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1. Koding was launched in January 2012. 2. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18278979 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18278979 seems to say you aren't

1. Koding was launched in January 2012. 2. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18278979 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18278979 seems to say you aren't profitable at the moment 3. In other words, you're giving away like 5-10x the amount of free servers Koding did. If burning money didn't work for them then how would burning it five times faster help you? Are you trying to make it up in volume or something? 4. Alright, just for you I'll stop using throwaway usernames. i don't post on HN super often and I usually forget my password, so I usually just make a new account whenever I want to post something. (fyi this is only my fourth post in this thread) Look I like Repl.it and have used it in the past. You did a good job making the interface work well. I just don't see how free cloud computers can be sustainable as a business in the long term.

amasad 8y ago
> 3. In other words, you're giving away like 5-10x the amount of free servers Koding did. If burning money didn't work for them, then how would burning it five times faster help you? Are you trying to make it up in volume or something? In Sep we spent $15k for all of our infrastructure cost and we made all of it back and then some with subscriptions. It's serverless, we only spend resources when people actually execute code (most of the time they're just typing the code) or when servers are responding to traffic (most of the time they're idle). Unlike C9/Koding/etc which were all VMs :-)
- nodesocket 8y ago
  Thanks for the reply and transparency. I am actually a little surprised and refreshed that you were able to post infrastructure costs ($15k in Sept). I'm assuming this is on AWS Lambda? > Then they started selling premium plans for beefier servers, but no one bought them.. I still think this has validity, especially with high-tech products that have a free plan. How do you know how big the business can grow in terms of revenue when the vast majority of your users are free? In my experience developers are a VERY hard crowd to get to pay for things while being enthusiastic early adopters.
  - amasad 8y ago
    > I'm assuming this is on AWS Lambda? No we built our own. I started working on it in 2015 before much of the seeverless hype. > How do you know how big the business can grow in terms of revenue when the vast majority of your users are free? You don't. You have some plan and some people back you knowing that you're probably wrong about part or all of it. If you're careful and don't balloon the company (we're 6 people and hire very very slow) and get to default alive then you can have a near infinite runway to figure it out. One rule of thumb is that if your developers are making money using your tools then they're more likely to pay. We all know devtools is a tough space but we're very driven, ambitious, yet conservative at the same time. Take every opportunity to cut burn and make revenue.

amasad 8y ago

> 3. In other words, you're giving away like 5-10x the amount of free servers Koding did. If burning money didn't work for them, then how would burning it five times faster help you? Are you trying to make it up in volume or something? In Sep we spent $15k for all of our infrastructure cost and we made all of it back and then some with subscriptions. It's serverless, we only spend resources when people actually execute code (most of the time they're just typing the code) or when servers are responding to traffic (most of the time they're idle). Unlike C9/Koding/etc which were all VMs :-)

nodesocket 8y ago
Thanks for the reply and transparency. I am actually a little surprised and refreshed that you were able to post infrastructure costs ($15k in Sept). I'm assuming this is on AWS Lambda? > Then they started selling premium plans for beefier servers, but no one bought them.. I still think this has validity, especially with high-tech products that have a free plan. How do you know how big the business can grow in terms of revenue when the vast majority of your users are free? In my experience developers are a VERY hard crowd to get to pay for things while being enthusiastic early adopters.
- amasad 8y ago
  > I'm assuming this is on AWS Lambda? No we built our own. I started working on it in 2015 before much of the seeverless hype. > How do you know how big the business can grow in terms of revenue when the vast majority of your users are free? You don't. You have some plan and some people back you knowing that you're probably wrong about part or all of it. If you're careful and don't balloon the company (we're 6 people and hire very very slow) and get to default alive then you can have a near infinite runway to figure it out. One rule of thumb is that if your developers are making money using your tools then they're more likely to pay. We all know devtools is a tough space but we're very driven, ambitious, yet conservative at the same time. Take every opportunity to cut burn and make revenue.