The accidental click that changed everything: the Apify origin story
14 days ago
- #entrepreneurship
- #web-scraping
- #startup
- Apify was conceived in 2014 to solve the problem of computers not being able to access data hidden behind dynamic JavaScript interfaces on the web.
- Founders Jan Čurn and Jakub Balada, students at Charles University in Prague, initially worked on a semantic web analyzer for used car listings but faced challenges with accuracy and adoption.
- They later formed Dev Tank, a consultancy, but grew dissatisfied and sought to build a product rather than sell their time.
- A client request for a real estate data extraction tool led them to develop their own solution using PhantomJS, a headless browser that could handle dynamic JavaScript.
- They applied to Y Combinator's Fellowship program, accidentally submitting early, and were accepted after a 10-minute interview in San Francisco.
- During the program, they lived in a Hacker House, working intensely on their product, consuming Soylent, and focusing solely on development.
- Apifier (later renamed Apify) launched on Hacker News on October 20, 2015, gaining 2,200 visitors and 120 sign-ups, validating their vision to turn any website into an API.