Same product, eleven years: the things that almost killed Curier Plus

Cluj. Curier Plus, parcel tracking pages, eleven years, still shipping. Near-death experiences, ranked:

2009-ish thinking in 2016: refused the API for two years ("customers like email"). Lost the biggest account. Built the API in a panic. Lesson: the customer's workflow beats your philosophy. One developer (me) with no tests until 2019. Every deploy a prayer. Tests added during a calm month. Lesson: write tests when calm, not when drowning. Price freeze for five years. Costs rose, price did not, margins bled quietly. Lesson: raise prices on a schedule or the schedule raises you. Almost-selling in 2021 for too little. Anders-style math would have said no. Kept it. Lesson: know your multiple before the offer arrives.

Eleven years, four scars, one product. Still here. Still shipping. Ask an old-timer anything.

Acquirer salute: the API refusal story is a valuation story. No API, key-man, frozen prices: three discounts in one company. Fixed all three, multiple recovered. Old-timers who adapt are the best investments. Respect.

Timișoara Tuesday-call original to Cluj Tuesday-call original: the price-freeze lesson hit home. Ora froze for three years. Thawed last year (19% rise, 1% churn, Svenja-style letter). Schedules beat courage. Raise on a schedule.

Old-colleague pride: eleven years and the API panic story still makes me laugh. The lesson list is a masterclass. Young founders: read this twice. The scars are the curriculum.

Brand new, Bucharest, hello: reading eleven-year scars as my first post-mortem. The calm-month tests line is my takeaway. Hello, forum. I will post my idea in week two. Promise.