How BaseDash is Changing the Way Companies Manage Data

We talked to Max Musing of BaseDash about data management, and he had the following to say:-

First of all, how are you doing in these COVID-19 times? 

Max Musing: I’m doing well, pretty used to sitting at home in front of a laptop all day, so lockdown hasn’t had a huge effect on my day-to-day life. We thankfully haven’t been hit too hard in Canada, but nonetheless looking forward to vaccines to roll out across the country.

Tell us about you, your career, and how you founded BaseDash.

Max Musing: I was working on my first startup a few years ago when I realized how frequently early-stage companies need to view and edit data in their database. I built out a little internal tool to help manage user data for the startup before realizing that I could spin it out into a standalone product. I became obsessed with the problem and eventually decided to work on the product full-time and grow it into a startup.

How does BaseDash innovate?

Max Musing: There are tons of great SQL database clients, but they all have three major flaws:

1. They’re built solely for engineers
2. They’re single-player experiences
3. They feel like they were built in the ’90s (because many of them were)

With BaseDash, we realized that many of the use cases for viewing and editing databases are by non-technical teams within companies, like customer support and operations. This realization is what led us to build BaseDash, a modern, collaborative database editor built for everyone within companies.

Being built on the web, we can add tons of features on top of your database, like full edit history, real-time collaboration, and support for all devices (including mobile). We’ve put a huge focus on designing a product that our users actually enjoy using since some of our customers spend hours every day in the tool.

How the coronavirus pandemic affects your business, and how are you coping?

Max Musing: I took part in Y Combinator this past summer, which to my dismay, ended up being fully-remote. I was looking forward to moving down to the Bay Area to be in the middle of the startup scene but ended up staying in Montreal and participating in all the Zoom events. Ultimately though, it ended up being a great experience and actually had some upsides. Rent was cheaper, commuting to investor meetings was eliminated, and I could show up to events in sweatpants.

We’re lucky to be in a space that isn’t directly affected by COVID. For any companies that are, we’re offering our product totally free for a few months.

Did you have to make difficult choices, and what are the lessons learned?

Max Musing: One major choice we recently made while building out the team was to go fully-remote. That choice was definitely thrust upon us by COVID, but I think it is the future for most modern software startups. Opening up the pool of talent from one city to the entire world while reducing office costs is a huge win. There are definitely challenges around communication and building culture, but those are quickly being solved through software and experience.

How do you deal with stress and anxiety?

Max Musing: I recently got the new Xbox, which has been a blast.

Any final thoughts about the current state of the startup scene?

Max Musing: I think now is one of the best times to start a startup. The world is in a state of flux, which means that incumbents are disoriented, there are huge new problems to solve, and lots of talented people are looking to change the world.

If any great full-stack engineers are looking to change the way companies manage data, check out our job postings here.

Your website?

https://www.basedash.com