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Notes, paid for in launches
Articles from building Madman Studio alone: shipping small products, burying the failures, and writing each lesson down before it rots into an excuse.
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Field notes
The thinking between the launches and the shutdowns — what shipping actually taught.
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- Jul 31, 2026
- AIWAR Goes to the Graveyard AIWAR is shutting down after three months of bot-heavy traffic and no clear ordinary user demand. The resources move to NBFS.
- Photo Try-On got sharper. Live Try-On is open. PopSmart Try-On update: a wider accuracy pass for Photo Try-On across product types and a new Live Try-On modal for real-time product-page fitting.
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Good Apps Hide Below the Rankings NBFS is a small independent discovery surface for Shopify apps that are not Built for Shopify yet, built around evidence instead of popularity. - AIWAR Now Has a Daily Debate Engine AIWAR now generates a daily debate prompt for discussing the U.S.–China AI war, with each debate shared on @aiwargg for public participation.
- AIWAR Daily Hook, PopSmart Real-Time Try-On A build-in-public note on strengthening AIWAR's Daily Hook and content layer while developing real-time camera-video try-on for PopSmart AI Virtual Try On.
- ASO Changed Studio. I Took Clerk Private. Shopify App Store optimization gave PopSmart Studio a clear virtual try-on job and gave me a reason to take PopSmart Clerk private while I pivot it now.
- 300,000 Shopify stores is not permission to spam them A build-in-public operating note on preparing cold email for Shopify merchants by tightening app listings, pivoting Clerk, and deciding whether to lead with one app or the family.
- One month into two Shopify apps: the Clerk signal is hard to ignore After a month building PopSmart Studio and PopSmart Clerk, the Clerk install signal is forcing a pivot from attention toward clearer merchant demand.
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AIWAR Is a Live Board for Reading the AI Race AIWAR turns the U.S.–China AI competition into a source-first command board: evidence cards, editorial impact scores, and user calls without pretending to be a benchmark. -
I Spent Almost $500 on App Ads in One Week I spent $483 on app ads for PopSmart Clerk and Studio in one week. The result was 7 installs, one pricing signal, and a clearer short-term marketing plan. - Nobody Searches for My Brand. PopSmart Studio and Clerk have been live since May to almost no traffic. The product was not the problem — the name was. I named the listings after my brand, which no merchant types into Shopify search, so I renamed them after the job they do. Now I watch the numbers.
- The Gate Opened. The Excuse Went With It. Meta's review took about forty days. While it ran, I had a reason not to do the part that actually scares me — telling people PopSmart exists. The gate just opened, and the excuse left with it.
- AI Builds in a Weekend. Review Takes a Month. Building is no longer the slow part of a launch — the platform's human review queue is.
- My Rules for Shipping Rules for launching small products before the idea becomes too expensive to question.
- The Graveyard Is Part of the Studio Why shutdowns should stay visible instead of disappearing from the story.
- Why I Keep Launching Small Products Why small launches make product truth arrive faster, reduce expensive guessing, and keep solo founder decisions grounded in public evidence.