From time to time I write software in open source. I have a pretty popular project now called faker.js . I've been working on Faker for over a decade now. He is MIT licensed.
In this post I will talk about my attempt to monetize the Faker project using a cloud service. Gradually, we'll get to engineers from a $ 75 million startup founded by Sequoia Capital. John and Patrick Collison signed up for my cloud service, tested it, copied the concept, pasted the link to my business CDN, and now the company's CEO David Xu is not responding to my emails. All in all, it will be fun and informative reading.
What is Faker?
At a high level, Faker can be described as a kind of internationalized vocabulary / encyclopedia of combinations, driven by a robust pseudo-random number generator. Faker is like a miniature version of the Babylonian Library. It is an extremely useful generalized tool used in the development of large-scale international software systems. Most Fortune 500 companies use Faker to some degree. The Faker project is quite large. A decent amount of moderation work is needed to manage the flow of internationalization and localization data, and to keep the project itself scalable and not bloated.
Who pays to develop Faker?
No one. We recently started receiving sponsorship through services such as Open Collective and Github Sponsors. Most of these donations come from fellow developers, not from companies or corporations. These donations have helped to ensure that Faker's development continues, but they are not enough for sustainable development. I love working on Faker, but I can't afford to work for free. Like many of us, I have people who depend on me and unpaid bills. Not wanting to give up, I decided that it would be best to try to monetize the Faker project in order to ensure its sustainable development in the future.
Monetization plan
I figured there was a need for developers for a quick and easy way to get fake / simulated / test data from an API endpoint without having to set up backend servers. They need a small table builder, the ability to download spreadsheets, add formats for all large databases, get data through the REST API. Not a very complicated scheme. Basically, it's the cloud version of Faker with monthly billing plans.
I spent about a month creating, designing and launching fakercloud.com... Exactly as long as it takes to implement the MVP. Something functional, useful and with working tariff plans. I wanted to release an early version that could be shown to the Faker community and then start reworking the concept based on user feedback.
User reviews
About two weeks after I started monitoring user registration and screen recording via Hot Jar, I noticed that two engineers from Retool.com had signed up for the service. Both of them visited the site several times and tested all the functions.
The name Retool seemed familiar to me - it turned out that the company was a sponsor of Faker, paying $ 500 a month through the Open Collective every month since January 2021. This makes Retool the second highest contributor to Faker to date, with a total donation of $ 2,000. I thought that Retool might be interested in Faker Cloud and that maybe someone from the company would write me an email.
A new rival appears
Another three weeks passed. I got a notification from Product Hunt about a new "api-generator tool". It became the most watched product on Product Hunt for the day. The publishers of the product turned out to be the same two Retool engineers who previously used Faker Cloud. I saw that Retool has created a new product that does the same thing as Faker Cloud. I saw that Retool uses Faker to generate data for its service. I also saw that Retool is offering this new service for free.
Then who is the CDN?
I signed up with Retool to try out their new api-generator and noticed that it can generate avatar images for users. I generated a fake Retool.com user avatar, here are the links it generates:
The new Retool service uses images hosted by fakercloud.com .
Deeds.
Omen
I read the comments on Product Hunt and searched Twitter. It turned out that about a dozen Retool developers from the development, marketing and development departments are promoting the new Retool service.
Hmmm ... Yes, it's hard for one person to compete with a company that has received funding of $ 75 million . Especially when it is perfectly legal to copy your intellectual property.
I never expected Faker Cloud to be a huge business success. I was hoping that Faker Cloud could attract a small segment of the user market to help fund the development of Faker's open source project.
There are great opportunities in every crisis
It occurred to me that it would be best to acknowledge the situation and get at least some benefit out of it. Thousands of developers depend on Faker's work. Our task is to continue supporting the project and its quality work. Even a small flaw in an open source tool can result in millions of dollars in lost time damage.
I decided to write a letter to David Xu, CEO of Retool.
, ! Retool, .
faker.js, github.com/Marak/faker.js, and www.fakercloud.com ( / api). , Retool Faker.
, Retool open-source- faker.js, fakercloud.com. , , open-source. Faker.js , Retool .
, .
You can contact me by email or mobile phone: *** - *** - **** Best
regards,
Marak
David Xu answered me almost immediately!
Hello Marak, this is interesting! Give me one day to work on this; I will contact you soon!
I think many of you have already guessed what happened next.
Eight days have passed and I have not received an answer. CEOs are busy people. I wrote another letter to remind myself.
David,
I would like to know what is your opinion on Faker and Faker Cloud.
Have you already thought what the proposal might look like? I am thinking of transferring intellectual property to Faker, followed by a contract with Retool to provide consulting services. During this period, I could advise the company on any internal Retool projects, train Retool engineers, and continue to work on Faker.
Regards,
Marak
It's been about a month now. I received no answer.
That's all. I don’t know what will happen next. I would like to wait for a happy ending, from which everyone interested, including the developer community, will benefit.
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