
Repl.it raises $4.5M from A16Z, Paul Graham, and others - amasad
https://repl.it/site/blog/a16z
======
sixhobbits
Python, the "second best language for everything", has had a huge impact for
teaching people programming. Beginners can do useful and interesting things
and solve real problems after a few hours of learning.

And yet the number of times I've seen beginners completely discouraged or even
give up programming forever because they have conda and pip and brew and pyenv
installed and can't run a basic script after 4 hours of trying because
environment mess-up is ridiculous.

The value in a programming environment that literally just works and can give
you a functioning web app (the modern very basic I/O) in less than a minute is
a huge value add for education.

I'm a complete convert. I've worked with Amasad to write tutorials[0] showing
how easy repl is to use and these have become some of my most popular
tutorials.

Absolutely incredible that repl.it has done so much in such a short time and
with a very small team. All the best for the future!

[0]
[https://www.codementor.io/garethdwyer/posts](https://www.codementor.io/garethdwyer/posts)

~~~
7ewis
I've been using Python as my go-to language for a while.

It works well and I feel like I understand the basics, but pipenv, pyenv, pip
etc. seem needlessly complex. Especially when I'm trying to create a
serverless framework package, or upload a zip to AWS Lambda. Never know what
tool to use to install packages, or how to specify the python version... or
even change the python version on my Mac. Homebrew Python, system python,
virtualenv?

Would love it if I could find one simple way to do all of this, but always
seem to run into issues and have to use another method.

How do the professionals do it? Do you know if any good guides?

~~~
Klathmon
This doesn't answer your questions, but I firmly believe this is the major
reason node took off in popularity.

Npm let you install packages minutes after being installed, and they went
right into a folder right there, and they didn't conflict with any other
packages on your system.

I was like you and played with python for years but never anything larger than
small scripts, and every time I went to do "real" python I'd hit a wall where
you were.

npm was just so easy, so simple, so fast that it won me over. And it was years
before I ever setup a virtualenv, and even then I'm still at this point not
entirely sure how it works and what it's doing despite having published a pip
package.

~~~
tekromancr
On the other hand, as someone who knows a little js from the bad old days but
has been doing python for over a decade, trying to get up and running with a
modern js environment seems totally cray cray to me.

Usually, for me, I start by installing node. Ok, so I guess I need to install
npm now. No problem, I guess that's like pip. Oh, I need yarn. It's better?
Ok, I guess python had the same growing pains with easy_install. Oh, looks
like when I installed npm I used sudo, so now I need to fix file permissions
burried somewhere in my file system. Okay, I guess. At least when I get this
running things will be a little better.

Oh, I need bundler? I guess that makes sense. Gotta configure a build system.
Programing languages need build systems if you are creating distributable
assets. Makes sense so far.

Oh, I guess I should have used webpack. Okay, lessons learned. I guess since I
am using ES6 features I need something called babel too. Cute name for a
transpiler, btw.

Oh no, I guess that 4 month old tutorial I followed that showed me how to set
up babel with webpack used the old plug-in names. They are different now.
Thats interesting. Gotta move fast, tho. I guess...

Huh, it still isn't working. The 6 different config files all look right. Oh,
wow. Turns out that the behavior is different if I wrote the config files in
json vs yaml vs pure js. Guess I gotta rewrite them in pure js to get at the
real shit.

Okay, seems like I got all that mess sorted out. Let's add a few libraries to
my packages manifest...

Huh, the docker containers are taking an awful long time to build suddenly, I
wonder why that -- WHY THE FUCK IS node_modules 7.5GB and contains 82000
files, aghhhhgh?!?!

(I kid, I kid. But not really)

I guess a lot of that is just cultural differences between js and python
communities, but as someone who considers themselves a reasonably competent
programmer, trying to get onboard just seems like too much.

Contrast that with something like Rust, which I have also been trying to
learn. Rust is positively delightful by comparison. I spent a cumulative total
of 15 mins getting an environment set up. Which means I get more time to
actually learn how to work with the language itself, instead of setting up
tooling.

Maybe it will sort itself out a little as the node community matures and
settles on what the right way to do things is, but for now, it's so much work
to even get started.

~~~
lacker
Nowadays there are usually better tools than the process you describe here.
For example if you are making a React application you can start off with the
`create-react-app` tool. If you're using Vue then `vue create <appname>` is
similar. They will take care of the bundling and providing a modern language
environment for you.

~~~
disiplus
true, but if you are doing anything more complex you have to change some of
the things or ad others, and you end up on the same path as OP, there is no
way around learning all this if you intent to build something for production
with JS.

i, as a person that writes backend for 3-4 months and then need to do frontend
hate the constant changing.

------
amasad
Just a fun meta note: I initially authored this blogpost and collaborated on
it with my colleagues using repl.it. It's also hosted under
[https://repl.vc](https://repl.vc) and you can get to the source this way
[https://repl.vc/__repl](https://repl.vc/__repl)

Moreover, lots of people are discovering our jobs
([https://repl.it/jobs](https://repl.it/jobs)) page. It's worth noting that
it's as part of an ongoing project we're calling repl.run: ship terminal apps
as websites. We released it in beta last week and we're already seeing lots of
fun apps built with it:

\- Text-based rpg game:
[https://rpg.dtfps.repl.run/](https://rpg.dtfps.repl.run/)

\- snake game:
[https://sssnake.ericqweinstein.repl.run/](https://sssnake.ericqweinstein.repl.run/)

\- cool interactive terminal animation in ruby: [https://key-
press-2.theangryepicbanana.repl.run/](https://key-
press-2.theangryepicbanana.repl.run/)

\- Pure Python Bash Shell:
[https://ppbs.neocities.org/](https://ppbs.neocities.org/)

\- Chatroom:
[https://chatroom.pyelias.repl.run/](https://chatroom.pyelias.repl.run/)

\- Our jobs page standalone:
[https://jerbs.util.repl.run/](https://jerbs.util.repl.run/)

More on repl.run: [https://repl.it/talk/announcements/BetaExplorers-
Announcing-...](https://repl.it/talk/announcements/BetaExplorers-Announcing-
replrun-publish-your-terminal-apps-as-websites/7802)

~~~
mindgam3
Awesome job on the terminal-app-as-webpage concept. I like how it also fits in
with your meta "IDE to learn programming" concept.

It made slightly more sense to me when I saw it on context at this URL:
[https://repl.it/site/jobs](https://repl.it/site/jobs)

~~~
amasad
Yeah, the idea is that almost everyone's first computer program is a terminal
program along the lines of:

    
    
      name = input('What is your name?\n')
      print('Hi, %s.' % name)
    

([https://name.amasad.repl.run/](https://name.amasad.repl.run/))

Every programmer has experienced an intense sense of accomplishment when
someone uses their program. The problem is that, until today, there was no
easy way to share text and terminal-based programs.

The bar to sharing apps shouldn't be GUI as it remains really really hard.

~~~
mindgam3
It's really awesome. The first time I saw a web interface like this was on the
Mr Robot website (www.whoismrrobot.com). Ironically, it looks like they've
updated the site since then with a GUI. But originally it included a DOS-like
terminal. It was such a fun page. Really good UX in the sense that it's
playful and instantly recognizable with a nostalgic feel to anyone who's ever
tried to hack software. I ended up creating my own JS-based console-based
interface for a side project, not released yet. It's kind of genius that you
guys have an even simpler way for people to launch these.

~~~
amasad
Thank you!

On Mr. Robot we have a few references to it on the website including this very
post. See the last video on the page, zoom in on the top-left corner ;)

------
mark212
the jobs link is interesting. Takes you to a functioning command line but has
no other hints or instructions. An interesting gating function: those who
don't know how to proceed further (or can't problem-solve sufficiently to find
out) aren't likely to succeed in the role and can safely be excluded.

Might also have the added bonus of being safe from headhunter bot scrapers.

~~~
disconcision
For me, it seems to be stuck at 'Connecting'. If I mash buttons I can get a
glimpse of the command line, even see flashes of messages if I enter two-
letter commands quick enough. Is this a bug or part of the test?

~~~
amasad
Hmm, weird. What browser/OS? Also any errors in the JS console?

~~~
icelancer
ublock origin causes it to timeout with 2 caught scripts, disabling it makes
it work FYI.

------
cercatrova
I'm disappointed that now you need to sign up on www.repl.it rather than just
spinning up a test environment, definitely cuts down on usage. I've found a
workaround with
www.[http://repl.it/languages/python3](http://repl.it/languages/python3) for
example, but I'm not sure how long this will still be active given their plans
to become a full-fledged IDE.

~~~
amasad
We have no plans and I see no reason to make you have to sign up. (Although to
cut down on abuse some things aren't available for anonymous users like long-
term web hosting).

You can also go to repl.it/languages and see all the langauges.

As for our plans to become an IDE: we've given ourselves the hard task of
being a REPL-first IDE and to always load in under 2 seconds. More here:
[https://repl.it/blog/platform](https://repl.it/blog/platform)

For the landing page: we've found that most people coming through there go
through the signup/login flow anyways so we've emphasized that. You can still
get to the languages in the footer.

~~~
solarkraft
> we've found that most people coming through there go through the
> signup/login flow anyways

This baffles me. Why? Don't people just want to mash something into a REPL
quickly (step in between: write the first one or two letters of the language
you want to use and press enter)? That's certainly how I use it ...

~~~
amasad
Oh most people will google "repl.it ruby" and get to that directly.

We also just discussed this and we're adding a language selector on the
homepage.

------
mcgwiz
Reminds me of the IMHO under-appreciated
[https://glitch.com](https://glitch.com), but for more languages.

~~~
amasad
Indeed. Online coding is a fun space to be in right now (although we've been
around for a while so it's cool to see it start to take off). However, a few
things that make Repl.it unique:

1\. A REPL-first environment. We believe when hackers start coding they
generally start sketching things out and a fast iteration loop makes it easy
to make progress. That's why Repl.it starts out as a REPL. This also makes it
less intimidating and more useful for newbies. Everyone's first program is a
text-based program as GUI is really hard to get started with.

2\. We're building a generic toolchain that could be decomposed and used in
different ways. We built a highly dynamic IDE[0], and a super fast container
orchestration system that works as both a development environment and a
hosting platform[1]. We're starting to explore what that means by building
plugins to other editors and making it available on the cli[2].

3\. Repl.it's has an awesome community of hackers collaborating, helping, and
building stuff for each other. We have a Hackernews-like forum where people
can share their creations, ask questions, or teach others and, it's creating
an awesome positive-feedback loop in the community[3].

[0]: [https://repl.it/blog/ide](https://repl.it/blog/ide)

[1]: [https://repl.it/blog/deploy](https://repl.it/blog/deploy)

[2]: [https://github.com/replit/repl.sh](https://github.com/replit/repl.sh)

[3]: [https://repl.it/talk](https://repl.it/talk)

------
throwaway473
Repl.it's current business model appears to be giving cloud services away for
free, attracting lots of users, and using their high user counts to get more
venture capital funding to spend on giving away cloud services for free.

Am I missing something, or is this basically the programming equivalent to
MoviePass? Surely as soon as they start trying to be profitable, people will
find some other startup to give them cloud services for free.

See, e.g., Koding, who went through this exact cycle a few years ago: they
started out getting tons of users by giving away cloud servers for free so
people could learn programming, then they tried to monetize by building out
IDE features and cloud filesystems and orchestration, and pretty much no one
bought them.

~~~
amasad
I see you keep creating throwaways to spread misinformation. I answered you
elsewhere but here we go again: we've been bootstrapped and profitable for a
while before we got funding and we still make lots of money. We grow our MRR
from classroom and hacker plan more than 5% monthly:
[https://repl.it/pricing](https://repl.it/pricing)

Go find something better to do.

~~~
mistersolomon
If you check the timestamps, I actually posted this before writing my reply to
you elsewhere in this thread, but the post was killed immediately. Maybe HN
has a naughty word filter banning people from mentioning MoviePass in threads
about YCombinator startups.

Dunno why it came back, guess some other users thought it was informative
enough to vouch for.

~~~
lacker
Why are you constantly creating new throwaway accounts? Just... don't do that.

------
dang
Related: [https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/22/andreessen-horowitz-
leads-4p...](https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/22/andreessen-horowitz-
leads-4point5-million-seed-round-in-replit.html) via
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18276247](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18276247)

------
lynnetye
I'm so excited for the team at Repl.it! A million users in the last month is
phenomenal, and evidence of a great product. Congratulations!

Ps. I __love __your /jobs.

~~~
amasad
Thanks, we wanted to make sure our /jobs presented our key values, as some
would say ;) ;)

------
sergiotapia
Where will this succeed where countless others failed? Just timing of the
market? Were the others too early?

This is Koding.com with a new interface.

They also gave away a lot of free resources, then tried to monetize, failed.
What will this company do different?

------
meguest
I am a long time user of repl.it and I think it's great but I do wonder what
the expected ROI is here? Call me short sighted, but It's still just a repl.
Perhaps it could be sold to GitHub to integrate with Gist?

~~~
poulsbohemian
Since you've been using this for a while, maybe you can educate me on the
benefit of this over a shell or IDE on my local system? I don't quite get it.

~~~
RBerenguel
We've occasionally used it when discussing Python X vs Python Y behaviours
across separate machines (I don't have 3.6 installed but 3.7, a coworker has
3.6 but no 3.7) and are the kind of questions you just want to quickly check,
not create a new virtual environment (under Homebrew on Mac, good luck having
3.6 _and_ 3.7 if you regularly `brew cleanup`...) or spin a docker instance.
The coworker also regularly tries Scala stuff there (he's had to code review
some simple things to start getting familiar with the language), he seems to
like it more than the normal Scala repl (which I use).

It's also handy for funny little languages you may not have (the APL version
it has is decent enough, for instance, although I prefer GNU, as the free one)

~~~
philwelch
pyenv is a good solution for managing multiple Python version installations.

~~~
solarkraft
Yes, but this is better for quickly trying something.

~~~
philwelch
Definitely agreed on that.

------
vyking
I have been using repl.it as my go-to playground to write small scripts to
check how a particular implementation would look like. However, IMHO the new
Repl.it concept looks astonishingly similar to cloud 9! Is it also going to be
bought off by some giant corporation and then start asking money for
playground ?! :(

------
snake117
This seems like a solid product and I will definitely keep it in mind. One
thing that I really like is the number of languages you support
([https://repl.it/languages](https://repl.it/languages)). I would recommend
adding support for Elixir and Phoenix down the road. While the community is
small (compared to other languages/frameworks), it is growing, and the
community is great.

Congrats on securing your funding and all the best!

~~~
amasad
Definitely on the roadmap. We're working on making it easy to add languages by
creating common abstractions. As a start we just open-sourced Prybar: "a
universal interpreter front-end"
[https://github.com/replit/prybar](https://github.com/replit/prybar)

~~~
dnautics
congrats amjad! I think I was one of your first interviewing candidates
(didn't get the job) but I'm missing my favorite programming languages (Julia,
Elixir) on repl.it!! Hope they show up soon.

------
mxstbr
Congratulations Amjad! It's inspiring to see repl.it grow, very happy to see
them investing in growth

~~~
amasad
Thanks, Max! Likewise on Spectrum, I'm seeing it everywhere these days.

------
bfung

        jobs@repl.it:~$ cat tech
        #!/usr/bin/env bash
    
        echo -e "$(cat pages/our-tech.txt)"jobs@repl.it:~$ ./tech
        ...
        As for our infrastructure, we're building a new kind
        of computing platform: it's Serverless in that users
        don't have to care about the underlying resources,
        but it's not Serverless in that it's stateful.
        ...
    

So... hosted smalltalk/pharo/squeak? =P

------
savrajsingh
I'm sold -- hadn't seen it before but I was able to run python and install a
bunch of packages quickly without issue. I can see this being big.

~~~
hayaodeh2
Happy to have you with us! we share the same dream and imagination

------
pixelcort
In light of the recent post
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18269007](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18269007)
about LP funding sources, is there any insight into the sources of where the
money from this round is coming from?

------
sethbannon
Funny to see PG listed as "Paul Graham, founder of Viaweb" and not "Paul
Graham, founder of Y Combinator" :-)

~~~
amasad
Tongue-in-cheek :-P but I do think that Viaweb is relevant here: their
original business model (it was called Webgen) was to let people host their
sites with them. They were also the first to figure out "cloud" where they ran
their customers generated code on their infrastructure.

I believe after building Viaweb, PG had a similar idea of an IDE + language +
infrastructure to allow people to build and ship applications from the
browser.

~~~
emiliobumachar
So, they basically invented Software As A Service? Relevant indeed.

~~~
sirodoht
Here is a (recent) very interesting interview with PG, among others, talking
about Viaweb. Bonus points: very funny.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WO5kJChg3w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WO5kJChg3w)

~~~
amasad
I believe the example he gave about "doing a naughty thing" was referencing
our idea of terminal-apps-as-webpages:
[https://repl.it/jobs](https://repl.it/jobs) for an example

------
sampriti
Real happy for the them, I've using them for so long, probably since they
started. Amazing service.

~~~
hayaodeh2
Thanks! and we're happy to be there for everyone who has been using repl.it <3
Do you have a repl.it shirt?

~~~
sampriti
Nope.

~~~
hayaodeh2
if you're interested in having one I can send you a repl tee, my email is
haya@repl.it

------
vram22
As a trainer (among other roles) I have an interest in such online browser-
based programming sites and have tracked some over time, and blogged about
them, including repl.it. In no particular order:

Codingbat, Progress Graphs and Michael Jordan:

[https://jugad2.blogspot.com/2013/02/codingbat-progress-
graph...](https://jugad2.blogspot.com/2013/02/codingbat-progress-graphs-and-
michael.html)

Online Python Tutor looks quite interesting:

[https://jugad2.blogspot.com/2013/03/online-python-tutor-
look...](https://jugad2.blogspot.com/2013/03/online-python-tutor-looks-
quite.html)

Online turtle graphics in Python from Runestone Interactive:

[https://jugad2.blogspot.com/2013/02/online-turtle-
graphics-i...](https://jugad2.blogspot.com/2013/02/online-turtle-graphics-in-
python-from.html)

glot.io, an open source pastebin with runnable snippets:

[https://jugad2.blogspot.com/2017/04/glotio-open-source-
paste...](https://jugad2.blogspot.com/2017/04/glotio-open-source-pastebin-
with.html)

repl.it, online REPL for many languages, and empythoned:

[https://jugad2.blogspot.com/2013/03/replit-online-repl-
for-m...](https://jugad2.blogspot.com/2013/03/replit-online-repl-for-many-
languages.html)

And while I'm at it, a plug for my Python and other training courses (page
updated recently):

[https://jugad2.blogspot.com/p/training.html](https://jugad2.blogspot.com/p/training.html)

~~~
nhooyr
You should check out [https://coder.com](https://coder.com) as well

~~~
vram22
Thanks for the tip, I will.

------
bribri
Someone really needs to figure a reasonable way of writing code on
mobile/touchscreen. I would love a lisp drag and drop repl, I feel like its
syntax could be well suited for this

~~~
amasad
Yes! We're happy to fund some of that work if someone is interested in working
on it email me amjad@repl.it

------
sschueller
How does it differ from sites like
[https://stackblitz.com/](https://stackblitz.com/) other than supported
languages?

~~~
amasad
Answered here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18277896](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18277896)

------
mcguire
I guess it's memories week...

Once upon a time C++ was the newest, shinyist thing to be seen. A lot of
companies jumped in with libraries and spiffy tools. Then they discovered
users wanted support and while that was easy at first, then they had to deal
with new clueless users and experienced, sophisticated users, and there was no
money in supporting everyone.

Rational was, I think, the last one standing.

------
kod
Great tool, my 11 year old's class is using it to learn programming.

Might want to spell check the announcement, e.g. "oppurtinity"

~~~
amasad
oops, thanks!

------
williamstein
> What's in progress: Multiplayer REPLs: text collaboration is easy but
> imagine collaborating with others on the same container, same filesystem,
> same interpreter process!

Heh, that's what I did when I built
[https://cocalc.com..](https://cocalc.com..).

------
wezm
I gave this a look but the version of Rust is 1.9 from May 2016... There's
been 20 releases (excluding patch releases) since then. For a language with
such great backwards compatibility seems like it should be kept more up to
date.

------
dopeboy
I'm a technical trainer and repl.it has been a godsend. Just this past summer
I was running a Python course and due to company policy, I couldn't get my
students to download some libs.

Spun up repl.it, did our pip commands, and off we were.

~~~
amasad
Awesome! I'm not sure if you saw but we now have a visual package manager that
automatically generates requirements.txt for you:
[https://repl.it/talk/announcements/Announcing-Universal-
Pack...](https://repl.it/talk/announcements/Announcing-Universal-Package-
Manager/5201)

------
nodesocket
What are the pros/come versus using a mature online editor such as Cloud9,
that supports direct terminal access to the backend instance and FTP/SFTP
support? Though I will admit I was disappointed when AWS acquired Cloud9.

~~~
amasad
Good question. Repl.it is all about instantness, you should be able to get a
REPL really fast[0]. If you want to host a webserver you should be able to do
it quickly from the same interface[1], if you want to share your work then
that should also be possible[2]. You could code and ship a small webserver on
Repl.it faster than you can sign up for Cloud9.

Repl.it is also what's no called "Serverless" in that it's logically always
available and you don't have to worry about the underlying resources. We're
not doing because we wanted to ride a fad, we've always done it this way, we
think that's the future of computing.

When we build Repl.it we always think what's a "web native" way to do online
coding. We think it's a) instant! b) social c) simple yet powerful.

The previous generation of online IDEs -- C9, Nitrous, Koding -- were awesome,
yet most pivoted or shutdown. It's good to ask why that is? We think it might
be that they were not "web native."

~~~
throwaway342
> The previous generation of online IDEs -- C9, Nitrous, Koding -- were
> awesome, yet most pivoted or shutdown. It's good to ask why that is? We
> think it might be that they were not "web native."

Maybe it's because giving away cloud services for free is not a sustainable
business model.

~~~
amasad
All of those companies charged for their product and had enterprise plans ;)

~~~
throwaway872
Sure, but no one used them -- just like Repl.it, pretty much all of their
monthly active users were only there for the free plan, and they left as soon
as the companies tried to monetize.

Koding, in particular, went through pretty much exactly the same cycle as
Repl.it a few years ago. They started out getting tons of users by giving
cloud servers away for free, targeted mainly at children/education market.
Then they started selling premium plans for beefier servers, but no one bought
them. Then, they tried to become a cloud infrastructure company[1] and created
a distributed filesystem product[2], which seems to be exactly your plan as
well!

As it turns out, the educational users were only there because going on a free
website is easier than installing Python on your computer, so when Koding
started trying to charge for stuff, no one bought it.

[1]: [https://blog.koding.com/koding-is-not-an-online-
ide-e2693f74...](https://blog.koding.com/koding-is-not-an-online-
ide-e2693f740ce8) [2]:
[https://www.koding.com/docs/kd](https://www.koding.com/docs/kd)

~~~
amasad
1\. We've been arond longer than most in this space (since 2011)

2\. We've been profitable and bootstrapping for a long time. We have paying
users like Facebook, Google, and Stripe, Hackreactor, HCT (biggest college in
the UAE) and so many more: [https://repl.it/pricing](https://repl.it/pricing)

3\. We're probably like 5-10x Koding users base.

4\. You keep creating accounts to spread misinformation. Go find something
better to do.

~~~
mistersolomon
1\. Koding was launched in January 2012.

2\.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18278979](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18278979)
seems to say you aren't profitable at the moment

3\. In other words, you're giving away like 5-10x the amount of free servers
Koding did. If burning money didn't work for them then how would burning it
five times faster help you? Are you trying to make it up in volume or
something?

4\. Alright, just for you I'll stop using throwaway usernames. i don't post on
HN super often and I usually forget my password, so I usually just make a new
account whenever I want to post something. (fyi this is only my fourth post in
this thread)

Look I like Repl.it and have used it in the past. You did a good job making
the interface work well. I just don't see how free cloud computers can be
sustainable as a business in the long term.

~~~
amasad
> 3\. In other words, you're giving away like 5-10x the amount of free servers
> Koding did. If burning money didn't work for them, then how would burning it
> five times faster help you? Are you trying to make it up in volume or
> something?

In Sep we spent $15k for all of our infrastructure cost and we made all of it
back and then some with subscriptions. It's serverless, we only spend
resources when people actually execute code (most of the time they're just
typing the code) or when servers are responding to traffic (most of the time
they're idle). Unlike C9/Koding/etc which were all VMs :-)

~~~
nodesocket
Thanks for the reply and transparency. I am actually a little surprised and
refreshed that you were able to post infrastructure costs ($15k in Sept). I'm
assuming this is on AWS Lambda?

> Then they started selling premium plans for beefier servers, but no one
> bought them..

I still think this has validity, especially with high-tech products that have
a free plan. How do you know how big the business can grow in terms of revenue
when the vast majority of your users are free? In my experience developers are
a VERY hard crowd to get to pay for things while being enthusiastic early
adopters.

~~~
amasad
> I'm assuming this is on AWS Lambda?

No we built our own. I started working on it in 2015 before much of the
seeverless hype.

> How do you know how big the business can grow in terms of revenue when the
> vast majority of your users are free?

You don't. You have some plan and some people back you knowing that you're
probably wrong about part or all of it. If you're careful and don't balloon
the company (we're 6 people and hire very very slow) and get to default alive
then you can have a near infinite runway to figure it out.

One rule of thumb is that if your developers are making money using your tools
then they're more likely to pay. We all know devtools is a tough space but
we're very driven, ambitious, yet conservative at the same time. Take every
opportunity to cut burn and make revenue.

------
eadmund
It sure would be neat if they supported Common Lisp & TCL too …

------
ram_rar
out of curiosity, how is this different from meteorjs
[https://www.meteor.com/](https://www.meteor.com/) ?

~~~
emerongi
Meteor is a framework for building web applications on top of Node. repl.it is
more like an editor/IDE.

------
html5web
Congrats to the team!

------
sytelus
This is a great product with several business possibilities:

\- IDE to Production -> all in cloud, always reproducible everywhere

\- Pre-in-person-interview testing

\- B2B IDE supplier to GitHub, GitLab etc

\- Online interviews

\- Collaborative developments

\- Hackathons

\- MOOCs

------
sjg007
Neat idea. You guys should look at ceph for the backend file store.

~~~
amasad
Oh cool -- I'll take a look. Storage is definitely our biggest challenge going
forward.

------
ryan-allen
Great news! It's an awesome product. Congrats Repl.it!

------
sbr464
Is the jobs site working? Mine says connecting (loading)

~~~
amasad
Seems to be having trouble with adblock. Try it in incognito or something.
We're looking into it now

------
dxxvi
Does it support Scala? Or I didn't see it?

------
ttul
I love how a seed round today is $4.5M...

~~~
amasad
Honestly, we think of it as an A. We're planning to get (back) to
profitability on it ;)

------
pankajdoharey
WoW, such products can raise money.

------
dbosch
any plans to bring back the code execution as an API?

------
dreamdu5t
Why did you raise money? How will you make money?

Is there a similar service that’s not involved with VC?

------
debt
This is awesome I hope they invest some of that into rebranding as I do
believe Repl.it is probably the worst name for anything. It almost sounds like
a nefarious file format or like some software company for the early 90s; maybe
that’s the vibe they’re going for. Even the word Replit looks like “reptile”.
I guess it’s very developer-y it’s just grammatically grating on the nerves.

~~~
krrrh
I think it's perfect. Obviously the customer base is never going to expand
beyond programmers who already know what REPL stands for, and the full name is
a homonym for "replete" which is aspirational for a tool that aims to grow
into a more fully-featured service.

~~~
amasad
Oh that's a cool thought thank you!

~~~
krrrh
You’re quite welcome. Best of luck with the startup.

