So, I started a thing. Then another thing.
The story of my first startup, Shopmatey, the lessons learned, and how it led to what I'm building now with Omni.
← Back to writing
A thread through the archive
#Shopmatey
6 articles filed under this tag.
What happens to the users when you retire a product?
Publishing an announcement that your startup is joining another platform is easy. The real engineering work is ensuring legacy store links, user identities, and creator content don't break when the old servers wind down.
Why I stopped building Shopmatey as a separate product
Letting go of an early brand is hard when you have spent years building it. On April 2, 2025, I announced that Shopmatey was joining Omni. Here is why absorbing what worked into a new product was better than keeping two alive.
I wanted a Google Knowledge Panel for the wrong reason
I used to think getting a Google Knowledge Panel was a status symbol for an ambitious founder. When one finally appeared, I realized the panel was just a side effect of doing real work and leaving clean evidence.
I trademarked Shopmatey. The process was less mysterious than I expected.
Three days after launching on Product Hunt, I filed a trademark with IPOS. Nine months later, the certificate arrived. Here is what the process looked like, and why owning a trademark is completely different from building a brand.
Why I chose FlutterFlow when I was starting out
A retrospective on why FlutterFlow made sense when I was trying to get Shopmatey onto both platforms and still figuring out what the product should become.