Ask HN: What kind of ideas are not VC-backable but should exist in the future?

Re:Ask HN: What kind of ideas are not VC-backable but should... by benjohnson on Wednesday July 01, 2020 @08:09PM (#23708384)

Microsoft Access for the web.

Plot twist: The underlying framework, database connection system, and model is sane - so that when you get to the point where the walled garden doesn't let you change what you want you can dive into the underlying system to do significant changes.

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Re:Ask HN: What kind of ideas are not VC-backable but should... by Smoosh on Wednesday July 01, 2020 @08:23PM (#23708510)

I've always thought that Excel redesigned as a database could be a viable product.

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Re:Ask HN: What kind of ideas are not VC-backable but should... by GregOwen on Wednesday July 01, 2020 @09:27PM (#23708979)

That's what we're building at Sigma (https://www.sigmacomputing.com/)

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Re:Ask HN: What kind of ideas are not VC-backable but should... by EKLM-ZK88 on Wednesday July 01, 2020 @08:55PM (#23708760)

Isn't that what access is?

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Re:Ask HN: What kind of ideas are not VC-backable but should... by Smoosh on Tuesday July 07, 2020 @09:40PM (#23766138)

Are you trying to get on my enemies list? ;-)

Actually, I wondered if someone would bring up Access. The problem with it is that it is trying to be a "real" database with an accessible interface. I feel it doesn't do either well. It can be very useful, but never simple and easy enough for the target users I'm thinking about.

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Re:Ask HN: What kind of ideas are not VC-backable but should... by mamcx on Wednesday July 01, 2020 @08:32PM (#23708578)

I'm in a similar dream, building from scratch a relational language (I wanna not only the UI of Access/excel but the power of FoxPro).

The main block is funding. I could do it for life if it pay at least the bills, but how fund it?

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Re:Ask HN: What kind of ideas are not VC-backable but should... by fovc on Thursday July 02, 2020 @07:46AM (#23712126)

Excel + SharePoint + PowerQuery is fantastic for small datasets. It takes a bit of discipline to do all joins through PQ instead of Excel, but then you can build all reporting with Excel which is very nice.

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Re:Ask HN: What kind of ideas are not VC-backable but should... by divyekapoor on Wednesday July 01, 2020 @08:55PM (#23708762)

See Smartsheets (or Airtable) - they got it right.

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Re:Ask HN: What kind of ideas are not VC-backable but should... by benjohnson on Wednesday July 01, 2020 @09:05PM (#23708845)

I'll never look at Airtable as I want to own the system - I don't want to be a share-cropper on their rental system.

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