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My husband and I have been doing independent research in computer science since about 2003. We have funded it all through it consulting work, mostly with the st

My husband and I have been doing independent research in computer science since about 2003. We have funded it all through it consulting work, mostly with the state government. It is possible, but up until this point it has not been profitable. But there are other ways to measure fulfilling work, and independent research has been enormously fulfilling. Having absolute freedom to set our own research goals was what kept us from ever taking VC. It is not the life for everyone but it is the life for us.

ScottBurson 12y ago
Very cool! Have you published anything?
- idexicon 12y ago
  Short answer: No, except some granted patents. Long answer: We have delved into so many areas, worked so hard in seclusion for the past several years, almost existing in a parallel universe to Silicon Valley. Our own private Idaho, if you will. New database structures, encryption, automatic parallel programming, low power servers, basically whatever suits our fancy. Now it is decentralized genomics. Who knows what tomorrow may bring? I figured out early on that we were so weird that PhD land, corporate research, VC-istan, and federal contracting would think we were too "out of the box". So we decided to go it alone. We are motivated by pushing science forward purely, and the other groups have competing objectives that did not suit us. The tragedy is that many of our inventions and code may never be used by the masses. We are so private the thought of sharing our work is excruciating. We have amassed a large amount of work. I guess we will start sharing it soon, but that would pull us away from the development, which would be terrible. :-)
  - S4M 12y ago
    That looks super interesting. Do you have links where you show your work?
    - ladytron 12y ago
      Nope. Not even a website. Until now we have kept it all to ourselves. I do believe we will be sharing information with possible licensees in the near future though. That's the thing - in the research for hire business secrecy is pretty important. You are trading your code, patents, and trade secrets for compensation. It is prudent to stay private.

ScottBurson 12y ago

Very cool! Have you published anything?

idexicon 12y ago
Short answer: No, except some granted patents. Long answer: We have delved into so many areas, worked so hard in seclusion for the past several years, almost existing in a parallel universe to Silicon Valley. Our own private Idaho, if you will. New database structures, encryption, automatic parallel programming, low power servers, basically whatever suits our fancy. Now it is decentralized genomics. Who knows what tomorrow may bring? I figured out early on that we were so weird that PhD land, corporate research, VC-istan, and federal contracting would think we were too "out of the box". So we decided to go it alone. We are motivated by pushing science forward purely, and the other groups have competing objectives that did not suit us. The tragedy is that many of our inventions and code may never be used by the masses. We are so private the thought of sharing our work is excruciating. We have amassed a large amount of work. I guess we will start sharing it soon, but that would pull us away from the development, which would be terrible. :-)
- S4M 12y ago
  That looks super interesting. Do you have links where you show your work?
  - ladytron 12y ago
    Nope. Not even a website. Until now we have kept it all to ourselves. I do believe we will be sharing information with possible licensees in the near future though. That's the thing - in the research for hire business secrecy is pretty important. You are trading your code, patents, and trade secrets for compensation. It is prudent to stay private.