New ask Hacker News story: Ask HN: Are developer tools startups fighting a losing battle?
Ask HN: Are developer tools startups fighting a losing battle?
5 by colesantiago | 3 comments on Hacker News.
I’m asking this in light of Weaveworks closing up shop and the little investment into developer tools startups. I’m trying to understand this area since I don’t see developers paying for the tools they use (They use OSS software most of the time) and don’t like closed source software either. So it doesn’t seem to make sense to build a closed source dev tool for developers which will in a few years an open source competitor will copy all their features. Even if your strategy shifts to open source, I find it difficult that anyone would pay for ‘locked’ features. In any case I don’t see a moat nor a TAM in this sector and I am most likely going to see more developer tools startups folding up, getting acquired or just becoming stagnant and not growing. For any developer startup tool there will always be an open source competitor and usually open source wins in the long run. And it seems like trying selling tools to developers is like selling ice to eskimos. Is this all a losing battle in this space?
5 by colesantiago | 3 comments on Hacker News.
I’m asking this in light of Weaveworks closing up shop and the little investment into developer tools startups. I’m trying to understand this area since I don’t see developers paying for the tools they use (They use OSS software most of the time) and don’t like closed source software either. So it doesn’t seem to make sense to build a closed source dev tool for developers which will in a few years an open source competitor will copy all their features. Even if your strategy shifts to open source, I find it difficult that anyone would pay for ‘locked’ features. In any case I don’t see a moat nor a TAM in this sector and I am most likely going to see more developer tools startups folding up, getting acquired or just becoming stagnant and not growing. For any developer startup tool there will always be an open source competitor and usually open source wins in the long run. And it seems like trying selling tools to developers is like selling ice to eskimos. Is this all a losing battle in this space?
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