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Blog

A blog that gets read

I write about software, AI, Laravel, SEO, and what it takes to build online products. In 2025, 73k people read the blog. Some posts were picked up by publications and developer communities.

Read the blog Browse Laravel posts

73k readers in 2025

241 published posts

919 comments

Featured posts

A few older posts got the most attention. I keep them here, separate from the newest writing below.

SEO / Google

Google Now Defaults to Not Indexing Your Content

The post that led to a Guardian column and a long developer-community discussion.

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AI / Engineering

AI Exponentializes Your Tech Debt

Why AI makes weak engineering foundations more expensive, not less.

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AI / Development

Only Experts Can Write Good Prompts

Good AI work still depends on technical judgment and taste.

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Laravel

Do Not Use Laravel Cache Tags

Specific Laravel advice for people working in real codebases.

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Latest posts

The newest posts from the blog. This updates automatically when I publish.

All blog posts

Oct 6, 2026 / Business

Everyone Is Marketing With AI, and Nobody Is Listening

Everyone uses AI to market their stuff now. It writes the cold emails, the LinkedIn posts and the...

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Oct 5, 2026 / LLM

OpenAI Does Not Trust Its Own Models, and Rightly So

OpenAI does not trust its own models, and after the last few weeks I think it is right....

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Oct 5, 2026 / LLM

Something Is Wrong at OpenAI

Something is wrong at OpenAI. Each model it has released since GPT-5.5 is smarter on paper and worse...

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Browse by topic

Laravel 71 AI & LLM 65 Software Development 16 Git 11 Business 10 SEO 7

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What My Clients Say

Actual feedback from clients I've worked with.

"HIRE VINCENT. Seriously. I've worked with many many developers over the years (remember rentacoder?), and Vincent is that rare breed of web developer who just gets it. You have a chat, you express what you need, and he comes back with what you asked for. His english is fluent, he understands what you need, and he's not looking to overcomplicate things. It's a joy and pleasure to work with him, not to have to micromanage and just overall a great experience. Honestly I wish I could keep him on we just don't have the budget anymore - that is the only reason the contract ended."

Ariel Ozick Wired Rhino, Inc.

"What stood out about working with Vincent was how methodical and efficient he was. He started by really digging into our requirements, asking clarifying questions until he had a solid understanding. He then built exactly what was needed and kept us informed throughout. Communication was clear and proactive at all times. Everything stayed on track, both in terms of time and budget. The end result was excellent and has been running smoothly since launch. It's that combination of practical focus and attention to detail that makes the difference. I would definitely recommend Vincent for quality development."

Philipp Toepelmann Digital Investments GmbH

"Having Vincent on retainer has been excellent. He's tackled some major technical challenges for us, notably significantly improving our website's performance. He also expertly managed a complex upgrade of our core platform (Laravel) to the latest version, ensuring we stay current and secure. We're now rolling out the multilingual capabilities he built, which is exciting. Vincent is reliable, technically skilled, and a valuable partner for keeping our site running optimally and moving forward. Highly recommend his expertise."

Howard Rickard Athena Advisers Ltd

"I've been working with Vincent for several months, and he's one of the most independent developers I've collaborated with. He doesn't need micromanagement - he's fully capable of making decisions and driving the project forward, which has freed me up to focus on other parts of the business.

Vincent works very well asynchronously: communication stays focused, there is little unnecessary back-and-forth, and he still raises the important questions when needed. The result is a developer who delivers without overhead, and that's been genuinely valuable."

Aidas K. Bizdras OU

"We work with Vincent regularly on Laravel/Vue projects, both new builds and existing codebases that have grown over the years. In both cases, he delivers clean code and reliable implementation. We especially value how quickly he gets into mature projects and finds solutions that fit the existing state of the codebase. Absolutely recommended."

Florian Brunner designundzwanzig OG

"Vincent was easy to work with and produced high-quality code. Would recommend."

Dustin Fraker QuickerNotes, LLC

"Vincent is one of those rare developers who can jump into a complex codebase, become useful immediately, and solve real problems without hand-holding.

He worked on performance optimization, customer-specific features, and a major custom reporting system. He also turned customer discussions into clear technical requirements and documented his work so the rest of the team could build on it.

Vincent does not just close tickets, he thinks through the product, the edge cases, and the customer impact. If you need a senior Laravel developer who can move a SaaS product forward, I strongly recommend him."

Yash Chandra TREFT SYSTEMS INC DBA Academy of Mine

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My Book: Rapid SaaS with Laravel

Launch Your SaaS in Days, Not Months. A practical, no-BS guide to building production-ready SaaS apps with Laravel 12: speed, billing, teams, AI integration, and the parts you need before customers can pay you.

Visit Book Homepage Get it on Leanpub

About

Vincent Schmalbach is an entrepreneur, software developer, and SEO expert. He works on SaaS products, business apps, automation, and technical project rescue, with 15+ years of software and online business experience.

Posts

Everyone Is Marketing With AI, and Nobody Is Listening
OpenAI Does Not Trust Its Own Models, and Rightly So
Something Is Wrong at OpenAI
Anyone Can Build an App Now, but Who Is Going to Pay for It?
Codex Users Are Fleeing to Claude Code
How to Make Videos with Claude Code
OpenAI Is Paying Me to Move My Business to Anthropic
OpenAI Codex Is Retiring the Last Model that Behaves Like an Assistant
ChatGPT Plus and Pro Will Get Ads in 2027
The Economic Incentives Behind the Push to Pause AI
The Cost of AI Is Now My Main Blocker
Why I Am Bullish on ChatGPT Ads

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