3 ms·

No, a web based UI which basically does the work of providing an interface to the DB (think of phpMyAdmin), but also adds meaning to the data based on the entit

No, a web based UI which basically does the work of providing an interface to the DB (think of phpMyAdmin), but also adds meaning to the data based on the entities and teams that need the data. For example, the tool processes the DB schema, builds a UI. Learns which field is username, and then shows in the front end the way user management softwares work. For the sales guy, its just all the information from Salesforce, different forms, the value of their converted leads. For the finance team, its the payments, fraud disputes etc., All this data is in the DB. And engineering efforts go in to build these tools for the non-engineers and keep re-iterating. I am trying to solve that problem of re-inventing the wheel. Any functions specific to the business can always be added using JS or Python (just like Zapier).

GFischer 9y ago
It sounds really useful, but are you sure non-programmers will be able to do stuff with it? There's a continuum of automation software, non-programmers often find themselves comfortable writing stuff in Excel, and some become kind-of self-taught programmers using something like VBA, Access, or whatever is used today, but they are still not programmers and don't understand how your "magic" tool works. If your tool has the ease of use for non-programmers as Excel you might have something big. If not, you still might have something useful :) but understand your audience :) .
- tyingq 9y ago
  It is an already crowded space. Quickbase, Fusioo, Ragic, Knack, Zoho Creator, Google App Maker, etc. I've used most of them, and they end up being frustrating. Quickbase was the most flexible of the lot, but it's expensive. I haven't tried Google's. It sounds like it has a problem many of these tools share though. Per user pricing, with no notion of "external users". Think something like job applicant tracking. You couldn't offer an external user portal to upload a resume without paying a license for every applicant.
  - Sreyanth 9y ago
    @tyingq. That's a brilliant point, and am glad that you pointed it out. We were thinking of per-user pricing only for the employees. The tools generated will have an "Allow external user signups" option that would allow external people to signup, and then the external users' traffic would be charged by the hosting company (or by us if the user chooses us to host their tools for them). I think this is a normal way of doing it, and I believe these tools will soon switch into this mode, if not, I am glad :D
- Sreyanth 9y ago
  Thanks for pointing that out! I am guessing it will be as easy as Excel for the non-programmers to use the tools generated using my tool. But, only the users can say. In fact, we were debating on providing an Excel like interface (which will be auto-created if the table has too many columns, and can be manually created if required) that just boosts productivity when performing data manipulation jobs. We saw that most non-programmers, when confused, just look for an export option first, so that the data can be analyzed in Excel. Then they modify it in Excel, upload it on to the systems again - so yes, have a tough competition here with Excel, but we are trying to get that easy to use factor into the online interface to make sure the non-programmers won't have to use multiple tools to get a single job done. But I really hope we come with a product that generates tools that are super-easy to use. Might take time, but that's where we want to go.

GFischer 9y ago

It sounds really useful, but are you sure non-programmers will be able to do stuff with it? There's a continuum of automation software, non-programmers often find themselves comfortable writing stuff in Excel, and some become kind-of self-taught programmers using something like VBA, Access, or whatever is used today, but they are still not programmers and don't understand how your "magic" tool works. If your tool has the ease of use for non-programmers as Excel you might have something big. If not, you still might have something useful :) but understand your audience :) .

tyingq 9y ago
It is an already crowded space. Quickbase, Fusioo, Ragic, Knack, Zoho Creator, Google App Maker, etc. I've used most of them, and they end up being frustrating. Quickbase was the most flexible of the lot, but it's expensive. I haven't tried Google's. It sounds like it has a problem many of these tools share though. Per user pricing, with no notion of "external users". Think something like job applicant tracking. You couldn't offer an external user portal to upload a resume without paying a license for every applicant.
- Sreyanth 9y ago
  @tyingq. That's a brilliant point, and am glad that you pointed it out. We were thinking of per-user pricing only for the employees. The tools generated will have an "Allow external user signups" option that would allow external people to signup, and then the external users' traffic would be charged by the hosting company (or by us if the user chooses us to host their tools for them). I think this is a normal way of doing it, and I believe these tools will soon switch into this mode, if not, I am glad :D
Sreyanth 9y ago
Thanks for pointing that out! I am guessing it will be as easy as Excel for the non-programmers to use the tools generated using my tool. But, only the users can say. In fact, we were debating on providing an Excel like interface (which will be auto-created if the table has too many columns, and can be manually created if required) that just boosts productivity when performing data manipulation jobs. We saw that most non-programmers, when confused, just look for an export option first, so that the data can be analyzed in Excel. Then they modify it in Excel, upload it on to the systems again - so yes, have a tough competition here with Excel, but we are trying to get that easy to use factor into the online interface to make sure the non-programmers won't have to use multiple tools to get a single job done. But I really hope we come with a product that generates tools that are super-easy to use. Might take time, but that's where we want to go.