Evolution of real-time and AnyCable Pro
We started AnyCable Pro with a few Pro features on top of AnyCable, which was built as a performant replacement for Action Cable for Rails developers, and we needed to make it commercially successful for Evil Martians. So we focused on building what people wanted and saw their priorities shift from GraphQL to Hotwire, from chats to collaboration, and to AI-powered voice apps. With the initial value proposition in performance, we switched to solving data reliability in WebSockets, building session and data recovery, fallbacks and much more, to allow engineers to focus on their business logic, not the specific realtime issues. AnyCable became language and framework agnostic, with a much more simple initial setup and deploy. Finally we launched Managed AnyCable earlier this year. Let’s reflect on our story three years in: what worked, what didn't, and our most precious learnings. And what does the future look like for AnyCable and realtime?
The talk will weave together two narratives: our experience building and growing AnyCable Pro, and the evolution of real-time applications as we've observed.
Part 1: AnyCable Pro Journey
Launching a Commercial Version: Strategies for introducing a commercial version of an open-source product while keeping it low-code, simple, and cost-effective. Telemetry and Insights: Setting up telemetry and using it to make informed decisions. Marketing Tactics: Using blog posts, case studies, newsletters, social media, and conference talks to promote the product. On-Premise Considerations: Key factors in making on-premise products user-friendly. Managed Service Launch: How to build an MVP of a managed service.
Part 2: Evolution of Real-Time Applications
Observing the shift from GraphQL to Hotwire, from chat apps to collaborative tools, and to AI-powered voice applications.
The talk will conclude with thoughts on the future of real-time applications and AnyCable.