Typesense: From Side Project to Search Sensation: The Journey with Jason Bosow and Team.
Company profile
Company business details
Motivation to build the product
The founders were motivated to start Typesense as a side project to address the challenges they faced with existing search solutions like Elasticsearch. They aimed to create a simpler, more accessible search technology that could serve the needs of developers and small to medium-sized businesses.Problem that their product solves
Typesense solves the problem of complexity and effort involved in using traditional search engines like ElasticSearch and Solr. Its end users include developers and small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) who often find existing solutions too complicated or resource-intensive. Solving this problem is important as it allows these users to implement effective search capabilities without the burden of complex setups or vendor lock-in.Their unfair advantage
Typesense's unfair advantage lies in its open-source nature, which allows for community-driven development and customization, as well as its focus on performance and ease of use compared to traditional search engines.Strategies
Pre-Launch (Product Development & MVP)
Nights and Weekends Project
Jason Bosow and his co-founder started TypSense as a nights and weekends project while still working full-time jobs. They invested their time as capital to explore the complexities of search algorithms, initially treating it as an R&D project. This approach allowed them to iterate on their ideas without the pressure of external funding, leading to the eventual development of a product that simplified search functionalities.
Open Source Launch
Jason Bosco and his co-founder Kishore Nallan decided to open-source their search engine project, Typesense, in 2018. This decision was driven by their desire to gather feedback from the community and make the technology accessible to a wider audience. They believed that by open-sourcing the project, they could foster a stronger partnership with users and encourage contributions that would help improve the product. The initial goal was to create a lightweight search engine that was easy to deploy and integrate with, addressing the complexities they faced with existing solutions like Elasticsearch.
Open Source Launch
Typesense was launched as an open-source project on GitHub towards the end of 2015. The founders, Jason and Kishore, recognized the complexity of existing search engines like ElasticSearch and Solr, and aimed to create a simpler alternative. By making Typesense open source, they allowed developers to contribute and use the software freely, which helped in building a community around the product and gathering feedback for improvements.
Open Source Community Engagement
Typesense’s co-founder, Jason Bosco, emphasized the importance of building an open-source product to reduce skepticism among potential users. By allowing developers to access the source code, Typesense alleviated concerns about the product's longevity and safety. This approach not only encouraged self-hosting but also fostered a community where users could contribute by reporting bugs and suggesting improvements. This strategy was particularly effective in the early stages of Typesense, as it helped establish trust and credibility without the backing of institutional funding.
Launch Stage
Open Source Launch
In 2018, after three years of R&D, Jason and his team decided to open source TypSense and launched it on platforms like Hacker News and Product Hunt. This strategic move allowed them to gather initial feedback from users, which was crucial for further iterations of the product. The open-source model helped them build a community around TypSense, fostering organic growth and user engagement.
Learn more about Typesense
3 BILLION searches per month without VC funding - Jason Bosco from Typesense
Typesense Interview | The Craft of Open Source
Console #124 -- An Interview with Jason of Typesense