Streamlining Database Development to Eliminate the Innovation Bottleneck
Database complexity is a big problem in the app development world, and getting bigger as apps get easier and faster to write. Learn how Fireproof is solving this problem, and why the opportunity matters.
Problem
When building new apps or features, developers are accustomed to heavy context switches when configuring databases, taking them away from the valuable action in the app codebase and into administration: provisioning, defining, and connecting databases. Even in the best-case scenario, database management can easily amount to half the time (and frustration) of getting to an appâs âhello worldâ moment.
In the era of AI, as app development becomes increasingly rapid and streamlined, traditional database models are falling short. Configuration and setup pause development while administrative and management demands grow proportionally. Traditional databases were built for a world that viewed applications as specialized, unique projects that require significant resources to maintain and modify. This is no longer a viable approach in this era of fast-paced application development.
A high threshold to start new projects holds back innovation. When you're overwhelmed you don't have bandwidth to innovate because you're busy putting out fires all the time.
As app development becomes increasingly efficient, the constant complexity of databases per app eventually becomes a bottleneck, inhibiting innovation. Concurrently, the potential economic value of apps not written starts small but grows significantly as database capacity becomes saturated, representing missed opportunities in the market.
The complexity and cost of database management, both upfront and ongoing, can make it hard to justify the long-term benefits of new development, so the downside of traditional databases can be measured in terms of features and apps not written, and concepts not explored.
Introducing Fireproof
Fireproof's unique architecture not only makes the development process more efficient but also provides flexibility in handling scale. Developers can choose between browser-first with peer-to-peer sync (free), a user-paid cloud model (crowdfunding, micropayments), or traditional app-paid cloud (developer pays). This approach makes economic bottlenecks a thing of the past, empowering developers with more choice and control. Open source communities can manage anything except for a bank account, and opening the market to these users will also make Fireproof easy to adopt by commercial developers.
Fireproof takes data integrity lessons from the crypto community, but instead of chasing dreams, uses them to make the database experience we know developers already want: flexible, faster, cheaper, and more trustworthy. Designed so you can develop apps first and connect them to the cloud when you are ready, a Fireproof app is ready to demo in the time it takes to provision your API key with another database. Stay ahead of the curve with Passkey integration, or use your existing auth â end-to-end encryption means Fireproof can run in any cloud, even a raw S3 bucket. Embodying a mantra of âbuild, connect, scale,â Fireproof introduces the notion of cryptographically-verified "data anywhere" to real-time embedded application databases.
As a business, Fireproof expects better margins than commodity cloud infrastructure vendors, because our database is designed to be embedded in mission-critical applications like custom ERP tools, Salesforce add-ons, LLM prompt-based experiences, social media, e-commerce, metaverse, and anywhere else that depends on data integrity and fast-paced innovation. This leads to deep customer relationships (the lifeblood of any successful database company) and value-added offerings like installation certification and support. In the long term, we aim to become a financial bridge between our enterprise customers and the distributed service providers we utilize, offering the opportunity to expand our platform over time.
Take action
Today, Fireproof is alpha software, ready for developers to use in low-risk deployments like shopping carts, personal LLM apps, and peer-to-peer gaming. You can install our React hooks with npm install use-fireproof or use the core database in any JavaScript app. Fireproofâs cloud storage, shipping soon, will enable big data and multi-user apps. Our seed round has growing momentum among angel investors and thought leaders, with experienced engineers and evangelists joining our open-source community.