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IndieRails

Author: Jess Brown & Jeremy Smith

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Jeremy and Jess interview indie developers who have a passion for the Rails framework and bring their hustle and creativity to building a business. They strive to understand the challenges these developers face and how they are overcoming them to create successful businesses.
77 Episodes
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Kelsey and Zack Gilbert-Kreiling are a husband-and-wife team from Chicago and the founders of Eventually, an event ticketing and commerce platform built natively for Squarespace. Kelsey shares how a fashion publication, restaurant websites, and a food festival led to her productized agency, Week of the Website, and Zack traces his path from PHP newspaper CMSes and Technori to Foursquare and fractional CTO work. They talk about how Eventually grew from a long-standing request in the Squarespace Circle community, why AI prototypes make great starting points for developers (and why designers feel differently), and how they built it as a Rails 8 + Inertia.js app on Squarespace's commerce and reseller APIs. We also get into scoping the first version with design partners, customers finding them through Claude, Instagram and marketing plans, and how they balance two businesses, two young kids, and a marriage while building together. Plus, how they met on Twitter, when Kelsey showed up to drinks thinking she was interviewing for a job at a hot new startup!Related LinksEventuallyEventually on XZack on XZack's websiteZack on LinkedInWeek of the Website (Kelsey's Squarespace agency)Squarespace CircleDesign OS by Brian Casel (Builder Methods)Inertia.jsBullet TrainTechnori1871SEOSpaceExplore Washington ParkBon Vivant CakesChapters00:53 Introductions01:36 Kelsey's path: fashion publication, a ransomed domain, and restaurant websites06:00 Producing a food festival and starting an agency07:12 Week of the Website and productizing web design13:58 Zack's path: PHP, newspaper CMSes, Technori, Foursquare19:27 Fractional CTO work and rebuilding AI-built apps20:58 How Eventually started: Kelsey's PRD and prototype25:53 The value of prototypes for developers vs. designers35:42 Working together, and how they met on Twitter37:54 The idea: selling event tickets on Squarespace41:16 The bigger opportunity: commerce for event-based businesses44:48 The tech: Rails 8, Inertia.js, and Squarespace's APIs47:04 Scoping the first version with design partners53:56 Customer research and interviews58:35 Growth: customers finding them through Claude, SEO, and Instagram1:03:46 What's next: Squarespace extensions marketplace and styling rebuild1:05:36 Balancing two businesses, two kids, and a marriage1:11:54 Chicago's role in their story1:15:36 Where to find them, and the Squarespace event in New York
A Random Tuesday

A Random Tuesday

2026-08-2501:06:55

After a 6-month hiatus, Jess and Jeremy return on a random Tuesday.
John Nunemaker is a Rails developer, entrepreneur, and indie hacker behind Flipper Cloud, Boxout, and Fireside. He joins us for a wide-ranging conversation about managing a portfolio of products at different stages of growth, how AI has transformed his development workflow, and the unique opportunity (and anxiety) that this moment in tech represents.Related LinksFlipper CloudBoxoutFiresideMomentum (South Bend entrepreneurship hub)John on X / TwitterArticles mentioned:Something Big Is HappeningAI isn't coming for your future. Fear is.75 Years of AI Adoption
Rémi is a former stained-glass master turned freelance Ruby on Rails developer. He writes extensively on software topics on his blog, and he recently wrote a reflection on his return to freelancing this past year. Rémi joins us to share his journey into software development, and the recent transition back to freelancing.Related LinksRémi's WebsiteNewsletterWorkRuby.socialLinkedInReflecting on 2025
In this episode, Jared Norman joins us to talk about his journey from aspiring game developer to founder of Super Good Software, an agency specializing in e-commerce and Solidus. Jared shares the story of how Spree evolved into Solidus, the role his team played in that transition, and what it's like to build a specialized consultancy around open source e-commerce. We also get into branding, business development, the complexities of e-commerce beyond product management, and his podcast Dead Code.Related LinksJared's WebsiteLinkedInDribbbleSuper Good SoftwareSolidusDead Code Podcast
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