecosystem and launching a Solana SaaS idea by the end of the month.

Weekly Update #6

19 implied HN points • 24 Jan 22
  1. Keep focused on your goals and keep going, even when things feel tough.
  2. Focus on diving deep into specific areas of interest to be more productive.
  3. Set clear goals for the week ahead to stay on track and make progress.

Weekly Update #5

19 implied HN points • 13 Jan 22
  1. Running Jupyter notebooks fast on the cloud can be done with Big 3 cloud providers like AWS, GCP, and Azure.
  2. Using a powerful instance like ml.p3.2xlarge on AWS can speed up image generation and persist data across restarts.
  3. Serverless applied to ML inference could be a cost-effective solution for generative AI applications.

New Adventures

19 implied HN points • 26 Oct 21
  1. Abi Raja is embarking on new adventures after leaving a position as Head of Engineering at Patio.
  2. Abi Raja's goals include buying a micro-business, releasing an app, and writing daily about their experiences as an engineering leader.
  3. Evaluation criteria for purchasing a business involves considering growth potential, while the app development focuses on personal passion and improving skills.

Stonks (2021)

0 implied HN points • 11 Feb 21
  1. It's important to invest in the public markets and not just leave money idly in a bank account.
  2. 2020 saw significant returns for stocks such as Tesla and Peloton.
  3. Consider investing more with beginner's luck to test your skills in the market.

Weekly Update #3

0 implied HN points • 22 Dec 21
  1. The author is diving deeper into crypto and applied to a program
  2. Excitement towards crypto and AI technologies
  3. Setting goals for the week to write about Solana blockchain and experiment with GANs

Moving Fast

0 implied HN points • 20 Dec 21
  1. Moving fast is a big advantage in a startup environment where others may be moving slowly.
  2. Making quick decisions and unblocking others helps in maintaining speed within an organization.
  3. In hiring processes, moving swiftly and making no-hire decisions promptly can streamline the recruitment process.

Weekly Update #1

0 implied HN points • 08 Dec 21
  1. Having goals like buying a micro-business and releasing an app to the App Store
  2. Challenges in motivating oneself to write daily
  3. Engagement in learning about crypto, NFTs, and setting new goals like showcasing Solana NFTs and finishing a book on Bitcoin

Travel: Cape Cod

0 implied HN points • 10 Jul 20
  1. If you have one day in Cape Cod, drive up to Provincetown, visit Herring Cove Beach, and see Highland Lighthouse in Truro.
  2. Enjoy some famous oysters in Wellfleet and watch the sunset at Wellfleet Harbor.
  3. Head to Nauset Lighthouse in Eastham and end the day in Orleans with Lavender Honey ice cream from Local Scoop.

Buying > Building (side hustle pt. 1)

0 implied HN points • 17 Jun 20
  1. Focus on ideas that make money immediately and can eventually become passive income.
  2. Consider buying existing online businesses instead of building from scratch for quicker results.
  3. Even when buying, it's important to have side projects for immediate gratification like programming/building.

Airtable-Powered Website

0 implied HN points • 12 Aug 20
  1. Built a website powered by Airtable to allow easy editing without coding.
  2. Implemented multi-language support for the website content stored in Airtable.
  3. Had to self-host the website due to limitations in running the deployment on Vercel.

Weekly Update #4

0 implied HN points • 05 Jan 22
  1. Wrote an article on querying information on the Solana blockchain and worked on creating an embeddable live code editor in the browser.
  2. Got a new personal website up and running using tailwind-nextjs-starter-blog, making it easy to deploy and customize.
  3. Plans for this week include generating NFTs, developing commercially viable API services using OpenAI, and writing a blog post.

Citibike Economics

0 implied HN points • 01 Sep 20
  1. Consider annual Citibike membership if you take more than 55 rides a year.
  2. Unlimited Citibike usage can change user behavior by making short rides more appealing.
  3. Citibike could offer a 1-month trial to get people hooked on the service and potentially raise prices.

The Landing Page Method (side hustle pt. 2)

0 implied HN points • 29 Jun 20
  1. Validate product need without a product using the landing page method
  2. The landing page method helps measure interest through sign-ups or pre-orders
  3. Using landing pages to validate product need can result in high accuracy

December Summary

0 implied HN points • 02 Jan 24
💼 Business Entrepreneurship Revenue Marketing
  1. Pico update: MRR down, new subscribers down, visitor numbers stabilized.
  2. Screenshot to Code update: Revenue up, visitors up, planning to build a SaaS for recurring revenue.
  3. December: Working on building pieces for new project, took time off, now back to building and marketing.