Jon is away so Justin called up Taylor Otwell, the creator of Laravel. In this episode we covered:
How Laravel become the most popular backend framework on GitHub.
Surprise! Taylor wasn't really into computers before he created Laravel.
What was Taylor's motivation? Why did he create this, even though there were other alternatives?
What's Laravel's secret? Why did it succeed?
How is Laravel a business? How does it earn revenue?
"Before Laravel, there were a lot of programmers that were burnt out on PHP. These folks hated their job. But after Laravel, they enjoyed their job more. It helped them in a personal way."Here's the timeline we discussed:
2010: Taylor starts working on Laravel.
2011: Taylor launched version 1.0 of Laravel.
2013: Taylor launches an ebook

2013: Start working on Forge

2013: First Laracon conference (90 people)
2014: Launches Forge at Laracon (240 people)
2014: after a month he had 1000 customers, $90k / ARR almost right from launch. (He thought it would maybe make $2-$3k / month). Plans started at $10 / month.
End of 2014: decided to go full-time on Laravel.
2015: Full-time on Laravel, developed a competitive nature, really driven to see Laravel 
2015: Launched Envoyer.io 

2016: Launched Spark, as a “SaaS starter kit.”
2016: First full-time employee, Mohamed Said.
2017: Launched Laravel Echo, Passport, Notifications. 
2017: Second hire, 
2018: Laravel Nova.
★ Thanks to our sponsors:

Balsamiq: They make a low-fidelity wireframing tool, specifically geared for non-designers. Get in the zone, and I feel creative right away. Try out their free trial: balsamiq.com


Clubhouse.io: Clubhouse is the first project management platform for software development that brings everyone together. It's designed for developers, but product folks, marketing, support folks love using it. Get two months free: clubhouse.io/build.
Show notes:
Taylor Otwell on Twitter
Taylor Otwell's podcast
Laravel.com
Laracon - the Laravel conference
Justin's article: Why many products struggle, and only a few succeed


Jeffrey Way and Laracasts


Create your own podcast at transistor.fm

You can reply to this podcast here:

Leave a comment on Breaker, the podcast app for Android and iPhone.

Leave a comment on CastBox, the podcast app for Android and iPhone.
Otherwise, get us on Twitter: @transistorfm or email us: mail@transistor.fm
Thanks to our monthly supporters:
Simon Bennett - SnapShooter
Corey Haines
Michael Sitver
Paul Jarvis and Jack Ellis
Dan Buda
Darby Frey
Samori Augusto
Dave Young
Brad from Canada
Kevin Markham
Sammy Schuckert
Dan Ericson
Mike Walker
Adam DuVander
Dave Giunta (JOOnta)
Balsamiq.cloud
Clubhouse.io
GetRewardful.com

Thanks to our monthly supporters

Pascal from sharpen.page
Rewardful.com
Greg Park
Mitchell Davis from RecruitKit.com.au
Marcel Fahle, wearebold.af
Ethan Gunderson
Anton Zorin from ProdCamp.com
Bill Condo (@mavrck)
Ward from MemberSpace.com
Russell Brown from Photivo.com
Evandro Sasse
Austin Loveless
Michael Sitver
Fathom Analytics
Dan Buda
Colin Gray
Dave Giunta

Want to start a podcast on Transistor? Justin has a special coupon for you: get 15% off your first year of hosting: transistor.fm/justin

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★