<stdlib> A Standard Library For The Web

There is a large movement on the internet where developers are increasingly building applications in a “serverless” fashion — i.e. without the need of having to think about deploying and maintaining servers. Developers simply write code (representing the business logic) and deploy that code into a scalable, self-managing infrastructure to be executed. This removes many of the traditional points of friction in software development (i.e. making it easier for developers to deploy production ready code and reducing overall costs). StdLib is building a repository for serverless functions (i.e. building blocks developers can use to have their applications run serverless), and is plugged into cloud computing platforms, but can also be integrated into a backend-as-a-service or can be used directly by the developer. The project is one of the fastest growing open source project in the space and the team has succeeded in establishing an early community of contributors to the project.

Our Thesis

For a long time we have been working on identifying platforms that would empower developers to build applications in entirely new and significantly better ways. Companies that could represent “the future of programming” by dramatically simplifying the process and allowing developers to harness the power of web services and functions, without needing to rely on an increasingly fragmented developer tools space. For years now, and lately with increased velocity, developers have used external APIs as part of their applications. StdLib facilitates this kind of development, making it easier to discover, consume, and contribute to the growing list of reusable services, i.e. empowering developers to build applications faster, while putting in less effort and resources. We believe that if StdLib becomes a new horizontal layer in the cloud stack that other applications get built on top of, it could evolve into a platform and marketplace for executable code on the web, capturing strong network effects and becoming a defensible business. It could essentially become the “library” for a next generation of applications on the internet, based on the serverless trend.

We’re excited to be working with Keith, Jacob and the entire team.