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AI OSS tool repo goes archived over night after raising $7.3M Seed

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Re: AI OSS tool repo goes archived over night after raising $7.3M Seed

#141

Post by sdesol »

GabrielBianconi wrote: post #114
faeyanpiraat wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there any lessons around the why which may be publicly shared ?

There are many factors at play here but if I had to pick one... an open-source company has to find product market fit twice: first for the OSS project and again for a commercial product. The AI market moves very quickly so it's easy to take a step in the wrong direction and fall behind. I might publish a long-form reflection when the dust settles.

> first for the OSS project and again for a commercial product.

Is there a way to reach out to you as I would like to hear what you have to say about what I am working on. You can update your HN profile to include contact information or you can reach out to me using my HN profile.

I'm basically working on a portable intelligence layer for AI that I will be open sourcing and the commerical product will be to make the intelligence layer even smarter. I can share the Show HN post that I am working on that better explains the value proposition and would love to learn any lessons you have gained while trying to sell AI tools commerically.

Edit: In case somebody calls me out it. I didn't want to use the `tensorzero` email domain incase the domain was going to become defunct soon.

Re: AI OSS tool repo goes archived over night after raising $7.3M Seed

#142

Post by [deleted] »

bel8 wrote: post #132
GabrielBianconi wrote: post #83

I'm the co-founder and CEO of TensorZero. We started the company two and a half years ago, and raised $7.3m in 2024 (announced only almost a year later). We've spent less than half of this amount. Earlier this week we came to the difficult decision to wind down the project. The open-source repository remains available on GitHub (Apache 2.0) but won't be actively maintained by the team moving forward.

Hi! First of all, congrats on getting much further than any of us will ever be able to dream. Having a well funded startup is no small feat. Now one question that you probably get a lot and I must ask: why not pivot?

[deleted]

Re: AI OSS tool repo goes archived over night after raising $7.3M Seed

#144

Post by altmanaltman »

gavinray wrote: post #127
GabrielBianconi wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are many factors at play here but if I had to pick one... an open-source company has to find product market fit twice: first for the OSS project and again for a commercial product. The AI market moves very quickly so it's easy to take a step in the wrong direction and fall behind. I might publish a long-form reflection when the dust settles.

It might come off as trite, but I genuinely am sorry that things didn't pan out for you Very early in my career I used to believe that I or anyone else could be a CEO. It wasn't until working with tiny teams where the CEO/founders devoted everything in their life to the business -- often at the expense of hobbies, romantic relationships, and any shred of free time -- that I realized true CEOs are a rare breed. When a…

what do you mean a true "CEO"? Obviously there is a big difference between what someone like Satya Nadella does and what a CEO of a 10-person firm does.

In smaller startups, everyone is directly involved and has to punch above their weight to pull through, not just the CEO.

Also devoting everything in your life to one thing is not a mark of intelligence or skill. It is a mark of dedication but by itself means little.

And yeah, not everyone can be a CEO because most business fail very quickly. There is always an element of luck in those that survive.

But the idea that you devote 24x7 of your life hence you must be a good leader is not accurate. In fact, if you press this culture downstream, you'll tire your workers and the rest of the team.

Re: AI OSS tool repo goes archived over night after raising $7.3M Seed

#145

Post by KennyBlanken »

GabrielBianconi wrote: post #114
faeyanpiraat wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there any lessons around the why which may be publicly shared ?

There are many factors at play here but if I had to pick one... an open-source company has to find product market fit twice: first for the OSS project and again for a commercial product. The AI market moves very quickly so it's easy to take a step in the wrong direction and fall behind. I might publish a long-form reflection when the dust settles.

> an open-source company has to find product market fit twice: first for the OSS project and again for a commercial product.

The only way this could be a 'lesson learned' is if you homehow managed to not pay any attention to what has been going on in the last 25 years with open source software companies.

Re: AI OSS tool repo goes archived over night after raising $7.3M Seed

#146

Post by latchkey »

maxnevermind wrote: post #128
GabrielBianconi wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mostly salaries to support a small team. We are returning the remaining capital to investors.

I thought usually founders try to pivot till they run out of money. I wonder if that is good or bad for a serial entrepreneurs if they decide to shut it down instead of pivoting?

He might not have had that choice. Investors can put money into a bank account, and just as easily take it out. This is what happened in the 2000 dotbomb.

Re: AI OSS tool repo goes archived over night after raising $7.3M Seed

#147

Post by [deleted] »

bel8 wrote: post #132
GabrielBianconi wrote: post #83

I'm the co-founder and CEO of TensorZero. We started the company two and a half years ago, and raised $7.3m in 2024 (announced only almost a year later). We've spent less than half of this amount. Earlier this week we came to the difficult decision to wind down the project. The open-source repository remains available on GitHub (Apache 2.0) but won't be actively maintained by the team moving forward.

Hi! First of all, congrats on getting much further than any of us will ever be able to dream. Having a well funded startup is no small feat. Now one question that you probably get a lot and I must ask: why not pivot?

[deleted]

Re: AI OSS tool repo goes archived over night after raising $7.3M Seed

#148

Post by gavinray »

altmanaltman wrote: post #144
gavinray wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might come off as trite, but I genuinely am sorry that things didn't pan out for you Very early in my career I used to believe that I or anyone else could be a CEO. It wasn't until working with tiny teams where the CEO/founders devoted everything in their life to the business -- often at the expense of hobbies, romantic relationships, and any shred of free time -- that I realized true CEOs are a rare breed. When a…

what do you mean a true "CEO"? Obviously there is a big difference between what someone like Satya Nadella does and what a CEO of a 10-person firm does. In smaller startups, everyone is directly involved and has to punch above their weight to pull through, not just the CEO. Also devoting everything in your life to one thing is not a mark of intelligence or skill. It is a mark of dedication but by itself means little.…

There are personality traits inherent to successful CEO's that are in-born.

For example: I cannot imagine being a successful touring live performer. I am an introvert, I keep a rigid schedule so travel throws everything off, can't keep myself awake very late...

Could I perform the functions of a live performer? Yes, though no matter how much I "tried" the mismatch between the job and my natural tendencies is a recipe for failure.

  > not everyone can be a CEO because most business fail very quickly
Not everyone can be a CEO because not everyone is cut out for it. If you think you could step into those shoes, you're either built different or delusional.

Re: AI OSS tool repo goes archived over night after raising $7.3M Seed

#149

Post by carterschonwald »

GabrielBianconi wrote: post #83

I'm the co-founder and CEO of TensorZero. We started the company two and a half years ago, and raised $7.3m in 2024 (announced only almost a year later). We've spent less than half of this amount. Earlier this week we came to the difficult decision to wind down the project. The open-source repository remains available on GitHub (Apache 2.0) but won't be actively maintained by the team moving forward.

i had the very strange experience last week of a recruiter listing your org as an example client, and when i looked stuff up i saw the current state.

Re: AI OSS tool repo goes archived over night after raising $7.3M Seed

#150

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

maxnevermind wrote: post #128
GabrielBianconi wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mostly salaries to support a small team. We are returning the remaining capital to investors.

I thought usually founders try to pivot till they run out of money. I wonder if that is good or bad for a serial entrepreneurs if they decide to shut it down instead of pivoting?

I feel like pivoting got unwarranted hype in the 2010s or so, possibly because Slack was an outlier in how successful they were.

Major pivoting is almost always a really bad idea. (I admit I'm doing a bit of weaseling using the "major" qualifier, but when I searched for examples online, a lot of the ones that came back weren't major pivots, just slight refinements of focus to find better product market fit). Pivoting usually carries a lot of baggage - better to just give the money back and start afresh most of the time.

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