Welcome to Overlay! This is the Official Layers Podcast brought to you by Liam McCabe (@liampmccabe) and Reijo Palmiste (@reijowrites). What is Layers? It's a design community platform where designers can connect, share work and build their portfolio. In this episode Reijo and Liam discuss the latest Layers' news as well as upcoming features. Topics include: launching Layers on Product Hunt, announcing Layers' first competition with Supernotes and general discussion around community, growth and investment. Timestamps (00:00) - Introduction and Video Production (01:04) - Product Hunt Launch (08:08) - Technical Challenges and Upgrades (11:00) - Advertising and Revenue (15:23) - Partnership and App Icon Competition (27:52) - Future Plans and Prioritization (29:23) - Dealing with Bugs and Prioritization (33:03) - Bug Discovery and Frustration (34:22) - Persistent Bugs and User Adaptation (36:23) - Building Custom Components (38:16) - Hardware Limitations and Testing (40:22) - Browser Compatibility and Support (41:04) - Investing in Layers (48:00) - Hiring and Team Expansion (51:09) - Balancing Features and Foundations (56:24) - Predicting Future Needs (57:43) - Investment Amount and Hiring (58:11) - Maintaining Steady Growth (59:04) - Optimizing for Search Engines (59:33) - Driving Traffic to Layers (01:00:04) - Investing in Paid Ads (01:01:02) - Using Reddit Ads (01:02:06) - Exploring Community on Layers and Reddit (01:03:06) - Removing Waitlists and Crowdfunding (01:03:35) - Ensuring Community Ownership (01:05:01) - Balancing Democracy and Decision-Making (01:06:29) - Maintaining Quality and Preventing Spam (01:08:31) - Focusing on Long-Term Rewards (01:10:14) - Avoiding Short-Term Vanity Metrics (01:13:06) - Gamification vs. Long-Term Rewards (01:14:46) - Building Long-Term Relationships (01:18:34) - Encouraging Meetups and Remote Connections (01:20:07) - Maintaining Quality as the Community Grows (01:22:24) - Implementing Gatekeeping and Customized Discovery (01:25:23) - Encouraging Personal Effort in Discovery (01:28:30) - Balancing Customization and Discoverability (01:29:02) - Transferring Communities to Layers LinksLiam on XReijo on XLayersLayers PlusProduct HuntLayers x Supernotes CompetitionCreators & Guests Liam McCabe - Host Reijo Palmiste - Host