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

datastation.multiprocess.io

101–110 of 120 posts

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

#101
Brilliant Idea! I hope you succeed wildly! Upvoted and Favorited!

(Now, as a side note, if funding decisions were up to me, I'd suggest not using VC, never using VC, staying as far away as you can from VC, treating VC as if it were a highly addictive and intoxicating substance, like alcohol is to some people: "When friends don't stop friends from using VC..." (you know, like those old Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) ads from the 1980's )

"VC" above = "Venture Capital" (system) not "Venture Capitalist" (person).

(You know, like "Love the sinner, but hate the sin..." or more colloquially in recent times, "Don't hate the playa, hate the game..." )

You might want to read the following articles:

https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2003/06/03/fixing-venture-cap...

https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2006/04/07/foreword-to-8220er...

But let's say that despite this, you still want to garner some funding...

For whatever reason, after Googling, I can't seem to find a comprehensive list of the various types and tiers of startup financing capital that are available (for example, there are lists of VC's, lists of "Angel Investors", lists of Crowdfunding platforms, lists of ways to bootstrap a business, lists of financial institutions and interest rates for generic borrowing -- but nobody has really sought to unify all of these sources into a single spreadsheet showing an amount of capital borrowed, and what is owed to whom in return for the capital (i.e., Equity (and if so, what %), in the case of VC's, Interest (and what %) in the case of Banks/other lenders, Finished Shipped Product (in the case of Crowdfunding platforms), or other debts/obligations as appropriate).

You could of course, just proverbially "keep the day job", that is, finance the startup costs with other employment -- and avoid all debt/obligations related to borrowing for your business altogether -- at the cost of your time, and working for someone else...

If you absolutely positively (you know, like FedEx! ) cannot go without VC of any sort, then you might wish to consider Pioneer's $20,000 for 2% of your company deal (https://pioneer.app/)

This might be better than YC's $125,000 for 7% IF (if and only if!) you can launch your company for $20,000 or less.

If you can launch your company for $10,000 or less, I wouldn't even go with Pioneer, I'd go with Crowdfunding and/or Family & Friends funding and/or bank loans and/or revenue from a day or part-time job...

At least if you self-finance, the "Pound of Flesh" (the drawback or compromise or hook or caveat -- with my apologies to Shakespeare's "The Merchant Of Venice") that could have been present in your company's future -- will never come due!

It's sort of like, pay now or pay later... pay now with due diligence and thrift -- or pay later, when the VC owns you!

Anyway, wishing you well with your blossoming company!

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

#103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If you believe in the product/service that you're creating, should you worry about someone else building it more effectively?

(self-response: maybe, if they're going to cut corners in some areas to provide a more popular but somehow value-compromised alternative)

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

#105
post #7

Hey, 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…

Hey Kuba! > 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.)! Yeah it's been so cool to see so many people come together, hobbyists and professionals. > 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…

Small company here with a data team consisting of 1.5 full time employees. I just found out about DataStation from this post, immediately installed it and I'm loving it. Great work and concepts :)

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

#106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey Kuba! > 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.)! Yeah it's been so cool to see so many people come together, hobbyists and professionals. > 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…

Small company here with a data team consisting of 1.5 full time employees. I just found out about DataStation from this post, immediately installed it and I'm loving it. Great work and concepts :)

That's fantastic! Any time you have feedback or ideas, please email me. Address in HN profile.

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

#107
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Why not?

Because your ideas might not be unique at all but signing an NDA will expose them to litigation if they launch or fund a competitor.

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

#108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would like to know as well. This is tricky, as all your assets are probably intellectual property and hard to put a price tag on. Also some people have a hard time accepting that they are eligible for a smaller piece of the cake than you are.

Random thought on this: I do not personally believe the owner of the idea is worth more than 10% of equity. They have to be contributing something to get more. It may be capital, it may be sales but it has to be something. I dream to start a company where I am able to steer almost every decision and the company shares automatically reduce my ownership over X years until a kind of coop forms and most employees have en…

>none of this 1 year cliff vesting nonsense

It is foolish to give immediate equity to a new hire who hasn't proven themselves as a good worker and good fit.

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

#109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Random thought on this: I do not personally believe the owner of the idea is worth more than 10% of equity. They have to be contributing something to get more. It may be capital, it may be sales but it has to be something. I dream to start a company where I am able to steer almost every decision and the company shares automatically reduce my ownership over X years until a kind of coop forms and most employees have en…

>none of this 1 year cliff vesting nonsense It is foolish to give immediate equity to a new hire who hasn't proven themselves as a good worker and good fit.

And they do not have to be there for a long time to start providing immense value.

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

#110

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…

Your advice is correct, but the reason is wrong. If you want to raise money, then inbound VC interest is a great source of leads (led to out series A, similar to sibling comments). But VCs employ armies of people to trawl the internet for new companies, and as an early stage founder you are time poor. Tell them that you are focusing on building right now but would love to chat when the time is right, add them to a sp…

Great advice on parent and this one.

If ever founder followed this advice, there would be a revolution in the funding landscape.

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