Ask HN: Selling our startup's code
Hi all,
A while ago we launched a service called PlaceSteal - http://www.placesteal.com/ ↗
At its core is a fast Javascript library which extracts arbitrary US and UK addresses from HTML pages, on the client side. This represents about 30 days of development, it's well tested, it works really well, and it's full of all sorts of neat tricks like intraspecting certain mapping elements on pages, etc.
I note that FourSquare have started trying to enter this arena, but their bookmarklet/plugin sucks. There are also a couple of other startups who are trying to enter the same space: http://pindropapp.com/ ↗, and some company called EverPlace who are apparently in private beta.
My business partner and I both have other things going on, which is starving our current ability to spend time on PlaceSteal - and as part of considering all options, are wondering about selling the company's assets (ie: this Javascript library - the unencrypted and commented and tested version of: http://www.placesteal.com/bookmarklet.js?perl ↗).
Anyone have any experience on this? How to approach companies like FourSquare, or any of the other big companies who have interested in the location space?
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Didn't really register or try yet, just read your post + looked at the home page and here are some quick thoughts/ideas:
1. Since you already have the tech in place, why not get some traction/users and then see how it goes
2. You did mention that you all don't have time to take this forward - why not explore the possibility of taking another partner on board? Looks like all/what you really need at this point is a marketing push, so why not look for a marketing-type partner who can spend some time taking it forward?
Maybe you could package it up into a jQuery plugin. Stick it on your site, let people use it free for non-commercial purposes, and require people to buy a license for $100 per site if they use it commercially. Might make some money, though probably not tons.
I wouldn't bother worrying about obfuscation. Most companies will gladly pay when required and you can occasionally Google around to find offenders.
Clickable: http://www.placesteal.com/ ↗