December 9, 2010
One thing that the last year has taught us is that innovation will not be constrained by an economy in the doldrums. People have big ideas and big ideas play, no matter the economy.
Ever since we started talking to select companies about Riak in early 2009, we have been overwhelmed by the creative ideas for how to put a distributed data store into production.
Flash-based ad serving, real-time search, network analytics, and single-source/multi-lingual content are just a few examples of applications that are, or have the potential to start, transforming their existing economies.
We have had a unique view into emerging ideas and we are convinced of one thing: if these companies want to use Riak, who cares how much they can pay now? Their ideas are big and they will make us better. Many are already pounding the heck out of Riak, which, not coincidentally, means their businesses are taking off.
So that is the real reason why Riak Enterprise for Startups came about. Whether or not any of these companies become the next Comscore or Doubleclick doesn’t matter. Cedexis, Teleskele, even a few stealth startups — these people are smart and driven and their ideas are big. They push Riak to its limits and make us better.
The economics of the Riak EnterpriseDS for Startups program are in the end quite simple: we give you code, you push us to be better. If you like us, we ask that you share that opinion. If not, say what you will. We deserve it. But either way, we will do our damnedest to make sure you get the best code and the best support we can deliver.
Why? Because we know what it is like to passionately believe in an idea and find folks like Bob and Jameson at Mochi Media, Marty at Cedexis, Gohkan at Teleskele, and Tom Fredell who believe in us.
Don’t look to Big Money to fund innovation nowadays. Big Money is scared. Look to other innovators and entrepreneurs. Look to each other.
Let us know if we can help.
