Hey! Maker here.
Context: I'm a solo dev who got frustrated with enterprise analytics tools. I was paying Mixpanel + GA4 subscriptions while my side project generated zero revenue. Classic indie hacker mistake.
The final straw was GA4's interface redesign. 2 hours to build a signup funnel. The 45kb script was killing my Lighthouse scores. And I was losing 15% of EU signups to cookie banners.
I wanted to build something that:
1. Looks beautiful (the 3D globe is surprisingly motivating to watch)
2. Answers questions in plain English instead of pivot tables
3. Doesn't cost more than my hosting ($9/month for both seemed fair)
4. Respects privacy without being preachy about it
Technical challenges:
- Tracking script size: ended up using event batching + compression to hit 3.8kb
- Globe performance: WebGL shader optimization to load in <3s
- AI costs: smart routing between GPT-4o-mini and GPT-4 based on query complexity
- Realtime scalability: connection pooling because 40 concurrent viewers = $$$ on Supabase
Happy to answer questions about the architecture, privacy approach, or why I chose Supabase over self-hosting!
