A Leap of Faith (personal update)

Creating a SAAS start-up in this economy? What could possibly go wrong?

Above, a very early video that I took of something I built which sparked off this new adventure. It looks a little bit like a love heart, don’t you think?

Friends,

This is a personal update, and not my usual content. I promise not to turn my Substack into a giant advertisement. I just wanted to let you all know what’s been going on recently, and why I’ve been fairly quiet.

You may remember, I did a post about mapping the entire brain of a Fruit Fly. That was my first-ever foray into data science and visualisation, and it was so much fun, it sparked in me a journey of discovery that has developed into a plan to build something truly remarkable, useful, and in some ways, unique.

Data visualisation, for the layperson, is actually pretty flipping hard to do. There are no easy, intuitive, straight-forward solutions to this problem on the market aimed at the non-expert (trust me, I have looked at so many, from the largest to the smallest, and everything in-between)

At the same time, I’ve also been speaking with scientists, academics, researchers, educators, statisticians, and people in the private sector, and I’ve been hearing a lot of the same themes: most people generally opt for writing code, if they know how to code, simply because the existing GUI tools out there are just painful (but they wish they didn’t have to.)

Technically, some LLMs can do basic data visualisation, by essentially writing and then running python code inside the chat interface. Sadly, these are very limited, and can be confronting for non-technical types to even understand what is happening.

So, over the last few weeks, I’ve been hard at work pursuing a vision. A vision to democratise data visualisation. To make it fun for anyone to just drop in some data and see it come to life, right away, configure to your hearts content, and then share the results (along with much else besides.)

No need to write any code, or go through a user manual, or watch a series of video tutorials, or hand over your personal details (though you will need to do this in order to use some more advanced functionality.)

I can’t share too much with the world just yet, but a huge amount of work has already gone in to the design and architecture, user experience, competitive analysis, roadmap, and of course, a prototype.

So far, we are running on nothing but fumes. It’s just me and one other person, living on a very small amount of savings, and a wing and a prayer.

It may seem like kind of a weird time to be kicking off a SAAS (Software As A Service) start-up, but if we just waited for the perfect time to come along, we would never begin.

If this is going to work, we’re going to have to obtain some kind of funding or investment within the next 2 months, maybe less.

I think we can do it.

In fact, I think we can dazzle.

I might be wrong, and this might all fall apart in the end. Maybe we end up mis-judging market fit. Perhaps we never really capture peoples imagination. It’s entirely possible we run out of money before we’re at a demoable stage. I might even be deluding myself into thinking any of this is going to catch on.

Honestly? I doubt it. I truly believe we have a chance to make a real impact.

One thing is for sure, though: if I don’t at least try, I will forever be wondering “what if”, and I don’t want to carry that regret around with me.

So, while I’m embarked on this endeavour, A Chemical Mind is going to be a lot less active. Only temporarily. No doubt, when I crash and burn, I will have much to write about the experience, and maybe I’ll finish some of those 10 odd drafts I’ve got sitting there ;)

If you, dear reader, are curious to know more on my endeavour to make data visualisations accessible to the world at large, you can message me directly on Substack, or reply to this email (if you’re reading it from your inbox).

Any and all advice from those that have been on this kind of journey before is MOST welcome, as are all words of support and encouragement. Ideas on how to get ourselves in shape to pitch to investors, and who we should be pitching to, even moreso. If you have experience with existing tools out there, and want to share the pain points you’ve faced, or ideas you’d like to see implemented, I am all ears!

Lastly, we would love to talk to anyone who might consider taking part in this Leap of Faith, to help us deliver something incredible and world-beating. There is definitely room for a couple more people in this bandwagon. More specifically, we could use 1 more technical/software engineering oriented person (right now it’s just me on that front). However, I would welcome folks from all different backgrounds and experience reaching out; especially folks who have been involved with start-ups before.

So, TLDR: for the next 2 months, I will be on a temporary semi-hiatus from A Chemical Mind, while I embark on a rather perilous journey in start-up land.

Thank you all so very much for all the support and love you have shown me over the years. ACM has been around since 2023 (how time flies!), and I intend for it to stick around for a long time yet. There is still so much still to come.

Stay tuned, stay safe, and I will see you all around the bend.

Wish me luck!

-Nicholas