Starting Raptor Three: Day 0
Raptor Three began with a domain I bought almost a year ago. The idea was to build small, specific tools that solve problems we actually have, without trying to turn every project into a startup.
The name comes from SpaceX Raptor 3 engine and the well-known comparison image showing how much simpler the engine became over time. That is roughly what the name means to us: aim for the simplest implementation that still produces the best result.
I tried building a few tools after buying the domain, but never had enough time to keep going. Now I’m starting again with my brother, who is helping build the tools, and my wife, who will help with design. Writing these build logs is partly an attempt to stay consistent.
We have chosen an initial set of projects based on our own needs:
- Whiteboard, a simple collaboration tool because we do not enjoy using Notion. It will also help us manage the rest of our projects.
- Meo, a PostHog alternative that my brother and I had already started building.
- Talon, an attempt to build some of the infrastructure we currently use Railway for. My Railway bill is approaching $60, and I also want to learn more about sandboxing code for coding agents.
- Relay, the tool used to create this post. We record or dictate an update, Relay transcribes it, and a writing prompt turns it into a draft.
- A small brand kit generator for creating the colors, logos, and visual personality of projects such as Relay and Whiteboard.
On Day 0, we published the new website, added the blog, created a GitHub organization and Slack workspace, chose our first projects, and set up the initial repositories. We also started work on Whiteboard.
It already feels like a very small studio, but without startup constraints. We do not need to chase funding or force a business model. For now, we can simply build tools that are useful to us and see where they go.