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"... Ask yourself: what open source software exists that solves a big problem in a large market? ..." Statistical software (like R), perhaps? Not sure how muc
by aneesh 18y ago
"... Ask yourself: what open source software exists that solves a big problem in a large market? ..."
Statistical software (like R), perhaps? Not sure how much it's used by businesses though, especially with alternatives like SAS, or data mining built into Oracle & SQL Server. Still, hosted data analysis sounds cool (with potential complexities as well).
- SwellJoe 18y agoThe guys behind SciPy are doing this sort of thing (not R, specifically, but scientific computing...they were doing fluid dynamics and geological data analysis). It's a pretty specialized market, but one where huge sums of money are spent. They had revenues in the millions when I left, and they only had two big customers (and a few customers who were putting out feelers for other options besides their current providers). Anyway, they weren't actually making any money at hosted scientific apps yet, but they were building their data center out and getting the contracts in place, so I expect it's a reasonable portion of their business today. But, if you or your co-founder isn't a PhD in the field you choose to tackle, you'll probably have a hard time getting a foothold.