Austin Spires – Blog https://www.austinspires.com Blog posts from Austin Spires on developer platforms, GTM, and product. If AI Can Make Anything, Taste Matters More Than Ever https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2025-04-25-AI-and-taste/ https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2025-04-25-AI-and-taste/ Sat Apr 19 2025 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) What should we teach future generations? PBS and Playing the Long Game https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2025-02-17-PBS-long-game/ https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2025-02-17-PBS-long-game/ Mon Feb 17 2025 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) The Philmont Grace https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2024-12-30-philmont-grace/ https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2024-12-30-philmont-grace/ Mon Dec 30 2024 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) How to fight 'failure by default' https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2014-12-23-fight-failure/ https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2014-12-23-fight-failure/ Mon Dec 23 2024 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) Failure is the default state https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2024-12-04-failure-default/ https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2024-12-04-failure-default/ Fri Dec 06 2024 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) Great things require intention, consistency, and patience. None are easy. Systems thinking, incentives, and picking metrics https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2024-11-30-systems-thinking/ https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2024-11-30-systems-thinking/ Sat Nov 30 2024 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) Dissecting an approach to systems analysis and how to think about incentives and directly controllable metrics On balancing information consumption and digestion https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2024-11-24-information/ https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2024-11-24-information/ Thu Nov 28 2024 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) Reflecting on the joy of learning new facts vs. the time it takes to meaningfully process Move towards the hard thing https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2024-09-06-move-hard-thing/ https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2024-09-06-move-hard-thing/ Fri Sep 06 2024 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) Writing a pep talk for my past, present, and future self The uncertain future of industry events https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2024-09-03-industry-events/ https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2024-09-03-industry-events/ Tue Sep 03 2024 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) Thoughts on the end and beginning of industry events My chili recipe, backstory included https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2024-04-09-chili-recipe/ https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2024-04-09-chili-recipe/ Tue Apr 09 2024 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) My attempt at recreating Wolf Brand chili, the greatest chili ever Why do we create? https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2024-04-01-why-do-we-create/ https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2024-04-01-why-do-we-create/ Mon Apr 01 2024 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) An ode to the intangible urge to make something where there was nothing before (2015) Building Fastly's Initial Support, Parts 1-4 https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2010-building-fastlys-support/ https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2010-building-fastlys-support/ Mon Oct 05 2015 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) A deep dive on building the intial iteractions of Fastly's best-in-class support posture Life Advice from Werner Hertzog https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2015-hertzog-advice/ https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2015-hertzog-advice/ Tue Jan 27 2015 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) Reblogging a list of life advice from the famed director Procrasti-working and Lettering https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2014-10-04-procrastiworking/ https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2014-10-04-procrastiworking/ Sun Oct 05 2014 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) Notes from experimenting with some fun outlets Grok the customer https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2014-02-15-grok-customer/ https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2014-02-15-grok-customer/ Sat Feb 15 2014 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) Encouragement to learn -- really learn -- the nuances of your customer Shoutout to Ops https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2014-01-10-shoutout-to-ops/ https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2014-01-10-shoutout-to-ops/ Mon Jan 20 2014 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) A 'Thank You' to the countless teams and people who keep our systems online Is it better to be fast or good with support? https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2014-01-17-support-time-quality/ https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2014-01-17-support-time-quality/ Fri Jan 17 2014 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) Add posts and your site build will publish them What is trust? https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2014-01-13-what-is-trust/ https://www.austinspires.com/blog/2014-01-13-what-is-trust/ Mon Jan 13 2014 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) Trust underpins so much more than we expect LOREMIPSUM Improving Developer Experience https://www.austinspires.com/blog/sample-post/ https://www.austinspires.com/blog/sample-post/ Mon Apr 24 2000 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) A few principles I’ve learned about scaling dev-first organizations.