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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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- Sep 16, 2026
- Two more PopSmart apps are in Shopify review An upsell bundle app and a size chart and recommender are in Shopify review for a planned October 2026 launch, while a separate research service for small ecommerce operators is also in development.
- Clerk belongs in the graveyard now The first PopSmart Clerk version is moving from Live to the Graveyard because demand was not clear enough, and the product has fully pivoted. Two Shopify apps are being prepared for a joint public announcement.
- The cold email signal is not zero After contacting about 1,500 Shopify stores, the cold email strategy is not proven yet, but weekly demo and proposal requests are enough signal to expand the test.
- 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.