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Still Early · Tuesday · 45 min

Working while I drive

In this episode: Peter went to Laravel Live Denmark, which grew out of a Copenhagen meetup he helped start in 2014 Everyone there assumed he works full time at Phone.inc now (the daily videos are doing their job) The form builder idea he never shipped at Reform: a form, plus an AI-built backend to actually process the replies Niklas said for months that Phone.inc wouldn't build call queuing, then built it in two days Claude's voice mode works with MCP servers on mobile, which turns a drive to Copenhagen into real work Peter wants to turn Memo into a microblogging platform (both ChatGPT and Claude told him it's procrastination) Peter went to Laravel Live Denmark in Copenhagen, which is a bit of a full circle thing. He and Visti started the Laravel meetup there in 2014 (he tried in 2013 but nobody replied to his forum posts), and Kasper has since turned it into a non-profit and a 300 person conference. Aaron Francis, Taylor Otwell and DHH all showed up this year. A lot of people assumed Peter now works full time at Phone.inc. He doesn't, he's still pretty part-time, but there's something on the channels every weekday now so it feels like he's always around. The batch of Q&A shorts they recorded before summer is what makes that possible (Joseph is editing them). Four are out, around a thousand views each on YouTube and roughly the same on TikTok. Niklas got recognized from the videos by a stranger in a swimming hall changing room, while naked, which he took as a good sign. The form builder came up again. Nanoform is the product Peter is most excited about, but the version he actually wants is the one he never built at Reform. A form is a small piece of software, and the replies always need a process behind them. So the AI builds the backend too, picking from real building blocks (a kanban board, a table, separate pages, whatever fits) instead of generating it from scratch. Niklas wants lead scoring and agentic steps that fire when a card moves status. Peter's phrasing: vibe coded forms, without the slop. The name is still wrong. Niklas had been saying for months that Phone.inc wouldn't build call queuing, since it's a feature for full time support teams and that's not who they're for. Then he looked at the data from the first 40 companies and found people waiting in line anyway (50 calls a day is fine until they all land during lunch). So he built the simplest possible version in two days. Every call is queued now, even the ones answered instantly, and there isn't a single new setting or checkbox anywhere. Do not disturb is next and falls out of the same model: turn it off and a waiting call rings straight through. They're also pausing invites for a few weeks. Forty companies in, there are four foundational things to tighten up first, and none of them were a surprise. The first number porting went through too. Niklas discovered that Claude's voice mode on mobile has all the MCP servers from his desktop, so an hour and a half of driving became actual work: Linear tickets, debugging calls, pulling product feedback out of customer service conversations. Peter can't stand talking to it (a clever door, he says), but they agree it's a bit mad that Siri isn't this. TechBBQ has grown into more of an innovation fair than a startup event, and Niklas would rather have something the size of Laravel Live Denmark, invite only, founders and investors. The side events around it were still great. And Peter wants to turn Memo into a microblogging platform. Longer than a tweet, shorter than a blog post, RSS, no algorithm, somewhere to document building the form builder. Both ChatGPT and Claude told him it's an elaborate form of procrastination. Niklas told him to build it anyway. Still Early is sponsored by Phone.inc: a business phone number, welcome greeting, call routing, and opening hours, all from an app on your personal phone.

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show notes

In this episode:

  • Peter went to Laravel Live Denmark, which grew out of a Copenhagen meetup he helped start in 2014
  • Everyone there assumed he works full time at Phone.inc now (the daily videos are doing their job)
  • The form builder idea he never shipped at Reform: a form, plus an AI-built backend to actually process the replies
  • Niklas said for months that Phone.inc wouldn't build call queuing, then built it in two days
  • Claude's voice mode works with MCP servers on mobile, which turns a drive to Copenhagen into real work
  • Peter wants to turn Memo into a microblogging platform (both ChatGPT and Claude told him it's procrastination)

Peter went to Laravel Live Denmark in Copenhagen, which is a bit of a full circle thing. He and Visti started the Laravel meetup there in 2014 (he tried in 2013 but nobody replied to his forum posts), and Kasper has since turned it into a non-profit and a 300 person conference. Aaron Francis, Taylor Otwell and DHH all showed up this year.

A lot of people assumed Peter now works full time at Phone.inc. He doesn't, he's still pretty part-time, but there's something on the channels every weekday now so it feels like he's always around. The batch of Q&A shorts they recorded before summer is what makes that possible (Joseph is editing them). Four are out, around a thousand views each on YouTube and roughly the same on TikTok. Niklas got recognized from the videos by a stranger in a swimming hall changing room, while naked, which he took as a good sign.

The form builder came up again. Nanoform is the product Peter is most excited about, but the version he actually wants is the one he never built at Reform. A form is a small piece of software, and the replies always need a process behind them. So the AI builds the backend too, picking from real building blocks (a kanban board, a table, separate pages, whatever fits) instead of generating it from scratch. Niklas wants lead scoring and agentic steps that fire when a card moves status. Peter's phrasing: vibe coded forms, without the slop. The name is still wrong.

Niklas had been saying for months that Phone.inc wouldn't build call queuing, since it's a feature for full time support teams and that's not who they're for. Then he looked at the data from the first 40 companies and found people waiting in line anyway (50 calls a day is fine until they all land during lunch). So he built the simplest possible version in two days. Every call is queued now, even the ones answered instantly, and there isn't a single new setting or checkbox anywhere. Do not disturb is next and falls out of the same model: turn it off and a waiting call rings straight through. They're also pausing invites for a few weeks. Forty companies in, there are four foundational things to tighten up first, and none of them were a surprise. The first number porting went through too.

Niklas discovered that Claude's voice mode on mobile has all the MCP servers from his desktop, so an hour and a half of driving became actual work: Linear tickets, debugging calls, pulling product feedback out of customer service conversations. Peter can't stand talking to it (a clever door, he says), but they agree it's a bit mad that Siri isn't this.

TechBBQ has grown into more of an innovation fair than a startup event, and Niklas would rather have something the size of Laravel Live Denmark, invite only, founders and investors. The side events around it were still great.

And Peter wants to turn Memo into a microblogging platform. Longer than a tweet, shorter than a blog post, RSS, no algorithm, somewhere to document building the form builder. Both ChatGPT and Claude told him it's an elaborate form of procrastination. Niklas told him to build it anyway.

Still Early is sponsored by Phone.inc: a business phone number, welcome greeting, call routing, and opening hours, all from an app on your personal phone.
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