In this episode of Peerlist Mindset, we chat with Steven, Founder and CEO of Dub. Steven’s journey is full of twists— from learning coding during COVID-19 to working at Vercel to building Dub as a side project, and now a platform that helps manage millions of short links and marketing analytics for companies like Perplexity, Raycast, and more.

We talk about how he made the big move to San Francisco, what it’s like working in tech, and how Dub became a tool people love. Akash and Steven also share advice on side projects, design, and the right time to turn your ideas into a business.

Important links:

Join Peerlist : https://pl.st/via-mindset


Connect with Akash and Steven

Akash on Peerlist: ⁠https://peerlist.io/designerdada⁠
Steven on Peerlist : ⁠https://peerlist.io/steventey

TimeStamps
00:00 - Beginning of the word.
00:51 - Steven Tey’s background: Learning coding during Covid.
02:12 - Vercel experience and exposure to startups.
05:41 - San Francisco, university, and traveling the world.
06:52 - Immerse yourself into San Francisco's culture.
09:03 - Day-to-day life at Vercel.
10:25 - Hiring indie hackers and builders at Vercel.
12:19 - How did Dub start?
16:05 - Why did Dub succeed? Connecting the dots.
18:54 - Importance of good design in startups and side projects.
20:58 - Why build side projects?
23:36 - Diving deep into Dub.
26:34 - The right time to monetize side projects.
29:23 - Love for domains and short links.
33:48 - Advice for engineers transitioning to a founder.
35:29 - Dub’s exponential growth and traction.
37:53 - Commercially open-source software.