Corstiaan Hesselink is the creator of the Reflect app, an extension for Evernote.  Reflects provides a convenient way for you to reflect on (remember, review, and rethink) all that you have saved in Evernote. Reflect was born because Corstiaan, an avid Kindle reader, wanted a tool to help him review the tagged high-lights he had saved in Evernote while reading Kindle books. Unable to find such a tool, he built one and then put it up on Beta List. When Reflect started to attract interest, he knew he was on to something. Corstiaan does a deep dive into the technology of the stack that is Reflect, talks about his plans to monetize Reflect, and discusses how a small app can become a big project.
 
Key Segments

[02:30] What is Reflect and how can you use it?
[05:45] What did Corstiaan do to validate his idea?
[06:10] He first posted Reflect online on Beta List and received a few hundred requests for early access within a few days.
[07:15] What technology does Reflect use between Evernote and the front end?
[07:35] Reflect was developed using Microsoft .NET and is running on Microsoft's Azure
[07:55] Corstiaan used the micro-framework NancyFx instead of ASP .NET.
[08:15] Corstiaan recommends using a framework that does not get in the way.
[08:45] Evernote .NET libraries are available for the Evernote API.
[09:20] The database runs on Microsoft's SQL Server.
[09:40] For data access between the web application and the database, Corstiaan uses OrmLite.
[10:10] On the front end the web app is built using Bootstrap for the CSS framework (customized to match the style of Reflect) combined with js.
[10:30] Corstiaan will consider AngularJS for his next project or for a major overhaul of Reflect.
[10:50] He is currently very close to releasing the iOS app in native code. (Post-production note: Reflect for Evernote for iOS has been released.) There is no HTML5 wrapper. NancyFX comes into play for the mobile app too.
[11:40] Reflect is currently slightly more than an MVP (minimum viable product), but given his vision for what Reflect can become, Corstiaan considers it to be near an MVP.
[12:25] He uses .NET mainly because that is what he has the most experience using.
[13:35] NancyFX allows you to build an application in the way that HTTP actually works rather than having the framework abstract a lot of the details away.
[14:35] AngularJS has a large community, many side projects, and gives you a large toolset for mobile apps.
[16:10] What are his strategies to monetize Reflect as a SaaS product?
[17:40] He wants to create a service that works in the background and allows people to get a more thorough understanding of their data.
[19:50] What kind of problems did Corstiaan run into while developing Reflect?
[21:40] Have there been any unexpected costs along the way?
[22:05] As more users used Reflect, Corstiaan's bandwidth bill increased.
[23:15] Do you see any problems with scaling on the Azure platform?
[25:15] Is he using any metrics to track usage?
[25:30] He started out with Google Analytics but is working on implementing KISSmetrics.
[26:35] What does your company Fluxmatix Ventures do?
[26:50] Corstiaan shares a bit of his background.
[27:05] Progress in web apps and mobile in particular lured Corstiaan back into active software development.
[29:45] Recommended books: A Technique for Producing Ideas by James Webb Young, and Anti-Fragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Profit First: A Simple System To Transform Any Business From A Cash-Eating Monster To A Money-Making Machine by Mike Michalowicz

 
Resources Mentioned

A Technique for Producing Ideas by James Webb Young - "examines the creative process and ways to produce ideas"
AngularJS - HTML enhanced for web apps (by Google)
Anti-Fragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb - "things that not only gain from chaos but need it in order to survive and flourish"
Azure - Microsoft's cloud platform
Beta List - "early access to over 100 new