Kubaka. Two years from the life of a lemur. Year 2012: Dive

    qbaka
    Hi, Habr.

    2 years ago, two developers from St. Petersburg started making a service that solves a trivial but quite relevant problem: monitoring JavaScript errors in production. What came of this and whether it is easy for a programmer to become a startup, we will try to tell in our history. About mentalities, two long trips to the states, startup bullshit, introversion, victories and a copper basin, how much money is $ 200K, why do I need an iPad more often than a laptop, and how to get a year of free hosting.

    Let's get acquainted, we have something to tell.


    Where you path led me


    We started to do the service without realizing what a startup is. It was such a dream for every programmer - to do something different. Therefore, we will tell our story exactly through the eyes of ordinary developers. We were given the opportunity to start making our own project, and we learned about what nerves every day the work of our own company is and most often that the entrepreneur does not have time for programming a bit later. In the meantime ...



    In the meantime, we enjoyed the code. It may seem that the error log is very simple, but due to the features of the frontend, tracking javascript is much more complicated than the backend, because each browser reports errors differently, with a different set of data, and IE translates errors into different languages . And also minification, inline scripts, several statics servers, that’s all. And the responsibility is huge, because an error in the client script can break user sites, and a bad architecture can slow down. But we already had sufficient experience in developing highly loaded services, so for the whole time since launching the open beta we never caused problems (except that the page loading wheel at first spun longer than usual). The architecture was divided into 4 components: the script is loaded on client machines and sends data to us, the aggregator receives error reports, filters them first and puts them in the queue, the processor parses the queue, runs it through analytics and saves the result to the database, the web interface allows you to watch all this. The technologies are not at all fashionable (MySQL, Redis, RabbitMQ, PHP, Java, jQuery, Netty, Nginx), but convenient for a very quick start, it was important for us to make a prototype, the first beta. Selectel hosting in the cloud. The first logo was drawn by a girl from one of the founders. The whole site was made in gray tones, because they did not know how to work normally with color. Even the charting engine wrote their own because Google Charts took a very long time to render. True, they still used it for more complex graphs and charts. Paid services like AmCharts didn’t work, SaaS licenses are too expensive. Google charts have been loading for so long, that the whole service was transferred to ajax because of it. It’s better to download Google statics at the very beginning, than it will download for one and a half seconds (there is no caching) with each transition, plus the initialization of the graphs themselves. There were already several competitors at the start, but they were almost not active. It’s even good for a startup: any investor is worried if there are no competitors. In summer, they launched the first beta, let users in, fixed bugs, and then (this is a surprise) the money ran out.

    It would be better if you, brother, were sitting at home


    In the fall, a team of two coders, who think that all startups are made up of programmers from yesterday, first got out into the world for the first event. Before that, we sat in the kitchen for six months, codified, registered LLC (with the help of Elba and MyDelo), searched for beta users, etc. And then it began.



    The very first event attracted so much attention to us that it was the hardest month in our life (it was worse then, but by that time we were already used to it). Some presentations, funds, accelerators, incubators, business angels, all write letters and urgently want an answer, a decision, the deadlines for participation in some programs are on fire (the “season” just starts in September) ... let the code go back to the kitchen! But investments were needed, I had to continue. There is also no experience, but everyone wants a percentage of the company. We decided to spend a month on parties - we participated in several events in a row to figure out how everything works, to ask people for advice. As a result, we decided to take a chance and went to the accelerator in the USA, at least we’ll see the world (we didn’t look, there was no time), at the same time they gave a little money, You can stretch another six months (together and without the cost of marketing and infrastructure). For the next 3.5 months, we were engaged in some kind of garbage, for which we were not psychologically ready and did not know how to use all this (mentors, events, Silicon Valley around) correctly. But these months were decisive in the change of consciousness. No one needs the code itself. It is important how they use it, how they find it, and how to find those who find it. And for this (sadly for introverted programmers) you need to communicate live with people. Lots of. It is important how they use it, how they find it, and how to find those who find it. And for this (sadly for introverted programmers) you need to communicate live with people. Lots of. It is important how they use it, how they find it, and how to find those who find it. And for this (sadly for introverted programmers) you need to communicate live with people. Lots of.

    First coworking smoothie


    We started to suspect something. There was less and less time left for programming, “some garbage” took up more and more. Later it turned out that the garbage is called business development (for a long time they tried to understand what this term means, although everyone around said that we needed to do just that). Later, even the work on the marketing email was perceived by us with joy, as the work on something directly related to the product. However, we nevertheless tried and released a lot of new features for the New Year, creating a gap from competitors (we began to monitor user clicks, made all kinds of filters, learned how to hook stacktrace without modifying the code, show how many users were affected by the problem, in general, it was not a shame to tell) . Have registered an American company (accelerator condition) opened an account with Silicon Valley Bank and moved to American hosting (pings, stability). The first money spent on the qbaka.com domain (a thousand dollars, normally for a 5-letter one, I had to bargain for a long time), before that there was net. I managed to find a team that made an awesome Western-level video for less than a thousand dollars (now the guys take a lot more, but still cheap, write if you're interested). Seriously, almost none of the major services at that time had the same level of videos. Found a guy who drew a new logo. than for a thousand dollars (now the guys take a lot more, but still cheap, write if interested). Seriously, almost none of the major services at that time had the same level of videos. Found a guy who drew a new logo. than for a thousand dollars (now the guys take a lot more, but still cheap, write if interested). Seriously, almost none of the major services at that time had the same level of videos. Found a guy who drew a new logo.

    - Listen, let's hang in coworking, I have an idea for a startup, I already made a drawing. Smooth me off!
    - So, right away I went to ***.
    (folk joke)

    And yet, the users themselves will not come, and there was really no money for advertising, even taking into account pre-seed investments. Partnerships, promotion channels are needed (more on that in the next post). In terms of finances, we were generally the most economical startup team, saving on everything (buying a domain is an exception), although the now-fashionable startup development model teaches us to be an addict: spend it fast, die young. As it turned out later, this was an exception, but the approach turned out to be right: with our project, spending fast is a sure and senseless death, and the savings allowed us to ensure slow but adaptive growth, reaching first for the cash prize in the competition, and then for investments, start accepting payments. After all, the service was still free, we did not pay salaries, and the credit card almost exhausted the limit. All because we began to make the service simple and close in spirit - for ourselves, for programmers, and his market turned out to be one of the most difficult: global B2B. Companies, not programmers, will buy our service out of pocket, because it is for the business that it is important to provide the service without errors, and you can monitor home projects and keep within the free limit. And selling to companies is not at all as simple as observing the viral growth of a social service. Budgets are different, different people make decisions, some outsource development, and some are too big and mired in the internal bureaucracy, some have a clean web service and others have an offline business (we use a pizza delivery site, for example ) Companies, not programmers, will buy our service out of pocket, because it is for the business that it is important to provide the service without errors, and you can monitor home projects and keep within the free limit. And selling to companies is not at all as simple as observing the viral growth of a social service. Budgets are different, different people make decisions, some outsource development, and some are too big and mired in the internal bureaucracy, some have a clean web service and others have an offline business (we use a pizza delivery site, for example ) Companies, not programmers, will buy our service out of pocket, because it is for the business that it is important to provide the service without errors, and you can monitor home projects and keep within the free limit. And selling to companies is not at all as simple as observing the viral growth of a social service. Budgets are different, different people make decisions, some outsource development, and some are too big and mired in the internal bureaucracy, some have a clean web service and others have an offline business (we use a pizza delivery site, for example ) how to observe the viral growth of some social service. Budgets are different, different people make decisions, some outsource development, and some are too big and mired in the internal bureaucracy, some have a clean web service and others have an offline business (we use a pizza delivery site, for example ) how to observe the viral growth of some social service. Budgets are different, different people make decisions, some outsource development, and some are too big and mired in the internal bureaucracy, some have a clean web service and others have an offline business (we use a pizza delivery site, for example )



    One of the few sincere joys of a startup is to sort through user sites and be surprised at how different they are (countries, business profiles, scale). From a social network for cats to a tourist resort in Canada, from a major media site to a dating site for cheating on spouses, from Citrix to home pages. But this is at the top of the iceberg, and inside is hell from constant nerves, zebras from critical (within the company) situations. Press on all fronts: deadlines for events and presentations, reports to investors, pitches to other investors, answers to users, meetings with potential partners, tax reports, document verification, everything needs to be prepared and everything goes wrong all the time. That electronic key will burn on a flash drive at the most inopportune moment, when the money transfer between banks hangs and if it is not quickly confirmed, then the state will take them for themselves. That accelerator for almost two months turned out to be without money for us (as in that joke: the startup comes to the investor, and the investor is also a startup), although we have already arrived in the states and the last personal reserves have run out.

    Hi, it’s still raining, and I’m not dressed for the weather in the morning


    Scolded Homer, Theocritus;
    But I read Adam Smith
    and there was a deep economy
    (Pushkin, Eugene Onegin)

    If your team is small (advice: you need to build a powerful diverse team from the very beginning, if we had the resources to do this), then in a startup you will have to be an incompetent specialist in all professions that individual people are engaged in in large companies. Programmer, lawyer, evangelist, accountant, marketer, copywriter, tech support, designer, director ... You need to understand the dilution of shares, convertible loans, nginx settings, what kind of conferences there are on your topic, the convenience of the registration form, how much money to send to a pension fund and how much what time is it better to post news. Do not just understand, but do it all. Every day: google about promotions, subtract kilometer contracts, write job texts, come up with a script for the video, elaborate each scene in detail, come up with improvements to the next version of the logo, print a banner for a demo stand at an event, independently create a design for it, make presentations, call the bank, go to the post office to send documents, tweet questions about the service, follow the competitors' updates, the list goes on and on. Oh, and when to program? At night, if there is strength after this important event where there will be many investors. And tomorrow, a meeting with a representative of Opera. And the day after tomorrow mitap for front-end where you can PR service. How easy it was to go to California for almost 4 months and not see anything at all except the Grand Canyon. follow the updates of competitors, the list goes on and on. Oh, and when to program? At night, if there is strength after this important event where there will be many investors. And tomorrow, a meeting with a representative of Opera. And the day after tomorrow mitap for front-end where you can PR service. How easy it was to go to California for almost 4 months and not see anything at all except the Grand Canyon. follow the updates of competitors, the list goes on and on. Oh, and when to program? At night, if there is strength after this important event where there will be many investors. And tomorrow, a meeting with a representative of Opera. And the day after tomorrow mitap for front-end where you can PR service. How easy it was to go to California for almost 4 months and not see anything at all except the Grand Canyon.



    But the year was not bad. On the last day before the deadline for accepting applications, we submitted our startup to Web Ready. Then we still did not know that we were going to America, so we reached the finals already while in Menlo Park, half an hour on foot from Facebook headquarters, in the same house as the Greek and Lithuanian startup teams. Of course, we also saved by car, so we often went half an hour to the nearest Caltrain station (the train that connects the Valley and San Francisco). It is not true that in the Valley it is impossible without a car, it is very pleasant to walk in the fresh air. It's a shame to refuse the Web Ready final, so we agreed with two good friends that they would represent our startup in our place. For two weeks from scratch on Skype, for several calls we trained one of them to make a presentation of our project. In the morning, as soon as we woke up, we turned on the live broadcast from the finals. The difference with Russia is exactly 12 hours, at our 7 in the morning in St. Petersburg the winners were announced. We won. 1st place. 500 thousand rubles (before taxes). It was the best moment in our history, there was no such joy even from the investments received later. Our friends helped us win, for which we received a generous thank you from the prize (is it a joke to get into the startup movement even for one day), along with the girl who drew the first logo. The balance was divided among themselves, this made it possible to close loans and stretch for another six months, critical before receiving investments. We still save money at the office - we work in the kitchen, only in January 2014 we will move to a coworking or office. There was also a mini grant from Skolkovo for 5 million rubles, but it seems that we don’t have a chance to get it. in our 7 mornings in St. Petersburg the winners were announced. We won. 1st place. 500 thousand rubles (before taxes). It was the best moment in our history, there was no such joy even from the investments received later. Our friends helped us win, for which we received a generous thank you from the prize (is it a joke to get into the startup movement even for one day), along with the girl who drew the first logo. The balance was divided among themselves, this made it possible to close loans and stretch for another six months, critical before receiving investments. We still save money at the office - we work in the kitchen, only in January 2014 we will move to a coworking or office. There was also a mini grant from Skolkovo for 5 million rubles, but it seems that we don’t have a chance to get it. in our 7 mornings in St. Petersburg the winners were announced. We won. 1st place. 500 thousand rubles (before taxes). It was the best moment in our history, there was no such joy even from the investments received later. Our friends helped us win, for which we received a generous thank you from the prize (is it a joke to get into the startup movement even for one day), along with the girl who drew the first logo. The balance was divided among themselves, this made it possible to close loans and stretch for another six months, critical before receiving investments. We still save money at the office - we work in the kitchen, only in January 2014 we will move to a coworking or office. There was also a mini grant from Skolkovo for 5 million rubles, but it seems that we don’t have a chance to get it. there was no such joy even from the investments received later. Our friends helped us win, for which we received a generous thank you from the prize (is it a joke to get into the startup movement even for one day), along with the girl who drew the first logo. The balance was divided among themselves, this made it possible to close loans and stretch for another six months, critical before receiving investments. We still save money at the office - we work in the kitchen, only in January 2014 we will move to a coworking or office. There was also a mini grant from Skolkovo for 5 million rubles, but it seems that we don’t have a chance to get it. there was no such joy even from the investments received later. Our friends helped us win, for which we received a generous thank you from the prize (is it a joke to get into the startup movement even for one day), along with the girl who drew the first logo. The balance was divided among themselves, this made it possible to close loans and stretch for another six months, critical before receiving investments. We still save money at the office - we work in the kitchen, only in January 2014 we will move to a coworking or office. There was also a mini grant from Skolkovo for 5 million rubles, but it seems that we don’t have a chance to get it. critical before receiving an investment. We still save money at the office - we work in the kitchen, only in January 2014 we will move to a coworking or office. There was also a mini grant from Skolkovo for 5 million rubles, but it seems that we don’t have a chance to get it. critical before receiving an investment. We still save money at the office - we work in the kitchen, only in January 2014 we will move to a coworking or office. There was also a mini grant from Skolkovo for 5 million rubles, but it seems that we don’t have a chance to get it.



    I’ll write about adventures in America, the launch of accepting payments, accelerators, a large partner, lawyers and investments in the next post, there are already many here. If you came here to learn about free hosting: startups within the framework of accelerators and a number of other programs can receive free of charge from $ 1000 to $ 2000 per month for a year from the largest hosting services in the USA: Rackspace, SoftLayer, Amazon, Google and Microsoft. From December 2012 to today, hosting Kubaki was free, despite several servers with generously allocated resources and traffic of tens of millions of reports per day. I will write more about this in the second part of the story.

    PS We are looking for a talented front-end with a developed sense of style. If you are, write to amima@qbaka.com

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