I realized that Datasette is the first project of my entire career where if I was still working on it in 15 years time I wouldn't feel bored yet. There's just SO MUCH scope for interesting applications of the core idea.
As such, I want to work on it for decades. But it's lonely working on it alone (the community around it has been growing and is delightful, but it's not the same as having a full-time team.)
So the question I'm trying to answer is how to make the project financially sustainable in the long-run - not just for myself, but so I can pay for a team to work on it with me.
There are plenty of other examples of open source projects that have turned SaaS hosting into a sustainable business model - WordPress and GitLab are just two of the best examples. It feels like it's a reasonably well-trodden path.
Plus... I want people to be able to use my software. Currently to use Datasette as an individual you either have to "pip" or "brew" install it, or you can try the macOS Electron app - https://datasette.io/desktop - but I want newsrooms to be able to use it to collaborate on data. And most newsrooms aren't well equipped to configure a Linux server.
So I realized that a hosted SaaS version can solve two issues at once: it can help the audience I care about actually benefit from the value of the software so far, and it provides a reasonably realistic path to financial sustainability for the project as a whole.
And yeah, I'd also like to make a ton of money out of it myself too!
I realized that Datasette is the first project of my entire career where if I was still working on it in 15 years time I wouldn't feel bored yet. There's just SO MUCH scope for interesting applications of the core idea.
As such, I want to work on it for decades. But it's lonely working on it alone (the community around it has been growing and is delightful, but it's not the same as having a full-time team.)
So the question I'm trying to answer is how to make the project financially sustainable in the long-run - not just for myself, but so I can pay for a team to work on it with me.
There are plenty of other examples of open source projects that have turned SaaS hosting into a sustainable business model - WordPress and GitLab are just two of the best examples. It feels like it's a reasonably well-trodden path.
Plus... I want people to be able to use my software. Currently to use Datasette as an individual you either have to "pip" or "brew" install it, or you can try the macOS Electron app - https://datasette.io/desktop - but I want newsrooms to be able to use it to collaborate on data. And most newsrooms aren't well equipped to configure a Linux server.
So I realized that a hosted SaaS version can solve two issues at once: it can help the audience I care about actually benefit from the value of the software so far, and it provides a reasonably realistic path to financial sustainability for the project as a whole.
And yeah, I'd also like to make a ton of money out of it myself too!