J-AAAAAAAAA-sh
Team Developer Experience & typo maker
Ex-Funnels
Ex-Paywalls
Ex-CIA
Ex-Catforms
Ex-CoreSDK
Justifying Your Domain Purchase
Hi. My name is Josh.
It actually started earlier.
joshdholtz.com
Gifted to me. Personal site. LAMP stack on a VPS. Pure experimentation.
Then in 2011, the first one I actually bought:
thirdshiftsoftware.com
A freelance dev shop I was going to start. Someday. Obviously.
Then I had another idea.
dinogram.com
An app for putting my hand-drawn dinosaurs on photos.
And another.
crittercaring.com
A pet sitting check-in app. Ruby backend. Notifications. The works.
Here's the pattern:
You're probably wondering…
all of them.
Domains registered since 2011
And I'm not done.
…by one metric.
This framing is correct for a product.
It's completely wrong for exploration.
If you paid a university $8,000 to teach you iOS, Android, Ruby backends, Mac app codesigning, and API reverse engineering —
you'd call it an education.
Just with weirder domain names.
The URL wasn't the product. The URL was a receipt.
| Domain | What it actually taught |
|---|---|
| dinogram.com | Image processing SDKs on iOS and Android, unstable Android camera APIs, S3, Ruby/Heroku backend |
| crittercaring.com | Full-stack web from scratch: Ruby, Heroku, user notifications, real people using real software |
| goodnightcar.com | Web scraping, private API reverse engineering, geolocation, and — painfully — UX |
| gym-oclock.com | Core Data, and the first time I actually cared about design and product thinking |
| crunchygif.com | Mac App Store end-to-end, manually compiling FFmpeg, binary codesigning hell |
| snapify.com | Worker queues, job retries, social media API integrations — scaling something that actually got used |
Every single one also touched DNS, a new hosting provider, and usually a framework I'd never used before.
Every single one of these domains got hooked up to something.
DNS records, SSL certs, new hosting providers, frameworks I'd never touched.
JS. Ruby. Python. Swift. Whatever the weekend called for.
And lately: AI — different tools, different harnesses, different levels of trust.
The next time someone says "has anyone done this before?" —
you're the one who already has. In a weekend. At midnight. For fun.
The reps matter. Even when nobody sees them.
"I wanted to do something, learnt a lot, managed to use that knowledge to land other projects and jobs.
It was not a goal but an outcome which ultimately led to where I am today."
"All of these got me to start building with something new — a new framework, SDK, or tool.
Gave me confidence I relied on when helping customers early at RC.
It keeps adding to a foundation."
also…
(without his permission)
(A question we all ask ourselves.)
Charlie's LinkedIn — was not it
Developer
Aspect Software
Dec 2012 – Oct 2014 · 1 yr 11 mos · Greater St. Louis Area
Writing mobile and touch applications, primarily for Windows 8 and Windows Phone.
Totally fine. Completely normal.
But these were.
launchedfm.com
A podcast. He shipped it. It existed. People listened.
darknoise.app
A real app. On the App Store. With users.
That's why he was the perfect first Developer Advocate.
"I keep interrupting Charlie to take notes"
As a developer working mostly on my own products, I look for both education and inspiration in my podcasts. I want to hear the stories behind products, get tips on the business side along with product design & tech.
— AndyDentPerth, Oct 2025
"Really interesting!!"
Love listening to the developer stories about their paths leading up to the release of their apps.
— Mad Puck, Mar 2024
"Wonderful podcast!"
Charlie is a brilliant host. It's a must-listen if you are interested in the iOS development world or even just software launches more generally.
— M Lysons, Jan 2024
darknoise.app
Disclaimer
I actually referred Charlie for this role because of those domains.
They showed me — before any interview — exactly who he was.
I don't actually hate him.
Hating him is easier than telling him how good he is at his job (when he does it).
(A few regrets. But not the educational ones.)
The domain names changed. The habit didn't.
The side quests make you stronger and more prepared for your main story.
@joshdholtz · joshholtz.com · deepdishswift.com