←back to thread

YC: Requests for Startups

(www.ycombinator.com)
514 points sarimkx | 4 comments | | HN request time: 0.841s | source
Show context
gavinhoward ◴[] No.39372613[source]
I am building a company that falls under two categories (commercial Open Source and developer tools based on internal tools), but I would never take YC money for it.

Because of that stake, they want an "exit" in some form, and the drive to that exit will pave the road to user-hostile software and make it the path of least resistance.

replies(9): >>39372655 #>>39372661 #>>39372687 #>>39372727 #>>39372937 #>>39373068 #>>39373455 #>>39373741 #>>39373993 #
1. Bagged2347 ◴[] No.39372655[source]
I'll bite, I'm interested in the OSS dev tools field and I agree with your stance on investment money tending to corrupt good products. It's a big trade off. What are you working on? Do you have a website to share? Is it just you right now or do you have partners or employees?
replies(1): >>39373351 #
2. gavinhoward ◴[] No.39373351[source]
I am surprised at the interest, thank you!

One note: technically my software isn't quite Open Source; it's source available. [0]

I will have my first release in less than two months, hopefully. It will include a scripting language and a build system.

If the language gets interest, I'll expand it and build the standard library.

If the build system gets interest, I will expand it. The end goal is Nix for mere mortals.

If neither gets interest, I will have to move to my next idea: VCS with project management and that handles large, binary files.

Beyond that, we'll see.

I have a business website, but not yet for those projects. I will at release, including tutorials.

You can read an old commit of design docs at [1], [2], and [3].

It's just me; I want to run my business like Hwaci, the SQLite guys. That also reduces overhead and will let me provide excellent support [4] for paying clients.

[0]: https://gavinhoward.com/2023/12/is-source-available-really-t...

[1]: https://git.yzena.com/Yzena/Yc/src/branch/master/docs/yao

[2]: https://git.yzena.com/Yzena/Yc/src/branch/master/docs/rig

[3]: https://git.yzena.com/Yzena/Yc/src/branch/master/docs/yar

[4]: https://github.com/gavinhoward/bc/issues/66

replies(1): >>39373555 #
3. ushakov ◴[] No.39373555[source]
Why would anyone pay for what you’re building? SQLite is not a business model anyone in the world could meaningfully replicate, don’t hope for it.
replies(1): >>39373860 #
4. gavinhoward ◴[] No.39373860{3}[source]
You may be right.

However, there are rumblings that standards and liability will be imposed on the industry.

In that case, I would be well-positioned as someone who could accept that liability for a price. Your run-of-the-mill build system created by volunteers? Not so much.