Hi HN,
We launched on HN 3 years ago and were part of YCW17. We'd love for you to be a part of our moonshot.
Our master plan is simple: Develop low cost broadband distribution technology. Prove it works by connecting one million people in one city. Once it works, deploy worldwide.
Step 1 done - We have built a low cost network stack and have lowered the cost of deploying a citywide broadband network from $50m to $5m. We use lasers and commodity components thereby avoiding the core expense at the heart of current ISPs - expensive underground fibre and its associated manpower, heavy capex and regulatory pains.
Ready for scale - We've run a beta network with thousands of live customers over the last 9 months and we know the tech works. We're now ready to scale across our hometown of Bengaluru with its population of 11m people and less than 10% broadband penetration.
A killer proposition - We have a killer offering for the customer - 1gbps speed with no data caps at $10/month and a free Wifi Dabba router. This is 10x better and cheaper than anything else on the market. This playbook has been executed successfully in the mobile 4G market in India by Jio, we're applying the same playbook in broadband
Go where no ISP has gone before - We're taking an AWS-like platform approach to our tech stack, our goal is to deliver deep APIs, network integration points, edge-caching and much more. We believe this approach will result in a whole new class of applications and services for users. We want to be the ISP that developers will love.
The ask - This is where you come in HN, buy a piece of our network and help shape the future of the internet. We're offering minimum guaranteed revenue, naming rights to your region and a host of other benefits. There are only 66 of 100 regions available. Each region is $20,000.
> We're taking an AWS-like platform approach to our tech stack, our goal is to deliver deep APIs, network integration points, edge-caching and much more.
The website wasn't convincing, but this doubly so. What is your technology (which scales) that enables 10x savings, given that ISPs are operating on razor thin margins already?
Also, 20k*100 = $2million. If the technology is proven, wouldn't you be able to just raise it without a lot of trouble? I want you guys to succeed. It's just that you might need to provide better arguments here.
90% of the cost of being an ISP comes from laying the core underground fiber network that serves as the backbone of the system. This usually costs anywhere from $30k - $50k per kilometre to lay because it involves digging trenches, getting permits, etc. It takes about $50M to deploy a basic network in a city like Bangalore for example - we know from our existing ISP partners that this is a reasonable figure.
The fact that we are using FSOC to replace the underground fiber is what creates the 10x in savings. It only takes a few hundred FSOC units to do the job of the fiber as the core network and is much, much cheaper.
I've added a reply further down the page that addresses why we'd like the public to be involved, I'd be happy to elaborate more if you've got more questions.
The tech is extremely new and other telecom companies and ISPs are testing it to plug holes in their network, this gives them only limited ROI on the tech because they've already got fiber networks and their entire organization is geared towards the deployment of fiber.
Also, it's worth noting that most ISPs/telcos are manpower and regulations based resource extraction organisations. Their moat is being able to handle local bureaucracy and pump in the heavy capital required to deploy the network. They like to buy and use proven tech that comes with SLAs and support from large tech vendors. They will wait for FSOC to be mature before they do anything meaningful.
We get the largest ROI from FSOC tech simply because we're building the network from scratch and are targeting the low cost market that is currently underserved. Most other ISPs are aiming for the premium market.
Free space optics isn’t some new technology. The real reason FSO isn’t used is because despite almost half a billion USD in R&D over the past 20 years the reliability issues haven’t been solved.
Without divulging any trade secrets, are there any research papers or topics you would recommend learning more about? I'm really interested in learning more about these FSO improvements.
>>The ask - This is where you come in HN, buy a piece of our network and help shape the future of the internet. We're offering minimum guaranteed revenue
I'm not a lawyer, but since you're part of YC, you may want to reach out to your legal mentors and ask if this post/advertisement/promotion satisfies the SEC's Howey Test[1] due to HN having a material portion of US participants some of whom may not be accredited investors and HN is publicly readable.
The US legal case SEC vs. Howey[2] uses 4 prongs to determine whether an offer is an "investment contract", namely "a contract, transaction or scheme whereby a person invests his money in a common enterprise and is led to expect profits solely from the efforts of the promoter or a third party."
It sounds like you're satisfying all 4 prongs of the Howey Test by offering: a) a purchase contract for a Wifi Dabba; b) investing funds in Wifi Dabba; c) expectation of profits via "minimum guaranteed revenue"; d) from the efforts of the promoter, Wifi Dabba.
Many 2017 cryptoasset tokens tried to raise money via token sales to US investors which the SEC classified as unregistered securities offerings which violate the Securities Act[3]. The SEC has had varying success going after organizations that offered unregistered securities offerings, but I don't think you (nor YC) would want that legal hassle.
Based on your website and explanation, Wifi Dabba's mission sounds exemplary and a net-positive to democratize connectivity in India. Hence, I'm really rooting for Wifi Dabba and hope that you've spoken to a US legal advisor or YC legal mentor.
EDIT: You mention on your website that you're a Delaware entity with an office in California, which implies that you are really bound by US jurisdiction + potential US investors. Please seek legal counsel.
OP here. It's a good point you raise, its something we did our homework on and were advised that since we're offering a commercial franchise agreement and not a share purchase agreement we don't fall afoul of the SEC. It's also the reason why we've been able to offer only a limited amount of information on the website.
EDIT: I had thought that a commercial franchising agreement implicitly assumes that the purchaser would be operating the franchise directly. However, in this case, it looks like Wifi Dabba will be operating the POP equipment in India for investors not in the immediate POP vicinity. In any case, all the best!
Our master plan is simple: Develop low cost broadband distribution technology. Prove it works by connecting one million people in one city. Once it works, deploy worldwide.
Step 1 done - We have built a low cost network stack and have lowered the cost of deploying a citywide broadband network from $50m to $5m. We use lasers and commodity components thereby avoiding the core expense at the heart of current ISPs - expensive underground fibre and its associated manpower, heavy capex and regulatory pains.
Ready for scale - We've run a beta network with thousands of live customers over the last 9 months and we know the tech works. We're now ready to scale across our hometown of Bengaluru with its population of 11m people and less than 10% broadband penetration.
A killer proposition - We have a killer offering for the customer - 1gbps speed with no data caps at $10/month and a free Wifi Dabba router. This is 10x better and cheaper than anything else on the market. This playbook has been executed successfully in the mobile 4G market in India by Jio, we're applying the same playbook in broadband
Go where no ISP has gone before - We're taking an AWS-like platform approach to our tech stack, our goal is to deliver deep APIs, network integration points, edge-caching and much more. We believe this approach will result in a whole new class of applications and services for users. We want to be the ISP that developers will love.
The ask - This is where you come in HN, buy a piece of our network and help shape the future of the internet. We're offering minimum guaranteed revenue, naming rights to your region and a host of other benefits. There are only 66 of 100 regions available. Each region is $20,000.