34 ms·

Which part of Octopart don't you understand?

49 points by smock 18y ago

dcurtis 18y ago
The Octoparts have such a great, inspiring story. It's the quintessential startup: some guys have a problem they personally encounter, they casually decide to fix the problem for themselves, and a business is created almost by consequence.
edw519 18y ago
"When we started we didn't know how to do any Web programming whatsoever," Morey said. "We didn't even know how to set up a Web server or a database. But we both sort of fell in love with all the new things we were learning." Wow! That pretty much sums it up, AFAIC. Start with a problem. Find a way to solve that problem, no matter what it takes. Have fun. What more could you ask for?
- volida 18y ago
  "didn't know how to do any Web programming" That doesn't mean they didn't know how to code. Adjusting to web programming is not so hard if you are already a coder. That said, it is indeed inspiring
  - andres 18y ago
    We were all doing physics before Octopart so we were pretty comfortable in a unix environment. I took a class in C as a sophomore in college and Sam took the same class in Java. When we decided we were going to start a company I had never heard of MySQL and when we launched we didn't know how to write a single line of javascript. Our core search engine is written in C++ so we've had to learn quite a bit more than traditional web programming as well.
    - volida 18y ago
      you have a lot of determination
redorb 18y ago
Glad to see these guys doing well, I hope perhaps they can stay independent and get some longevity out of the deal...
redorb 18y ago
I'll buy your tickets, but don't make me or anyone buy your data (Stats). If you do, I won't by your tickets. People only care about the sports because of the data which composes the story line, make that a closed garden and I think a lot of people would be collectively pissed.
- TrevorJ 18y ago
  Wrong story perhaps?
  - redorb 18y ago
    oh my sooo sorry, I love octopart - I was talking about the fantasy football story.. ;(
jsrfded 18y ago
Wicked cool PR score... Glowing review in the LAT. Congrats Octopart guys!
byrneseyeview 18y ago
"After a weekend of soul searching, Morey dropped out. Graham presented him with a T-shirt: "Strap on some plums." Plums strapped, Morey persuaded Agarwal to drop out of Berkeley too." Does anybody ever actually explain that shirt? One version I read said it referred to the courage to talk to investors, not cofounders (http://mattmaroon.com/?p=263 http://mattmaroon.com/?p=263). And YC seems to think it's an important bit of intellectual property (http://ycombinator.com/legal.html http://ycombinator.com/legal.html).
- falsestprophet 18y ago
  I think they could do better. "Strap on some plumbs" sounds vaguely sexual.
  - byrneseyeview 18y ago
    Gird yourself with cucumbers, big boy!
    - icky 18y ago
      "I'm mighty tighty-whitey, and I'm smuggling plums!"
- kaens 18y ago
  I would think that it would have a meaning analogous to "grow a set of balls, because you're about to need them".
martythemaniak 18y ago
"Wurzel came up with the name because he liked the concept of an octopus reaching out with its tentacles to grab different parts" Hmm, I always thought the site name was a play on Octopussy.
sachinag 18y ago
No one has animal-style fries. FAIL. (Can't wait to see ya, Harish!)
jmatt 18y ago
I am a dev for reliability software company and Octoparts solves part of a huge problem in the electronic parts industry. Users can now find, purchase and research parts using Octoparts. It'll be interesting to see if they solve the greater problem of providing additional metadata on all these parts. Either way the website is ahead of its time and quite useful! Good to know that even the mainstream media can see that.

49 points by smock 18y ago

The Octoparts have such a great, inspiring story. It's the quintessential startup: some guys have a problem they personally encounter, they casually decide to fix the problem for themselves, and a business is created almost by consequence.

edw519 18y ago

"When we started we didn't know how to do any Web programming whatsoever," Morey said. "We didn't even know how to set up a Web server or a database. But we both sort of fell in love with all the new things we were learning." Wow! That pretty much sums it up, AFAIC. Start with a problem. Find a way to solve that problem, no matter what it takes. Have fun. What more could you ask for?

volida 18y ago
"didn't know how to do any Web programming" That doesn't mean they didn't know how to code. Adjusting to web programming is not so hard if you are already a coder. That said, it is indeed inspiring
- andres 18y ago
  We were all doing physics before Octopart so we were pretty comfortable in a unix environment. I took a class in C as a sophomore in college and Sam took the same class in Java. When we decided we were going to start a company I had never heard of MySQL and when we launched we didn't know how to write a single line of javascript. Our core search engine is written in C++ so we've had to learn quite a bit more than traditional web programming as well.
  - volida 18y ago
    you have a lot of determination

redorb 18y ago

Glad to see these guys doing well, I hope perhaps they can stay independent and get some longevity out of the deal...

redorb 18y ago

I'll buy your tickets, but don't make me or anyone buy your data (Stats). If you do, I won't by your tickets. People only care about the sports because of the data which composes the story line, make that a closed garden and I think a lot of people would be collectively pissed.

TrevorJ 18y ago
Wrong story perhaps?
- redorb 18y ago
  oh my sooo sorry, I love octopart - I was talking about the fantasy football story.. ;(

jsrfded 18y ago

Wicked cool PR score... Glowing review in the LAT. Congrats Octopart guys!

byrneseyeview 18y ago

"After a weekend of soul searching, Morey dropped out. Graham presented him with a T-shirt: "Strap on some plums." Plums strapped, Morey persuaded Agarwal to drop out of Berkeley too." Does anybody ever actually explain that shirt? One version I read said it referred to the courage to talk to investors, not cofounders (http://mattmaroon.com/?p=263 http://mattmaroon.com/?p=263). And YC seems to think it's an important bit of intellectual property (http://ycombinator.com/legal.html http://ycombinator.com/legal.html).

falsestprophet 18y ago
I think they could do better. "Strap on some plumbs" sounds vaguely sexual.
- byrneseyeview 18y ago
  Gird yourself with cucumbers, big boy!
  - icky 18y ago
    "I'm mighty tighty-whitey, and I'm smuggling plums!"
kaens 18y ago
I would think that it would have a meaning analogous to "grow a set of balls, because you're about to need them".

martythemaniak 18y ago

"Wurzel came up with the name because he liked the concept of an octopus reaching out with its tentacles to grab different parts" Hmm, I always thought the site name was a play on Octopussy.

sachinag 18y ago

No one has animal-style fries. FAIL. (Can't wait to see ya, Harish!)

jmatt 18y ago

I am a dev for reliability software company and Octoparts solves part of a huge problem in the electronic parts industry. Users can now find, purchase and research parts using Octoparts. It'll be interesting to see if they solve the greater problem of providing additional metadata on all these parts. Either way the website is ahead of its time and quite useful! Good to know that even the mainstream media can see that.