Building a Cuban Craigslist: A Look Back at Innovation from 10 Years Ago

10 years ago, a friend and I tried to create a Cuban Craigslist 😅 and even hacked Revolico.com a couple of times.

Only my closest friends know this story...

Today I got an email from my hosting provider that it was time to renew aquinama.com... And just like that, I was taken back to 2014, the year it all started.

It was my first dive into creating a website that aimed to be what revolico.com (Cuban version of Craiglist) was for Cuba, but better. I wanted to make something that wasn't just a copy. It had filters, favorites, desktop app, etc...

It even had support for multiple sources: Cubisima, custom databases, Excel. (Classic strategy pattern: Ernesto Carrasco De la Torre knows what I’m talking about 😅). At that time, I tended to overengineer everything I did, using "software design patterns". The classic "What if the users want this in the future?" 🤷‍♂️

From PHP to the magic of Javascript...

The journey wasn't easy. The site first came to life using PHP Symfony. But then, Caridy Patiño, a tech whiz and Yuri Victor Munayev’s brother, pushed us into the future. He convinced us to switch everything to front-end technologies and YQL (a revolutionary method at the time for extracting information from any web data source).

This change was huge for me. It opened my eyes to what was possible with modern web tech. It was tough but worth it.

Getting the Domain back then in Cuba was a Whole Adventure...

Even getting the site online was a challenge. We used free GitHub Pages for hosting and had to switch between multiple VPNs to deploy. 🙈

And for the domain...

I had no credit card or family outside of Cuba to help me buy the domain. Luckily, a friend's dad came through for us. He bought aquinama.com, and just like that, we were on the map. It's moments like these that remind you how important friends and community are.

The marketing team was a "funny" automation...

After securing the domain, we embarked on a unique marketing journey.

We wrote a script that could publish a listing in every Revolico category, advertising aquinama.com. It was funny because they quickly discovered and blocked us. But then we would find another way to post our ads again. It turned into a cat-and-mouse game, each of us trying to outsmart the other.

Looking Back, Moving Forward

Now, 10 years later, I'm amazed at how much that project taught me. It was more than just building a website. It was about overcoming obstacles, learning new things, and making connections.

To anyone out there starting their own project, remember: it's all about taking that first step, no matter how hard it seems. And who knows? A decade from now, you might be looking back, just like I am, grateful for every challenge and every lesson.

A heartfelt thank you to those who played a pivotal role in this journey:

Yuri Victor Munayev, Caridy Patiño, Mari, Carlos and Franklin.