Dear founder,
When a Podscan user got a bit "too general" with their keywords, all of a sudden, my email provider stopped sending emails.
Whoops.
Let's talk user error and founder foresight.
As founders, we often find ourselves in situations that test our foresight and adaptability.
This week, I experienced one such moment that served as both a wake-up call and a valuable learning opportunity.
🎧 Listen to this on my podcast.
It’s a story that highlights the importance of anticipating potential issues in your software business, even when they seem unlikely. So, grab a cup of coffee, and let me share this cautionary tale with you.
The Incident: When Good Intentions Lead to Unintended Consequences
It all started with a user of Podscan, my podcast monitoring service. Podscan sends out email notifications whenever certain words or phrases are mentioned in a podcast. For most users, this means a handful of emails a day, maybe a dozen for those tracking popular terms in their niche.
But this particular user? They decided to set up alerts for words like “Google,” “India,” and “America.” Now, if you’re thinking, “Wow, that’s going to generate a lot of emails,” you’re absolutely right. And that’s exactly what happened.
Within days, this single user was receiving thousands of emails daily. To put this into perspective, most users might get a dozen notifications in a day. This user was getting more in an hour than others would in a month.
At first, I didn’t realize what was happening. It wasn’t until my email provider slammed on the brakes that I understood the magnitude of the situation. They cut off my email sending capabilities, citing concerns about server deliverability. Suddenly, I couldn’t send any emails - not even critical ones like login verifications or password resets.
My initial reaction? Frustration. I thought, “Hey, I’m paying you to send my emails. Why are you cutting me off?” But as I dug deeper, the reality of the situation became clear. This wasn’t just a technical issue; it was a potential threat to the reputation of my entire domain.
The Ripple Effects: When One User’s Actions Impact Your Whole Business
The consequences of this incident were far-reaching. My domain was teetering on the edge of being blacklisted as a spam source. If that had happened, it could have been catastrophic for Podscan. Imagine building a business that relies on email communication, only to find yourself unable to reach your users. It’s a nightmare scenario for any founder.
But here’s the kicker: this wasn’t a malicious attack. It wasn’t even intentional misuse. It was simply a user who didn’t fully grasp the implications of their actions, combined with my oversight in not setting appropriate limits.
This experience forced me to confront an uncomfortable truth: as founders, we’re responsible for anticipating and preventing these kinds of issues, even when they seem unlikely. It’s not enough to build a product that works under ideal conditions; we need to build systems that are resilient to unexpected use cases and potential misuse.
The Solution: Implementing Safeguards and Limits
Realizing the gravity of the situation, I sprang into action. The first step was damage control: I immediately stopped sending emails for this particular user to prevent further issues with my email provider. Then, I switched email providers to ensure that critical business functions, like user signups, could continue uninterrupted.
But the real work came next: implementing safeguards to prevent this from happening again. Here’s what I did:
- Daily Email Caps: I introduced a daily limit on the number of emails that can be sent to any given account. Once this limit is reached, email sending stops for that user for the day.
- User Notifications: I added clear notifications in the user interface and in emails to inform users when they’ve reached their daily limit.
- Alternative Options: For users who genuinely need higher limits, I introduced options like daily or weekly summary emails instead of individual notifications.
- Flexible Exceptions: For enterprise customers or those on higher-tier plans, I made it possible to set account-specific exceptions to these limits.
The key here was finding a balance. I needed to protect my system from overload while still providing value to users who might legitimately need higher volumes of notifications.
Broader Implications: The Importance of Proactive Thinking
This incident got me thinking about the broader implications for software businesses. It’s not just about email notifications; it’s about any action in your system that could potentially be overused or misused.
As founders, we need to approach our products with a mindset of “defensive design.” This means thinking through potential edge cases and implementing reasonable limits on all user actions. Here are some areas where this applies:
- API Requests: Limit the number of requests a user can make in a given time frame.
- Data Storage: Set caps on how much data a user can store or how many items they can create.
- Resource-Intensive Operations: Limit how often users can perform operations that put a strain on your system.
But it’s not just about setting limits. It’s about creating a system that gracefully handles these limits when they’re reached. This includes:
- Clear communication to users when they’re approaching or have reached a limit.
- Providing alternatives or upgrade paths for users who legitimately need higher limits.
- Implementing alerts for your team when limits are consistently being reached, as this might indicate a need to adjust your system or your pricing tiers.
The Balancing Act: User Experience vs. System Protection
One of the trickiest aspects of implementing these safeguards is maintaining a positive user experience. You don’t want your limits to feel restrictive to the point where they frustrate users or hinder their workflow.
This is where the art of product design comes into play. The goal is to make these limits feel natural and reasonable. For instance, instead of a hard stop when a user reaches a limit, you might implement a “cooldown” period or offer a one-time extension.
It’s also crucial to be transparent about these limits. Include them in your documentation, onboarding process, and perhaps even your marketing materials. This sets clear expectations and can even be positioned as a feature that ensures fair usage and system reliability for all users.
Learning from Others: Industry Examples
As I worked through my challenge over the last few days, I couldn’t help but think of other examples in the tech world where similar issues have arisen. Take Twitter’s API, for instance. They’ve had to constantly evolve their access tiers to balance between providing value to developers and protecting their system from abuse. Well, and then they comically exploded most businesses built on the API by making it cost $42,000 a month. The developer community did not like that. But I bet there was a reason to make access harder: I’ve seen fewer scammy “build your audience automatically” tools around.
Or consider how cloud storage providers like Dropbox handle file upload limits. They don’t just cut you off; they offer clear upgrade paths when you’re approaching your storage limit.
These examples remind us that we’re not alone in facing these challenges. As a community of founders and builders, we can learn from each other’s experiences and best practices.
The Silver Lining: Turning Challenges into Opportunities
While this incident was stressful and potentially dangerous for my business, it ultimately led to several positive outcomes:
- Improved Product Resilience: By implementing these safeguards, Podscan is now more robust and better equipped to handle unexpected usage patterns.
- Enhanced User Communication: The new notification system for limits has opened up more channels of communication with my users, leading to better engagement and feedback.
- Clearer Value Proposition: By segmenting usage limits across different plan tiers, I’ve created a clearer upgrade path for users who need more capacity.
- Personal Growth: As a founder, this experience has made me more proactive in anticipating potential issues, not just in Podscan but in all my future endeavors.
Final Thoughts: Embracing the Journey of Continuous Improvement
As we wrap up this story, I want to leave you with a few key takeaways:
- Anticipate the Unexpected: Always be thinking about how your system could be used (or misused) in ways you didn’t initially envision.
- Implement Safeguards Early: Don’t wait for a crisis to put limits and protections in place. It’s much easier to relax limits than to impose them after issues arise.
- Communicate Clearly: Be transparent with your users about any limits or restrictions. Clear communication can turn a potential point of frustration into an opportunity for engagement.
- Stay Flexible: Be prepared to adjust your limits and policies as your product and user base evolve. What works today might not be sufficient tomorrow.
- Learn from Every Challenge: Every obstacle you face is an opportunity to make your product and your skills as a founder stronger.
Remember, building a successful software business is a journey of continuous learning and improvement. Embrace the challenges, learn from them, and use them to build something even better.
As for me, I’m grateful for this experience. It’s reminded me of the importance of staying vigilant and proactive in product development. And who knows? Maybe this story will help another founder avoid a similar pitfall in the future.
Keep building, keep learning, and remember: every challenge is just an opportunity in disguise.
If you want to track your brand mentions on podcasts, please check out podscan.fm — and tell your friends!
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