Schnettler: AI is not yet good enough for non-technical database reporting
Colleen Schnettler · Episode 761 | TinySeed Tales s4e7: Identifying Pain Points · Feb 27, 2025 · at 4:55
Colleen Schnettler, founder of Hello Query, discusses why her AI database reporting tool struggled to gain traction with engineering managers attempting to empower non-technical teammates.
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“And I think part of that was because you can't put it in front of completely non-technical people yet because the AI is just not good enough.”
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“Chat with your database is not in any way unique. Everyone's doing that. And a lot of the companies doing it are trying to position it as the data analyst for your company. I don't think that's right. Cause I think that is still too vague. People are still lik…”
Schnettler: Developers do not pay for proprietary software gems
“Developers, generally speaking, they aren't in the mindset that they go and they license, like they pay for a Ruby gem and license that. That's not their workflow. Their workflow is they want an open source package, and then maybe you can upcharge them for sup…”
Schnettler: Open-source-to-paid model does not work for small teams
“I am not a big believer in the open source to paid model for a small team. I mean, I think if we had raised a lot of money, it might be a great path, but What we're trying to build, like that, that just isn't a model that was really working.”
Schnettler: Rails developers have a higher willingness to pay than Laravel developers
“In Laravel, we're getting a lot of hobbyists. In Rails, we're getting a lot of companies. And so when you look at the propensity to pay, we think the Rails market is just a little more mature, and the people are coming to us are more likely to pay for things.”