Light Table is in YCS12 • Hacker News Board

Re: Light Table is in YCS12

#11

Post by Cushman » Fri, May 18, 2012, 3:14 PM UTC

  While being a part of YC doesn't affect our plans or change
  our use of Kickstarter as a means of accelerating the
  release of Light Table, many pledged with the explicit
  purpose of making sure that it had a chance. With YC that
  chance is now safe and we wanted to let our supporters know
  there will be no hard feelings if this changes your desire
  to pledge.

Light Table uses Kickstarter to demonstrate market demand, YC responds to demand with funding, Light Table effectively offers to buy back Kickstarter pledges with YC money just to be nice. Wacky.

There are a lot of ways to read the situation, but my favorite is that Light Table makes sense purely as a strategic acquisition for YC; there are enough YC companies using the languages Light Table targets that, should it yield magical productivity gains, the knock-on effects from being able to get their developers early access and input would be enormous. If they wind up changing the future of software development, all the better.

Re: Light Table is in YCS12

#12

Post by scarredwaits » Fri, May 18, 2012, 3:17 PM UTC

ibdknox wrote: post #3

We normally would wait to announce this until it was time to drum up the press machine, but it was more important to us that you guys know what's going on. If anyone has specific questions/concerns, I'll be lurking.

I initially donated to make sure light table becomes a reality, but I will not withdraw my donation because I think this is a very worthwhile project and I still feel proud to support it. In other words: SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!!

Re: Light Table is in YCS12

#13

Post by TwiztidK » Fri, May 18, 2012, 3:20 PM UTC

Cool. Now this definitely happens, likely sooner with more out of the box support, and I still get a T-shirt (assuming everyone on Kickstarter doesn't drop their pledges now). So, it's basically a win-win-win situation.

Re: Light Table is in YCS12

#14

Post by reiddraper » Fri, May 18, 2012, 3:20 PM UTC

ibdknox wrote: post #9

reiddraper wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are the release dates for Kickstarter backers changing at all?

If they do, they'll be getting better, not worse.

Great. Thanks for the transparency.

Re: Light Table is in YCS12

#15

Post by TazeTSchnitzel » Fri, May 18, 2012, 3:21 PM UTC

Cushman wrote: post #11

While being a part of YC doesn't affect our plans or change our use of Kickstarter as a means of accelerating the release of Light Table, many pledged with the explicit purpose of making sure that it had a chance. With YC that chance is now safe and we wanted to let our supporters know there will be no hard feelings if this changes your desire to pledge. Light Table uses Kickstarter to demonstrate market demand, YC r…

Please add double-lines to your comment so it's readable, thanks! :)

Re: Light Table is in YCS12

#16

Post by zumbojo » Fri, May 18, 2012, 3:26 PM UTC

ibdknox wrote: post #3

We normally would wait to announce this until it was time to drum up the press machine, but it was more important to us that you guys know what's going on. If anyone has specific questions/concerns, I'll be lurking.

Did you apply to YC, or were you invited to YC?

(I am curious how the process works for startups that already have significant traction before joining YC. Humble Bundle comes to mind.)

Re: Light Table is in YCS12

#17

Post by asmala » Fri, May 18, 2012, 3:28 PM UTC

gaius wrote: post #8

ibdknox wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope! The plan is still for the platform to be open source, likely under a GPLish license.

What will a "license" for LT then include?

Indeed, I'm very curious about this one as well.

Going for YC is clearly a great starting point for building a scalable business, so I wonder what the business logic will look like. As in genuinely, positively interested to know. :-)

Re: Light Table is in YCS12

#18

Post by ibdknox » Fri, May 18, 2012, 3:28 PM UTC

zumbojo wrote: post #16

ibdknox wrote: post #3

We normally would wait to announce this until it was time to drum up the press machine, but it was more important to us that you guys know what's going on. If anyone has specific questions/concerns, I'll be lurking.

Did you apply to YC, or were you invited to YC? (I am curious how the process works for startups that already have significant traction before joining YC. Humble Bundle comes to mind.)

We had actually applied previously with a totally different idea, but then Light Table blew up and we resubmitted late.

Re: Light Table is in YCS12

#19

Post by pwny » Fri, May 18, 2012, 3:32 PM UTC

The YC backing actually made me pledge. I held back initially figuring that I would easily be able to buy a license further down the road without taking the risk of seeing you guys give up (no offense intended!) However, getting into YC makes me appreciate how very serious you are and so I treated myself to an early beta.

Good luck, I'm REALLY looking forward to trying Light Table out :)

Re: Light Table is in YCS12

#20

Post by fredsters_s » Fri, May 18, 2012, 3:37 PM UTC

ibdknox wrote: post #3

We normally would wait to announce this until it was time to drum up the press machine, but it was more important to us that you guys know what's going on. If anyone has specific questions/concerns, I'll be lurking.

Epic! Alpha preview for Alums? ;)