How Peter Giacomo Lombardo uses Buttondown

Peter Giacomo Lombardo is a software engineer, originally from Boston but now living in Sicily. He runs Password Pusher, an open-source project to send passwords securely to others.

We chatted with Peter to learn about how he uses Buttondown to grow his audience.

Tell us a bit about yourself and your background.

My name is Peter Giacomo Lombardo - I'm originally from the Boston, MA USA area but now have been living in Sicily for almost 15 years.

I am a long time engineer & open source developer working remotely from this Mediterranean island.

Right after I moved here with my wife and first daughter, I launched an open-source project named Password Pusher to securely communicate passwords to colleagues & clients. With constant updates, features and a great community, the project has exploded in popularity and usage.

Why did you start a newsletter?

Password Pusher's user base is spread across various tech communities (email, forums, subreddits, tech stack groups, etc) and for a long time I would update each individually. After a while, this became more effort than I could handle, so I quickly realized I needed a better way to update users.

What do you write about on your newsletter?

The user base is mostly IT, SysAdmin, and DevOps professionals that use the software as part of their business process so in turn, I try to keep newsletters focused on what's important without any extra noise or chatter. Just enough to help them do their jobs more efficiently.

The newsletters consist of project updates & changes including new features, security tips & bug fixes. Every once in a while I'll add in teasers for upcoming features but those are at the end of the newsletter - for those interested.

Where did you first learn of Buttondown, and what made you decide to give it a try?

I found Buttondown through online research and a bit of discontent with the alternatives. After trying out some over complicated and too flashy alternatives, I decided to try Buttondown for the simple but deep interface and the sincere tone of the site, documentation and blog posts.

What are some ways Buttondown has helped you run your email?

First, the biggest benefit to me is that Buttondown reduces the friction & obstacles to communicate with end users. The tool doesn't get in the way. Second, the analytics are great, updated hourly and straight to the point.

What are some things you’d be excited to see Buttondown build in the next few months?

They say that there is always a large chunk of users who are just happy & quiet. I would say I fall into that group. Without ever having touched Integrations & Automation yet, I feel I still have a lot more to explore before wanting new features.

Anything else you’d like to add?

Overall, I'm a big fan of Buttondown and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a great newsletter tool that doesn't get in the way.