Re:Emerging Architectures for Modern Data Infrastructure
by jandrewrogers on Sunday October 18, 2020 @03:48PM
(#24820536)
Structurally this is a nearly ideal ultra-scale startup opportunity given the right team.
Every use case has unique data model requirements (minimal standardization, different sectors) but there are easily identifiable platform components that almost everyone needs which aren't available. Surprisingly "simple" architectural holes would be a scalable business if competently plugged, the perfect MVP. These enterprises have an aversion to developing software, it isn’t their strength, and they know precisely how many millions per year a real platform would save them -- value is concrete. However, they are also technically sophisticated as to why all existing platforms fail for them, you can’t fake understanding the problem. I have the benefit of having worked on this market problem for several dozen organizations over the last 15 years, ranging from Big Tech to small EU industrials, so I see it more from their side.
Little is written about it. Everyone is essentially trying to use diverse multimodal sensor data sources to paint an accurate model of some part of the physical world in as close to real-time as possible. Easy to say, very challenging to do. Sometimes these data models are not about their business per se, their hardware puts them in an excellent position to build them so that they can sell it as a service to businesses that can actually use it. Often overlooked is that there are extremely difficult computer science problems with little public literature buried in the design of such systems, and expertise in this computer science is critical to being successful at it. Virtually all startups that try to enter this market completely botch the technical execution, assuming that these platforms don’t exist as a function of business execution when it is actually a hardcore tech startup. The technical execution expertise is the real moat for this business, everyone underestimates how deep that rabbit hole goes.
FWIW, I’ve been laying the groundwork to build a startup in this space for a while now, I even purchased a very good .com domain. :) Bespoke implementations at several highly recognizable organizations are based on licensed code components I designed. There is a massive demand overhang and the market was ready yesterday. The broader ecosystem has room for several startups to coexist, there are many niches currently unfilled.
Every use case has unique data model requirements (minimal standardization, different sectors) but there are easily identifiable platform components that almost everyone needs which aren't available. Surprisingly "simple" architectural holes would be a scalable business if competently plugged, the perfect MVP. These enterprises have an aversion to developing software, it isn’t their strength, and they know precisely how many millions per year a real platform would save them -- value is concrete. However, they are also technically sophisticated as to why all existing platforms fail for them, you can’t fake understanding the problem. I have the benefit of having worked on this market problem for several dozen organizations over the last 15 years, ranging from Big Tech to small EU industrials, so I see it more from their side.
Little is written about it. Everyone is essentially trying to use diverse multimodal sensor data sources to paint an accurate model of some part of the physical world in as close to real-time as possible. Easy to say, very challenging to do. Sometimes these data models are not about their business per se, their hardware puts them in an excellent position to build them so that they can sell it as a service to businesses that can actually use it. Often overlooked is that there are extremely difficult computer science problems with little public literature buried in the design of such systems, and expertise in this computer science is critical to being successful at it. Virtually all startups that try to enter this market completely botch the technical execution, assuming that these platforms don’t exist as a function of business execution when it is actually a hardcore tech startup. The technical execution expertise is the real moat for this business, everyone underestimates how deep that rabbit hole goes.
FWIW, I’ve been laying the groundwork to build a startup in this space for a while now, I even purchased a very good .com domain. :) Bespoke implementations at several highly recognizable organizations are based on licensed code components I designed. There is a massive demand overhang and the market was ready yesterday. The broader ecosystem has room for several startups to coexist, there are many niches currently unfilled.