One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding
datastation.multiprocess.io
One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding
1–10 of 120 posts
Re: One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding
#2DSQ seems pretty interesting. I don't have a use for it right now, but I'm sure it's something that'll be useful in the future!
Re: One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding
#3Really impressive that you kept going through all those peaks and troughs. While not financially rewarding, it must have been great exercise for your resilience!
Re: One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding
#4> How do you query this data or join or filter across such disparate sources? The only two solutions today are to put ALL data into a warehouse or to write custom scripts.
Isn't this whole problem space already addressed by a bunch of multi-source query engines (falling under the buzzword "Data Virtualization"?)
Re: One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding
#5Hey this is my story! It's been a genuinely fun year. Looking forward to doing better next time. Datastation/dsq are in a great spot and I'm looking forward to them continuing to grow. Happy for your suggestions and flames.
Re: One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding
#6Inspiring read, congratulations on the progress and thanks for the write-up.
Re: One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding
#7Hey, congrats on the journey!
Especially on the community building aspect, it's really impressive that you've been able to spark so many communities on various platforms (Reddit, GitHub, Discord, etc.)!
On a more technical note, since dsq is based on the "load it into SQLite and query it from there" architecture, have you considered integrating with the plugin ecosystems of other existing projects based on that same architecture, like Datasette[0]? It seems like a way to add a lot of value to your tools without much work.
Just curious, cause I'm thinking about doing something similar for OctoSQL[1] (write an adapter for the rich library of plugins Steampipe[2] has, as they have a similar gRPC plugin-based architecture as OctoSQL), for the reasons I listed above.
On a more commercial note, overall I think tools like this are very hard to monetize, because right now they're just a fairly niche use case, between - as you mentioned - full blown data analytics platforms and observability query systems, as well as standard unix tools. Especially since if you need the analytics a lot, you'll probably have time to integrate it into your preferred analytics solution (like BigQuery). Do you have any thoughts on that?
Re: One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding
#8> They weren't a fan of me being a solo founder and they felt the usage wasn't high enough
i don't understand the logic here
why would you need YC if you have found a co-founder and have some usage already? can't you just start making money?
Re: One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding
#9Thanks for this writeup, I can relate 100%, especially the part on the supportive spouse. I've built WunderGraph (https://wundergraph.com/) as a solo-dev for multiple years until I reached a similar point like you. It's weird to say, but my wife kind of accepted that I'd work on weekends between 1-3 pm when the kids sleep. What helped me get out of this "solo-time-drain-thing" was to find the right Co-Founders to help me. I've found a really nice guy to help me with Marketing, and another one who helped me develop the Product. "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, find a team." I hope you can find some way of financing so that you can push through this wall. For me, it was working a full time job and building WunderGraph at night and on the weekends, but it's making you age quickly. I wish you the best for your future.
Re: One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding
#10Thanks for sharing this.
Regarding funding - I think this is a very crowded space and it is hard to see, how data station will get 10x better than other toolings. E.g. on the self-service side there are solutions like Alteryx, that are progressing quite quickly. On the dev oriented side e.g. for automated productive integrations you have various toolings available e.g. in the could platforms. Yes, they all cost money, but they deliver also value.
There will be a niche certainly for this tool somehow, but I think this path needs to be approached together with customers. So if you find someone who is willing to pay $$$ for a certain addition to the tool, you'll have some light into the direction this could head to be self-sustaining.