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How a single ChatGPT mistake cost us $10,000+

Jun 09, 2024 - asim.bearblog.dev
The article is a recount of a startup's early days and the challenges they faced when they first turned on monetization. The company, despite having low expectations, was pleasantly surprised when they got their first customer within an hour of launching. However, they soon faced a major issue as they started receiving numerous user complaints about not being able to subscribe. Despite their efforts, they couldn't replicate the issue and it seemed to occur mostly outside of their working hours.

The problem, which they termed as the "$10,000 hallucination", was eventually traced to a single line of code that was causing unique ID collisions during the subscription process. This issue was hidden due to their backend setup and became prominent when they stopped making commits at night. The issue was finally resolved, and despite the challenges and lost sales, the team views the experience as a valuable lesson from their startup journey.

Key takeaways:

  • The startup turned on monetization and faced a major issue where users couldn't subscribe, leading to numerous complaints and potential loss of customers.
  • The issue was traced back to a single line of code that was causing ID collisions, preventing new subscriptions. This problem was exacerbated by the company's backend setup and the lack of new backend deployments during non-working hours.
  • The problem was eventually resolved, but not before causing significant stress and potential loss of revenue for the startup.
  • The author reflects on the experience as a valuable lesson in the importance of thorough testing, careful code implementation, and not pushing directly to the main branch.
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