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☑️ MVP ☑️ YC application ⬜ Find cofounders

Hello Cofounder!

RailsRocket is a no-code app builder that creates real Ruby on Rails apps. Our aim is to make app building super easy while keeping the benefits of open source code. We have an MVP in place and a few early customers. Got through to interview stage for the last YC batch and just reapplied to W22 batch.

Looking for one or two motivated, formidable, investible co-founders to take it to the next level. Here are the roles:

𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 / 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 - Finding, onboarding and communicating with our first customers is key. Scaling that process will then follow shortly. I need someone who’s done this before who is willing to start small but with the experience to scale up rapidly.

𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 / 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 - A strong visual designer who can make the product, website and marketing materials look beautiful. Someone with experience designing and managing technical products - think Stripe or Mixpanel. Happy to take on product management, roadmapping, feature design, managing developers, getting your hands dirty with front end code.

𝗖𝗧𝗢 / 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 - I’m technical and capable of building out the product myself but the scope of the product is large and there’s loads to do. For the right technical candidate I’d happily give up the CTO role. The ideal candidate would be hands on with team-building experience with specifics in Web Hosting, Compiler/Parser tech, and solid RoR and React experience.

URL: https://www.railsrocket.app/

If that sounds interesting or if you could help in other ways contact me at paul (at) tinderfields.com

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    Congrats! The landing page is super clean

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    all sound goo, but what possessed you to do it in Ruby ?

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      hah I'm here for the same question)

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      That's where I have skills - Rails is still the best framework for SaaS type apps and that's what we're targeting. What would you have built it in?

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        Thank you for your response, make sense to go with your strengths, it is a good decision, but why build in short term?
        Writing is on the wall for Ruby, it is going away fast, support and upgrades in two years will be problematic and staff replacement will become impossible.

        As far as what tech to use, depends on the life time of the system you are building, if you are targeting something to last 2-3 years, the tech stack dos not matter as long as you have good developers on the team from the start and someone to sell the company quickly.

        it is more of a rhetorical question, just curiosity about the decision process.
        Wish you all the best .

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          I don't believe Rails is going anywhere soon! Huge companies like Stripe and Shopify continue to make investments into it and of course Basecamp continues to develop it. Developers are hard to find but I'd argue that is true for any tech stack. Look at the job postings for YC startups and you will see many are using Rails.

          In any case the long term plan is to start with Rails but then branch out to other frameworks like RedwoodJS and Django.

          What is your preferred framework for building B2B SaaS apps?

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            if system language is required then Go/Gin otherwise Python/Flask or Typescript/Ndoe/Express depending on preference and other requirements.

            Consider that a no code builder for Python Django/Flask or Typescript/Node/Express will be an easier sell. Customers who are hesitant to have to maintain and extend Ruby applications will also be hesitant to use your no-code builder.

            The stackoverflow popularity index for 2020 is not kind to Ruby.

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              What do you think is preferable:

              1. Create something now using a language you know and have deep experience with
              2. Spend months or years learning a new language before even starting to build something
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                Figure out what the demand for for a Rails app builder is. If it is - Great! If the demand isn't there - it doesn't make sense to invest in building it - even if you can do it now.

                Because if the demand is there for some other app builder (Python/NodeJS/Go/etc) - you can find people who can help you build it, raise money to build it, etc. You don't need to spend years learning...also arguably if you know Ruby well you can pick up Python, Javascript etc without too much difficulty.

                But investing now in something where the popularity is likely declining....that's more dubious in my opinion.

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                  In fact it's my thesis that most of our users don't care too much what the underlying technology is. They don't know how to code!

                  So long as there is developer support there to help them build things when they reach the limits of the platform and the app builder is easy to use they will be happy.

                  Our value prop is "open source code inside" not "Rails inside"

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                    You could very well be right! Best of luck :)

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