Thought Leadership
How AI will change product onboarding (and what won't change)AI will personalize onboarding timing, content, and sequencing. But trust, accessibility, and user control still require human decisions. A developer's take.Apr 11, 2026 · 11 min readThought Leadership
Why the best onboarding software in 2026 is a React libraryCode-first React libraries beat SaaS onboarding platforms on cost, performance, and control. Pricing data, bundle sizes, and architecture compared.Apr 11, 2026 · 8 min readThought Leadership
GitHub stars don't pay the bills (but they help)A solo developer's honest look at what GitHub stars actually do for an open-source library. Real numbers on the gap between stars and revenue.Apr 11, 2026 · 7 min readThought Leadership
From 0 to 1000 GitHub stars: the Tour Kit playbookHow I grew a React product tour library from zero to its first 1,000 GitHub stars as a solo developer. Real tactics, real numbers, no paid ads.Apr 11, 2026 · 10 min readThought Leadership
How I built a 10-package React library as a solo developerThe real story behind Tour Kit: 12 packages, 31K lines of TypeScript, and 141 commits in 3.5 months. Architecture decisions, failures, and what I'd change.Apr 11, 2026 · 10 min readThought Leadership
The indie hacker's guide to competing with VC-funded SaaSLearn how bootstrapped founders compete with funded SaaS companies using niche focus, lower CAC, and developer trust. Real data from ChartMogul and HBR.Apr 11, 2026 · 9 min readThought Leadership
Onboarding is a developer problem, not a product manager problemLearn why developers should own onboarding code. Performance, accessibility, and code ownership make the case for developer-owned onboarding.Apr 11, 2026 · 10 min readThought Leadership
The $3.6B onboarding tax: how SaaS tools extract developer valueThe onboarding and digital adoption market hits $3.6B in 2026. Most of that money flows away from the developers who do the actual integration work.Apr 11, 2026 · 9 min readThought Leadership
The open-source business model for developer librariesCompare open core, dual licensing, and SaaS models for monetizing developer libraries. Real revenue data and lessons from building Tour Kit.Apr 11, 2026 · 10 min readThought Leadership
Product-led growth doesn't need $300/month SaaS toolsBuild a complete product-led growth stack for under $100/month. Compare open-source PLG tools against Appcues, Pendo, and Userpilot with real pricing data.Apr 11, 2026 · 10 min readThought Leadership
The product tour is dead. Long live the headless tour.Traditional product tours fail 78% of users. Headless tour architecture separates logic from UI, giving teams full control over onboarding.Apr 11, 2026 · 11 min readThought Leadership
I analyzed 100 SaaS onboarding flows — here's what the top 10% do differentStudy of 100 SaaS onboarding flows reveals 8 patterns separating top performers (70%+ completion) from the 19% average. Data and methodology included.Apr 11, 2026 · 12 min readThought Leadership
The shadcn/ui effect: why unstyled components winExplore why the unstyled component model pioneered by shadcn/ui is reshaping React development, and what it means for product tours and onboarding.Apr 11, 2026 · 9 min readThought Leadership
Month 1 of Tour Kit: launch metrics and lessonsReal numbers from launching an open source React library as a solo developer. GitHub stars, npm downloads, what worked, what flopped, and what I'd cut.Apr 11, 2026 · 8 min readThought Leadership
The unbundling of onboarding: why all-in-one is overAll-in-one onboarding platforms are losing to modular stacks. See the data behind the shift and what composable onboarding looks like in 2026.Apr 11, 2026 · 10 min readThought Leadership
What I learned from reviewing 50 competitor blogsReview 50 SaaS onboarding tool blogs and discover what content patterns work, what developers actually want, and what every vendor gets wrong.Apr 11, 2026 · 8 min readThought Leadership
Why I chose $99 one-time over $300/month recurringA solo developer explains the pricing decision behind Tour Kit's $99 one-time Pro license. Real numbers, real tradeoffs, and why subscription models felt wrong.Apr 11, 2026 · 8 min readThought Leadership
Why we open-sourced Tour Kit under MIT (not AGPL, not BSL)Why I chose MIT over AGPL and BSL for Tour Kit. Real data from HashiCorp, Redis, Elastic, and Shepherd.js shaped the open source license decision.Apr 11, 2026 · 9 min read