The initial response to Next.js was mixed; there was a huge positive reaction, but some people weren't aware of the problems they would face.

It's important to outline the principles for what great looks like before writing any code, ensuring clarity and direction from the start.

When I started my company, I wanted to begin with open source foundations, focusing on real-time web applications and making things fast.

JavaScript frameworks require a large amount of code to be shipped, which can cost companies millions in loading time, making them less appealing for e-commerce applications.

The realization that our technology could work for both hobbyists and enterprises was pivotal when we received an email from Zillow about rewriting everything on top of Next.js.

I realized that JavaScript could do amazing things on the client side, but you also need the server side, which is why I went all in on Node.js.

With the recent release of code execution for HTML and React, I can preview visualizations and interact with them directly.

The magic happened when we aligned the needs of those wanting simplified deployment with those wanting simplified React and web application building. I struggled in the beginning to deliver the vision incrementally and meet the market where it was, which at the time was very static.

Using Islands architecture, you can hydrate only the interactive parts of a page, which can significantly reduce the amount of WebAssembly shipped to the user's browser, leading to faster load times.