Update

So two weeks have gone by since my last update on the 0 operating cost MVP. This was accomplished using Firebase, Imgur and Google Drive API. Since then the following has happened:

1. The MVP has been iterated 4-5 times based on feedback:
   1. to add more functionality and file format supports
   2. test out a few UIs
2. The client was able to convince an investor to invest in the business
3. Postract (which is what it is called now) has early adopters lined up

Just to put this in perspective AiMED took 1.5 years between it’s MVP and first 4 iterations. Scratchd took 8 months. And both of those cost an insane amount (anything over 0 is an insane amount) to operate.

I am excited to see what the future of MVP building hold!

P.S. If you are looking to have MVPs built I run a consulting firm that does just that!

I <3 Data Engineering, BUT

Problem is I am not a data engineer. I am a hacker. I only make things so let me introduce you to my new series Naive Data Engineering!

Over the span of a few years, every once in a while a client or project will come across my hands with OCR (Optical Character Recognition) plastered all over it. Especially when the data that will need to be engineered and massaged are images or video. I remember some infamous drunken episodes of trying to get reliable Computer Vision web applications to work during my Masters’ work and other similar projects. Often times I have come to realize that CV (especially OCR) was not the answer.

I have decided to write about OCR after several attempts of explaining the costs required to make robust OCR happen. Often times for clients I will even recommend against OCR using Jedi mind tricks (a staple in software...

Friday come’s along … let’s make an MVP

Jason Moreau from GrabScience reached out to me to work on a MVP for an idea he has. I won’t go into details but I will discuss some of the problems we ran into and how we solved it.

Large File Sizes

Jason’s idea will have user’s that will be uploading files sizes upwards of 80 mb. For an MVP we would need to process and index the file sizes. This meant that with some quick calculations … the cost for transfer rates is the bottleneck to beat. At just a 150 users we are hitting a pretty (11$) high monthly cost for an MVP that we haven’t even had a chance to show customers. And since we are considering adverts as the revenue stream breaking even will require a lot more users then 150.

In the past I would have recommend we just get a Linode box and go nuts. But this is 2014! Everything is on the cloud (for better of for worse), So I came up...