The least sexy part of building
Hey—it’s Matt.
The least glamorous part of product building is usually the most important. No launch tweets, no shiny UI. Just working through the stuff that quietly compounds.
That’s been my focus with Jasin this week. I doubled the free plan credits from 5 to 10, added a Pro Plus tier plan ($30/mo. for 100 credits), built public-facing pages for every embed, and started planning out ~500 programmatic landing pages. None of it will wow a demo crowd, but it makes the product easier to find and stickier to use.
The links I pulled this week circle that same theme: less flash, more foundation.
Have a great weekend and enjoy Edition #118.
MOST INTERESTING
Vibe Coding and the Illusion of Progress
AI can spin up features with a few vibes and prompts. It feels magical. But speed isn’t progress if you’re piling up technical debt and ignoring real problems. Are you mistaking momentum for traction?
TOOLS + RESOURCES
Aqua Voice
This app is local voice input for with ~97% accuracy—even on technical jargon. I’ve been using voice more for coding, browsing, and even “writing”.
Conforto Font
A relaxed, convenience-first type family in Thin, Light, and Regular. Perfect for UIs where you want calm instead of shouty.
Ten Tips for Integrating Brand into Products
Adobe’s playbook for baking brand into product decisions—everything from error states to emotional micro-moments. A good reminder that “brand” isn’t decoration, but a series of choices that (hopefully) resonate with consumers.
MD Radio
I gave my radio station a fresh coat of paint this week. Lock in. Vibe out. Stay productive.
TRENDS + SIGNALS
AI Is Changing Search Behaviors
NN/g’s study shows how generative AI is reshaping how people find information. Users like AI overviews for quick synthesis, but still fall back on Google for trust. For builders, that means the “first reader” of your work might be a model, not a human.
The Body Remains the Interface
XR and AI are fun until they make you dizzy or leave you out. This essay argues that your body—not code—is the ultimate interface.
CLOSING THOUGHT
The work that compounds usually isn’t the work that trends. But that’s the point. Quiet layers today set up leverage tomorrow.
Stay sharp, stay building, and I’ll see you next week.
Cheers,
Matt Downey
digitalnative.news • 𝕏 • Threads
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MY STACK
These are the tools that help me run my business every day. I happily pay for each of them—they’re worth every penny. I hope you find them useful, too.
- Beehiiv → How I send this newsletter every week. 10/10 would recommend.
- Brain.fm → How I kickstart my productivity and find flow-state.
- Mercury → The best business banking I’ve ever used.
- Screen Studio → How I record engaging videos.
- Typefully → How I post content to my socials.
- Kick → My bookkeeping on auto-pilot.