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One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding

datastation.multiprocess.io

91–100 of 120 posts

Re: One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding

#91

Advice regarding VCs: Don't ever talk to them if they randomly approach you saying they "really like what you're doing". They will gladly sent an associate to talk with you about your business in the greatest detail and ask you to share presentations, demos and metrics. Anything you give them will then get passed along to their own portfolio companies in your space. So don't feel flattered when they feign interest in…

But isn't the conventional startup wisdom "Don't worry about people stealing your idea, if your idea is any good you'll have to shove it down people's throats"?

If your idea can be so easily stolen, no one will want it because others can also steal it. Also, someone has probably thought of it and tried it. Also, it probably means your vision not ambitious enough to be a unicorn, and you would have better spent your time climbing a corporate ladder.

That said, there's wisdom in not assuming that VCs want your company to succeed, even if you get funded by them.

Re: One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding

#93

Advice regarding VCs: Don't ever talk to them if they randomly approach you saying they "really like what you're doing". They will gladly sent an associate to talk with you about your business in the greatest detail and ask you to share presentations, demos and metrics. Anything you give them will then get passed along to their own portfolio companies in your space. So don't feel flattered when they feign interest in…

But isn't the conventional startup wisdom "Don't worry about people stealing your idea, if your idea is any good you'll have to shove it down people's throats"? If your idea can be so easily stolen, no one will want it because others can also steal it. Also, someone has probably thought of it and tried it. Also, it probably means your vision not ambitious enough to be a unicorn, and you would have better spent your t…

Its not sharing your idea thats the problem, its sharing your data, implementation plan, research results, which features are getting traction, etc.

Re: One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding

#94
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's stopping you from asking them to sign an NDA before disclosing any details of what you are doing?

They literally won't sign an NDA, especially at that early of a stage.

Why not?

Re: One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding

#95
post #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?

> why would you need YC if you have found a co-founder and have some usage already? can't you just start making money?

YC is primarily looking to invest in unicorns that have returns in the 100x-1000x range. Even if you're "making money," you might just be a lifestyle business (e.g. selling custom art on Etsy) or a small business (e.g. family-run bike shop). And while both might be profitable (the owners might even be worth 7+ figures), neither of these have any realistic chance of becoming the next Amazon.

Re: One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding

#97

Fellow solo developer here. Making https://gainknowhow.com/ . It's my take on how to keep everyone on the same page at growing organizations. My basic premise is that the current data structure to store documentation in folders is not ideal. A better data structure to store knowledge in a graph of connected ideas. Storing knowledge in this manner ensures users understand context when learning skills. I'd love your fe…

This looks pretty cool! May I ask what tech stack you use? I always find that info curious.

Re: One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding

#98

Advice regarding VCs: Don't ever talk to them if they randomly approach you saying they "really like what you're doing". They will gladly sent an associate to talk with you about your business in the greatest detail and ask you to share presentations, demos and metrics. Anything you give them will then get passed along to their own portfolio companies in your space. So don't feel flattered when they feign interest in…

Yup. In general anytime someone is approaching you, unless you are specifically seeking their services out, its probably for their benefit and not yours. A VC seems impressive but they are just another company trying to make money. It's the founder version of getting LinkedIn Recruiter Spam.

> A VC seems impressive

Err... why?

Re: One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding

#99

Hey 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.

Thanks for documenting what you've been doing.

My main thought midway through your narrative was wondering when you'd realize you're building out a datadog-like tech stack - you mention I think splunk at one point in there at least.

I think a thorough review of datadog and a competitor or two might be interesting for you; the market for 'use SQL for everything' is pretty small. The market for 'use dashboarding tech to read ALL the data' is really very large, and the command line tool you built probably works as middleware.

If I were sitting where you're sitting, I would probably look at two things: could I build a niche datadog competitor with what I've got? If so, you've got really good market comps in public companies and could probably build a pretty great SAAS-model lifestyle business at the very least, which would have value to own, sell, or get investment in for growth.

Second, if I didn't think I could, I would look into selling the CLI-SQL tool in the marketplaces of datadog and so on; their strategy is to allow partners to monetize the customer base by selling tools - this probably wouldn't be a retirement-grade result for you, but I bet the monthly income could significantly beat what you've got so far; those BI tools are expensive, and so incremental charges don't always register, especially if you're bringing new data in the system in a way that was difficult to before. In this case, I'd probably work on a couple quick hits where your tool brought a lot more expressivity to the dashboarding tools. For instance, you can pay extra for log ingestion at datadog, but the tools for dealing with these logs are somewhat limited in the UI. A similarly-priced extension from you that gets better querying might be worth a lot.

At any rate, keep it up, and good luck in the next year!

Re: One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding

#100
What you have achieved in one year is pretty impressive. I also think that there is a potential for a good business somewhere in there. If I were you, I would hang in there and change tact a bit. For example, have you considered reaching out to some of your target customers(organizations) to understand what it would take for them to use such a tool? Or what makes them not use the tool? One thing to note is that sales process for enterprise software is tricky e.g A dev might like the solution but someone else writes the check. It's a whole science and it's one factor that influences success
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