Nicolas Hourcard, CEO & Founder of QuestDB: $15 Million Raised to Build the Leading Open-Source Time Series Database

Shownotes & Key topics discussed:

Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech's most innovative B2B founders. In today's episode, we're speaking with Nicolas Hourcard, CEO & Founder of QuestDB, an open-source time series database that has raised $15 Million in funding. 

Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:

• The Genesis of QuestDB: Nicolas's fascination with time series data began during his tenure at Rothschild and a crypto startup, culminating in the partnership with his co-founder to start QuestDB, aiming to address the burgeoning market need for efficient time series data analysis.
• Early Days and Challenges: The initial journey involved pitching to venture capitalists in London, facing rejections, and being advised to prove the concept by generating revenue, a daunting task for a product intended to be open-source.
• Y Combinator and Turning Point: QuestDB's acceptance into Y Combinator marked a significant milestone, providing the validation and support needed to propel the startup into its next growth phase.
• Monetization Strategy: QuestDB approached monetization cautiously, focusing first on product development and open-source community adoption before introducing enterprise features post-Series A funding.
• Open Source as a Competitive Edge: The decision to make QuestDB open-source was pivotal, fostering a community of users and contributors that fueled the product's development and adoption.
• Marketing and Community Engagement: QuestDB's marketing strategy emphasizes authentic, technical content that resonates with developers, leveraging the team's deep engineering expertise to engage with the community and build a strong brand identity in the developer ecosystem.