reidransom

Jamstack versus Server-side Rendered Websites

2026-02-12T00:00:00-04:00

When planning a new web project, one of the first architectural decisions is whether to go with a Jamstack approach—pre-rendered static files served from a CDN, with dynamic features handled by APIs and client-side JavaScript—or a traditional server-side rendered (SSR) application where pages are built on each request. Both have their place, and the right choice depends on your content, complexity, and team.

Jamstack strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

Very fast and scalable: Prebuilt pages on a CDN give low latency and absorb traffic spikes without app-server tuning.
Smaller attack surface: No app server or DB on most routes, so fewer common server-side vulnerabilities to worry about.
Simple ops and nice dev experience: Git-based deploys, easy rollbacks, cheap hosting, and good fit with modern static site generators (SSGs) and headless CMSs.

Weaknesses

Harder for deeply dynamic apps: Heavy personalization, complex workflows, or real-time updates require more API and serverless plumbing.
Build and cache pain at scale: Huge or frequently changing content can cause long builds and tricky cache invalidation.
Limited request-time logic: Rich per-request computations and aggregations are more natural with a traditional app server.

Traditional server-side app strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

Rich dynamic behavior: Per-request rendering makes complex, stateful, user-specific pages straightforward.
Cohesive domain model: Business logic, data, and rendering in one stack simplifies consistency and debugging.
Great fit for transactions: Checkouts, bookings, and multi-step forms align well with server-side sessions and database transactions.

Weaknesses

Heavier to scale and tune: Every request hits app and DB servers, so scaling and performance optimization take more work.
Bigger security surface: Exposed app servers and DBs require ongoing patching, hardening, and careful input handling.
More operational complexity: You manage runtimes, deployments, monitoring, and often a growing monolith.

When Jamstack is better

Marketing sites, blogs, docs
- Fast global delivery, excellent SEO, simple publishing, and cheap hosting; content changes can be handled via rebuilds.
Campaign/viral landing pages
- CDN-hosted static assets handle unpredictable spikes without overloading app servers or databases.
Many small brochure sites for clients
- Each tenant gets a static build fronted by a CDN, while shared APIs handle forms or light commerce, keeping per-site infra minimal.

When traditional server-side is better

Complex business apps and admin tools
- Centralized logic and data make permissions, workflows, and reporting easier to implement and evolve.
Full-featured, customized e-commerce
- Server-side sessions and DB transactions simplify pricing rules, inventory, and multi-step checkout consistency.
Real-time or highly personalized dashboards
- Fresh data, fine-grained access control, and live updates are easier with a stateful server app (plus websockets or server-sent events where needed).

Bottom line

Jamstack shines for content-heavy sites where speed, simplicity, and scalability matter most. Server-side rendering wins when you need rich, stateful interactions and centralized business logic. Many modern apps blend both—static marketing pages alongside a dynamic app backend—so don’t treat it as an either/or decision.

Embracing AI: Finding my Pace in a Divided Country

2025-10-23T15:19:21-04:00

I just listened to Tim Dillon’s interview with Bernie Sanders. Bernie shared this revealing story:

“I was at Davenport, Iowa a couple of months ago and we had a few thousand people out at a rally. So I said… Raise your hand if you think AI and robotics is gonna help the working class of this country in a room with several thousand people. Two hands went up so people understand…”

Watch on YouTube

The image of a room of thousands, with only two hands raised for AI’s working-class promise is notable. I am personally encouraged about the future of AI. I think with any new technology, the opportunities are there for anyone willing to take the risk and do the work.

What I see in AI is an opportunity to level the playing field for small businesses. While there will probably always be some form of gatekeeping, the current landscape feels far more open than in previous tech eras. There’s rivalry among major AI model developers—OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, Perplexity, DeepSeek—and notably, none of these leaders are the traditional “big five” tech giants. With innovation not entirely controlled by the usual players, this gives small businesses a fighting chance to leverage AI and compete on more equal footing.

What Bernie’s story really drives home is the stark contrast between Silicon Valley’s attitude toward AI and middle America’s hesitation. In tech circles, there’s this relentless push forward—technologists racing to build, deploy, and disrupt at breakneck speed. The pressure is constant: adopt now, move fast, or get left behind. It often feels like I need to push too fast and too hard just to keep up with them, always chasing the next breakthrough.

But here’s what I’m learning: being first doesn’t guarantee any wins. Sometimes being too early is its own kind of risk. The technologists push forward at all costs, but history is littered with pioneers who arrived before the market was ready. The first movers often stumble, while those who come later—at the right time—actually capture the value. I may not be at risk of being too early but I probably don’t need to feel left behind either.

If Bernie’s story tells us anything, it’s that half the country is slow to adopt AI. So maybe I have more time than I thought. Maybe I don’t need to match Silicon Valley’s frenetic pace.

There’s wisdom in not being too early and freedom in recognizing that the window of opportunity isn’t slamming shut tomorrow. I can experiment thoughtfully and build sustainably. The real competitive advantage might not be moving fastest. It might be moving fast enough to innovate, but without sacrificing performance or user experience.

My Entrepreneurial Roots: From Hot Tubs to r2ware

2025-09-05T18:49:36-04:00

For the same reason I wiped Windows off my Dell computer in 2002 to install Gentoo Linux, I’ve always been drawn to the individualism of owning my own business. There’s something exhilarating about making your own rules, spotting flaws in the status quo, and crafting creative solutions to solve them. That drive for independence and problem-solving has shaped my career and fueled my entrepreneurial spirit—ultimately leading me to found r2ware.

Early Inspiration: Family Business

As a kid, I watched my parents run Oasis Hot Tubs, a hot tub rental business. Everywhere we went, we were walking billboards—rocking branded T-shirts, toting beach coolers with the logo, or cruising in my dad’s pickup truck with its custom Oasis paint job. I was young, but those moments showed me the profound sense of purpose that comes with building something of your own.

First Venture: Revolutionizing Post-Production in Hollywood

After earning my CS degree from WPI in Massachusetts, I moved to Los Angeles during the post-dot-com era to work in the entertainment industry. In the post-production department, I quickly noticed a glaring inefficiency in how we delivered rough cuts to network executives. The process involved an assistant editor doing a real-time “layoff” to a beta cassette tape, copying it to six daisy-chained VHS decks, and then having a PA (or sometimes me) drive tapes all over Hollywood. It was time-consuming, wasteful, and frustrating.

So, I built reidransom.com, a video hosting platform that streamlined the process: export to QuickTime, upload to an FTP server, send an email, done. This saved hours of time, tape stock, gas, and sanity for our team. Network execs could now watch rough cuts on their laptops—on planes, at home, anywhere—instead of being tethered to VHS players. While the business gained traction with current and former employers, I struggled with marketing and eventually let it fade. Still, it was my first taste of entrepreneurship and it felt good.

Justice Reform: Building Systems at Defy Ventures

Years later, my passion for justice reform and the belief that people can transform their lives led me to Defy Ventures, a nonprofit serving currently and formerly incarcerated individuals with career readiness and entrepreneurship training. I joined as a software developer and moved my family from LA to New York. There, I built a custom Life-Cycle Management System to streamline processes for all departments nationwide. My work earned me promotions to Director and later Vice President of Engineering.

When Defy shifted its focus to currently incarcerated individuals with limited access to computers and the internet, the need for my online system diminished. It was time to move on, but the mission of justice reform remains close to my heart.

Remote Leadership: Rewriting Storefront at Premiere Digital

In 2017, I joined Premiere Digital, a company headquartered in LA, as a remote developer. I started by building a proof-of-concept for a new backend for their Storefront product, described as:

The world’s most powerful SaaS platform for managing global content. Major Studios and Digital Platforms use STOREFRONT® every day to manage global content distribution, make data-driven content decisions, and automate time-consuming workflows.

That proof-of-concept became the foundation for a complete rewrite of the product, which I oversaw. Today, I manage a small, focused, fully remote development team at Premiere, continuing to innovate in the digital content space.

A New Chapter: Launching r2ware

In August 2024, my entrepreneurial fire was reignited after meeting everyone from Rich Girl Cult at a conference in Orlando. Over the years, countless friends had asked me how to build a website, and those recurring questions inspired my next venture. I founded r2ware, a web development agency dedicated to empowering small business owners with the tools and services they need to turn their dreams of entrepreneurship into reality.

In my life, I’ve seen one or two massive tech industry transformations unfold. The dot-com boom, then mobile tech and social platforms created clear winners. AI is clearly next. Today, AI offers a new frontier to redefine what’s possible, but it’s up to bold entrepreneurs and small business owners to rise to the challenge.

From my early days tinkering with Gentoo to streamlining Hollywood workflows, building systems for justice reform, and now launching r2ware, my journey has been about challenging the status quo and creating solutions that make a difference. I’m excited to see where this next chapter takes me—and to help others build their own paths to success.