At the Helm #1
At the Helm #1
Originally written on Oct 13th, Friday.
Originally written on Oct 13th, Friday.
Buckle up and grab a drink, this one's probably long.
Sid 🙂
I'm a tinkerer, have been since childhood. Hardware, software and even candles (yes). It's a simple philosophy to live by — just leave things better than you found them.
I design, code, hire, run sales, do customer support and 4058031 other things all the time. It keeps my hands full and mind sharp. I love what I do — there's nothing like doing your part in slowly tweaking the way the world works, until one day you wake up to a better one.
I love media — sound, music, photos, video. Pictures speak a thousand words. Videos speak thousand words at 60FPS (or higher if your monitor supports it) and sounds make you feel.
There is a fabric of stories, emotions, messages and character woven across the internet through videos. It's the most consumed means of communication in the world today and, arguably, has helped shaped how we think, live and work.
Here's a simple vlog from over 2 years ago. A random friday adventure I would've loved to share with the world. I wish the quality was better, I wish I could make you feel the same excitement I got when I pulled out that camera from a junk computer — the vlog doesn't do enough justice, sadly 🥲
Seed 🥜
I'm happy to report that over time I learnt better ways to create those kind of video-logs 😂 The pandemic gave rise to new age tools — the zooms and looms — and their learning curve shallowed as they became more commonplace.
I recorded 200+ loom videos in the year '21-22. Treating it has a lifelog of sorts, I'd wrap up work for the day and fire up a Loom to document it. It was awesome, until one day I lost it all. Loom's free tier disappeared, my account was suspended and all my recordings vanished. Two years of my life's sole documentation, evaporated in thin air.
Loom was a sweetheart about the situation and my account was eventually reinstated later, but we never recovered the data. I'm a maker of course, I could solve this problem by simply building a solution for myself and not rely on big-tech.
My plugin above worked well. I used for months and so did hundreds of other people, but not everyone could. The Kap project stopped being maintained and no further updates to their marketplace were accepted, so only unfortunately very few could use my work.
Germination ☀️
Then, the emails began. And they've never stopped till date.
In the following 3 months I got 200+ inquiries about my plugin, how to use it and failing that, asking for alternative tools — there weren't any that fit. Many people were interested in getting this and had ideas of their own on how to use it, ideas I'd never thought of before.
And so started my quest to uncover something fascinating. All of us dreamers and doers have stories to tell. A designer meticulously handing off their work to an engineer, a founder explaining the next billion dollar company to a VC and a tinkerer ripping off webcams from old computers, trying to explain what he's trying to do with it 😉
"We need to build a Demo Culture" said Varun (CEO, Headout) to me once as we paced the office together, musing over how Headout operates. I agree. People should be proud of what they do and what they build. I want to facilitate this. Make the easiest way possible for people to show off their work — that's a mission worth chasing, for Headout and beyond.
Seedling 🌱
I would love to introduce you to Helmer — the next-gen screen capture and storytelling tool, crafted for the makers by makers. It is privacy and performance focused, brings handy tools and craftsmanship to everyone. No video editing or design skills needed. Just hit record and start. Let serendipity (and AI) take care of the rest, and leave you with a masterpiece.
The word "Helmer" (aka Showrunner) refers to the Director of a live broadcast, not a film. Think news casters, event livestreamers and so on — a well suited name for our little tool.
This is what's kept me busy through many sleepless nights and weekends the past year. I've been slowly chipping away at this problem space: understanding the tech, building demos and talking to users. Remember that first person who emailed? Yup, still in touch a year later.
Helmer is years of all my experience consolidated — the best in technology, design and media. Our capture engine is the most performant solution on Windows and Mac using APIs that didn't even exist until a year ago. I've learnt so much about programming, running a company and building a business today thanks to Helmer.
But my proudest piece about Helmer is it's ability to give back. Giving back to the people who made it, giving back to the open-source projects it stands on the shoulders of and soon hopefully giving back to the community who've willed it into existence.
Plant 🌳
I've been working on this on-and-off for a year and find myself only 0.1% of the way. The ideas have taken good form, the tech has been understood and cleverly curated and the ambitions are at an all time high. We're onto something here.
Today, there are two initiatives being worked on →
Helmer App (Now)
The product itself. We are quite a ways off from a public launch, it's impossible to have an accurate ETA since I myself don't work on this full-time. But I would love a hand with design, engineering, marketing and all that goes into making a product a good one.
Helmer Foundation (Soon)
A public-service extension of the company dedicated to fund new open-source initiatives and education opportunities for makers and builders across the country. Remember this? As Helmer grows, we will proactively find more ways to facilitate similar things.
I even raised capital to help build Helmer but quickly realized that it was the wrong call for the time. I didn't want to leave my job at Headout, nor did the obligation of delivering financial returns align with why I started in the first place. I returned the $$ to my (very understanding) investors, and put the one month "salary" I'd paid myself towards open-source funding.
Gardening 🧑🌾
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading! You now know me and you know my mission. If you find this interesting and would like to volunteer in any capacity, please reach out 🙌
I plan to continue this adventure for the foreseeable future and work towards building an open company and product. Your blessings will help me go a long way.
Cheers and keep building!
— Sid (@clearlysid)
PS: this memo is hopefully the first of many, intended for your eyes only.
Buckle up and grab a drink, this one's probably long.
Sid 🙂
I'm a tinkerer, have been since childhood. Hardware, software and even candles (yes). It's a simple philosophy to live by — just leave things better than you found them.
I design, code, hire, run sales, do customer support and 4058031 other things all the time. It keeps my hands full and mind sharp. I love what I do — there's nothing like doing your part in slowly tweaking the way the world works, until one day you wake up to a better one.
I love media — sound, music, photos, video. Pictures speak a thousand words. Videos speak thousand words at 60FPS (or higher if your monitor supports it) and sounds make you feel.
There is a fabric of stories, emotions, messages and character woven across the internet through videos. It's the most consumed means of communication in the world today and, arguably, has helped shaped how we think, live and work.
Here's a simple vlog from over 2 years ago. A random friday adventure I would've loved to share with the world. I wish the quality was better, I wish I could make you feel the same excitement I got when I pulled out that camera from a junk computer — the vlog doesn't do enough justice, sadly 🥲
Seed 🥜
I'm happy to report that over time I learnt better ways to create those kind of video-logs 😂 The pandemic gave rise to new age tools — the zooms and looms — and their learning curve shallowed as they became more commonplace.
I recorded 200+ loom videos in the year '21-22. Treating it has a lifelog of sorts, I'd wrap up work for the day and fire up a Loom to document it. It was awesome, until one day I lost it all. Loom's free tier disappeared, my account was suspended and all my recordings vanished. Two years of my life's sole documentation, evaporated in thin air.
Loom was a sweetheart about the situation and my account was eventually reinstated later, but we never recovered the data. I'm a maker of course, I could solve this problem by simply building a solution for myself and not rely on big-tech.
My plugin above worked well. I used for months and so did hundreds of other people, but not everyone could. The Kap project stopped being maintained and no further updates to their marketplace were accepted, so only unfortunately very few could use my work.
Germination ☀️
Then, the emails began. And they've never stopped till date.
In the following 3 months I got 200+ inquiries about my plugin, how to use it and failing that, asking for alternative tools — there weren't any that fit. Many people were interested in getting this and had ideas of their own on how to use it, ideas I'd never thought of before.
And so started my quest to uncover something fascinating. All of us dreamers and doers have stories to tell. A designer meticulously handing off their work to an engineer, a founder explaining the next billion dollar company to a VC and a tinkerer ripping off webcams from old computers, trying to explain what he's trying to do with it 😉
"We need to build a Demo Culture" said Varun (CEO, Headout) to me once as we paced the office together, musing over how Headout operates. I agree. People should be proud of what they do and what they build. I want to facilitate this. Make the easiest way possible for people to show off their work — that's a mission worth chasing, for Headout and beyond.
Seedling 🌱
I would love to introduce you to Helmer — the next-gen screen capture and storytelling tool, crafted for the makers by makers. It is privacy and performance focused, brings handy tools and craftsmanship to everyone. No video editing or design skills needed. Just hit record and start. Let serendipity (and AI) take care of the rest, and leave you with a masterpiece.
The word "Helmer" (aka Showrunner) refers to the Director of a live broadcast, not a film. Think news casters, event livestreamers and so on — a well suited name for our little tool.
This is what's kept me busy through many sleepless nights and weekends the past year. I've been slowly chipping away at this problem space: understanding the tech, building demos and talking to users. Remember that first person who emailed? Yup, still in touch a year later.
Helmer is years of all my experience consolidated — the best in technology, design and media. Our capture engine is the most performant solution on Windows and Mac using APIs that didn't even exist until a year ago. I've learnt so much about programming, running a company and building a business today thanks to Helmer.
But my proudest piece about Helmer is it's ability to give back. Giving back to the people who made it, giving back to the open-source projects it stands on the shoulders of and soon hopefully giving back to the community who've willed it into existence.
Plant 🌳
I've been working on this on-and-off for a year and find myself only 0.1% of the way. The ideas have taken good form, the tech has been understood and cleverly curated and the ambitions are at an all time high. We're onto something here.
Today, there are two initiatives being worked on →
Helmer App (Now)
The product itself. We are quite a ways off from a public launch, it's impossible to have an accurate ETA since I myself don't work on this full-time. But I would love a hand with design, engineering, marketing and all that goes into making a product a good one.
Helmer Foundation (Soon)
A public-service extension of the company dedicated to fund new open-source initiatives and education opportunities for makers and builders across the country. Remember this? As Helmer grows, we will proactively find more ways to facilitate similar things.
I even raised capital to help build Helmer but quickly realized that it was the wrong call for the time. I didn't want to leave my job at Headout, nor did the obligation of delivering financial returns align with why I started in the first place. I returned the $$ to my (very understanding) investors, and put the one month "salary" I'd paid myself towards open-source funding.
Gardening 🧑🌾
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading! You now know me and you know my mission. If you find this interesting and would like to volunteer in any capacity, please reach out 🙌
I plan to continue this adventure for the foreseeable future and work towards building an open company and product. Your blessings will help me go a long way.
Cheers and keep building!
— Sid (@clearlysid)
PS: this memo is hopefully the first of many, intended for your eyes only.