Startups On Rails 2025 @ Tropical on Rails

New companies are choosing Ruby and Rails today, and we see them growing and succeeding. Let's hear from the founders that chose Rails recently: why they love Ruby and Rails, and what's missing in the ecosystem that can make new and ambitious startups more successful.

Transcript

1. Irina Nazarova Startups on Rails 2025 1
3. 2 ON THE NEWS
4. 3 March 16, 2025
5. 3 March 16, 2025
6. RubyLLM on HN front page 3 March 16, 2025
7. RubyLLM on HN front page Carmine Paolino Author, founder Chatwithwork Berlin 3 March 16, 2025
8. 4 March 26, 2025
9. 4 March 26, 2025
10. 4 March 26, 2025
11. 4 March 26, 2025
12. 4 March 26, 2025
13. 4 March 26, 2025
14. 4 YC partner pitches Rails March 26, 2025
15. 5 January 22, 2025
16. .new Stack: Remix, Wasm, Rails 5 January 22, 2025
17. .new Stack: Remix, Wasm, Rails 5 January 22, 2025
18. .new Stack: Remix, Wasm, Rails Albert Pai and Eric Simmons Co-founders San Francisco 5 January 22, 2025
19. 6 February 13, 2025
20. 6 February 13, 2025
21. 6 February 13, 2025 raised
22. $1M? 6 February 13, 2025 raised
23. $1M? 6 5M? February 13, 2025 raised
24. $1M? 6 5M? 50M 🤯 February 13, 2025 raised
25. Nikita Savrov co-founder&CTO Maryland, US $1M? 6 5M? 50M 🤯 February 13, 2025 raised
26. Nikita Savrov co-founder&CTO Maryland, US $1M? 6 -Ruby on Rails monolith with Turbo -Experimental mobile app on Turbolinks -JS frameworks, microfrontends and Flutter in the mix 5M? 50M 🤯 February 13, 2025 raised
27. 7 March 3, 2025
28. 7 March 3, 2025
29. 7 plans an IPO March 3, 2025
30. 7 Ryan King Co-founder&CTO San Francisco plans an IPO March 3, 2025
31. 7 Ryan King Co-founder&CTO San Francisco plans an IPO March 3, 2025
32. 7 Ryan King Co-founder&CTO San Francisco plans an IPO March 3, 2025
33. 7 Ryan King Co-founder&CTO San Francisco plans an IPO March 3, 2025
35. 8 SO, WHERE ARE WE?
36. 8 SO, WHERE ARE WE? Startups on Rails are growing
37. 8 SO, WHERE ARE WE? Startups on Rails are growing Ruby open source is getting popular
38. 8 SO, WHERE ARE WE? Startups on Rails are growing Ruby open source is getting popular Investors support Rails
39. 9 Visibility of Technology Gartner Hype Cycle Time
40. 9 Visibility of Technology Gartner Hype Cycle Time
41. 9 Peak of in fl ated expectations Visibility of Technology Gartner Hype Cycle Time
42. 9 Peak of in fl ated expectations Visibility of Technology Trough of disillusionment Gartner Hype Cycle Time
43. 9 Peak of in fl ated expectations Visibility of Technology Trough of disillusionment S lop e of enlightenm ent Gartner Hype Cycle Time
44. 9 Peak of in fl ated expectations Visibility of Technology Trough of disillusionment S lop e of enlightenm ent Plateau of productivity Gartner Hype Cycle Time
45. 9 Peak of in fl ated expectations Visibility of Technology Trough of disillusionment S lop e of enlightenm ent Plateau of productivity Gartner Hype Cycle Time
46. 9 Peak of in fl ated expectations Visibility of Technology Trough of disillusionment S lop e of enlightenm ent Plateau of productivity Pragmatic adoption Gartner Hype Cycle Time
47. 9 Peak of in fl ated expectations Visibility of Technology Trough of disillusionment S lop e of enlightenm ent Plateau of productivity Pragmatic adoption Gartner Hype Cycle Time
48. Time for intros! Irina (Ira) Nazarova 10
49. Time for intros! Irina (Ira) Nazarova 10 CEO at Evil Martians
50. Time for intros! Irina (Ira) Nazarova 10 CEO at Evil Martians Co-founder at AnyCable
51. Time for intros! Irina (Ira) Nazarova 10 CEO at Evil Martians Co-founder at AnyCable Org of SF Ruby meetup
53. 11 LET’S HEAR FROM YOU!
54. 11 LET’S HEAR FROM YOU!
55. 11 LET’S HEAR FROM YOU!
57. This is 13
58. This is 13 -Ruby on Rails startup
59. This is 13 -Ruby on Rails startup -YC S08 ⚡
60. This is 13 -Ruby on Rails startup -YC S08 ⚡ -Realtime powered by
61. This is 13 Brad Gessler Co-founder San Francisco -Ruby on Rails startup -YC S08 ⚡ -Realtime powered by
62. This is 13 Brad Gessler Co-founder San Francisco -Ruby on Rails startup -YC S08 ⚡ -Realtime powered by 🔌 Terminalwire
67. 17 PLEASURE TO MEET YOU!
68. 17 These are were my interview questions for founders PLEASURE TO MEET YOU!
69. 17 These are were my interview questions for founders Founders who chose Rails in 2021 and later PLEASURE TO MEET YOU!
73. 19 NOT THESE FOUNDERS
75. 20 NOT THESE FOUNDERS
124. 24 WHY RUBY AND RAILS?
125. 25 “SOMETHING I SPENT HALF A YEAR BUILDING WITH JAVA, I BUILT IN ONLY 2 MONTHS… WHEN LEARNING RAILS” Thiago Diniz Speed to Market
126. 26 “AFTER TRYING SCALA AND OTHER FRAMEWORKS, RAILS ALLOWED ME TO FOCUS ON BUSINESS LOGIC RATHER THAN CONFIGURATION” Bjarke Vad Andersen Convention over configuration
127. 27 “RAILS IS THE GROWN - UP IN THE ROOM: IT IS BATTLE - TESTED WITH YEARS AND YEARS OF CARE PUT INTO IT” Trent Kocurek Battle-Tested Reliability
128. 28 “RAILS DEVS TEND TO TAKE ON PM TASKS AND UNDERSTAND THE BUSINESS NEEDS” Aaron Snyder Entrepreneurial culture
129. 29 "I LIKE THE MAJESTIC MONOLITH" Ian Se ff erman Monolith Sanity
130. 30 “HOTWIRE SOLIDIFIED RAILS FOR THE NEXT 10 YEARS” Ryan Kulp Modern Frontend Solutions
131. 31 “RUBY IS OVER - REPRESENTED IN THE STARTUPS THAT GOT SUCCESSFUL” Kelly Sutton Startup Success Correlation
132. 32 “A HUGE UNLOCK OF CREATIVITY IN USING AI IS GOING TO HAPPEN IN FLEXIBLE LANGUAGES LIKE RUBY” Scott Werner Vision in AI
133. 33 “EVENTUALLY PEOPLE WILL REALIZE THAT THESE SUCCESSFUL COMPANIES HAVE BEEN BUILDING ON RAILS ALL ALONG” Glenn Espinosa Rails is a secret superpower
135. 34 WHAT’S MISSING?
136. 35 Peak of in fl ated expectations Visibility Trough of disillusionment S lop e of enlightenm ent Plateau of productivity Pragmatic adoption Gartner Hype Cycle Time
137. 36 LET’S DO PRAGMATIC ENLIGHTENMENT Post-hype Rails We don’t need to be purists or over-hype anything
138. 37 IT’S UP TO US Post-hype Rails We can build the missing pieces and integrate them into Rails while preserving the DX and productivity
139. 38 Post-hype Rails
140. 38 Post-hype Rails
142. 39 TOP-4 MISSING
143. 40 #4 Frontend Experience
144. 40 Polished, documented, and cohesive frontend story: #4 Frontend Experience
145. 40 Polished, documented, and cohesive frontend story: #4 Frontend Experience -Better Hotwire documentation and best practice (“it takes weeks until it clicks”)
146. 40 Polished, documented, and cohesive frontend story: #4 Frontend Experience -Better Hotwire documentation and best practice (“it takes weeks until it clicks”) -High-quality UI components (“ShadCN for Rails”)
147. 40 Polished, documented, and cohesive frontend story: #4 Frontend Experience -Better Hotwire documentation and best practice (“it takes weeks until it clicks”) -High-quality UI components (“ShadCN for Rails”) -Patterns for building reactive interfaces
148. 40 Polished, documented, and cohesive frontend story: #4 Frontend Experience -Better Hotwire documentation and best practice (“it takes weeks until it clicks”) -High-quality UI components (“ShadCN for Rails”) -Patterns for building reactive interfaces -Design aesthetic of sca ff olds and UI kits
149. 40 Polished, documented, and cohesive frontend story: #4 Frontend Experience -Better Hotwire documentation and best practice (“it takes weeks until it clicks”) -High-quality UI components (“ShadCN for Rails”) -Patterns for building reactive interfaces -Design aesthetic of sca ff olds and UI kits -Integration with JS frameworks (Inertia)
150. 40 Polished, documented, and cohesive frontend story: #4 Frontend Experience -Better Hotwire documentation and best practice (“it takes weeks until it clicks”) -High-quality UI components (“ShadCN for Rails”) -Patterns for building reactive interfaces -Design aesthetic of sca ff olds and UI kits -Integration with JS frameworks (Inertia) ⚡ hotwire.io ⚡ rubyui.com ⚡ inertia-rails.dev
151. Today is packed with talks on Rails frontend
152. Hotwire guru Today is packed with talks on Rails frontend
153. Hotwire guru Hotwire talk Today is packed with talks on Rails frontend
154. Hotwire guru Hotwire talk Hotwire talk Today is packed with talks on Rails frontend
155. Hotwire guru Hotwire talk Hotwire talk Inertia talk Today is packed with talks on Rails frontend
156. Hotwire guru Hotwire talk Hotwire talk Inertia talk Today is packed with talks on Rails frontend
157. Tomorrow brings more!
158. Hotwire Keynote Tomorrow brings more!
159. 43 #3 Performance And Scale
160. 43 Prescriptive guidance or tooling: #3 Performance And Scale
161. 43 Prescriptive guidance or tooling: #3 Performance And Scale -Can we have a way to achieve under 100ms response time for any Rails app?
162. 43 Prescriptive guidance or tooling: #3 Performance And Scale -Can we have a way to achieve under 100ms response time for any Rails app? -Parallel processing is important for heavily I/O-bound chats with LLMs
163. 43 Prescriptive guidance or tooling: #3 Performance And Scale -Can we have a way to achieve under 100ms response time for any Rails app? -Parallel processing is important for heavily I/O-bound chats with LLMs ⚡ github.com/socketry/async ⚡ byroot.github.io ⚡ github.com/socketry/ async-cable ⚡ github.com/anycable/ anycable
164. 44 #2 AI Tooling
165. 44 #2 AI Tooling THIS IS STILL TOO EARLY
166. 44 #2 AI Tooling THIS IS STILL TOO EARLY NO, IT’S TOO LATE!
167. 44 #2 AI Tooling THIS IS STILL TOO EARLY NO, IT’S TOO LATE! ⚡ github.com/crmne/ ruby_llm ⚡ github.com/sublayerapp/ sublayer ⚡ github.com/patterns-ai- core/langchainrb
168. 45 #2 AI Tooling
169. 45 Integration with “AI middleware” #2 AI Tooling
170. 45 Integration with “AI middleware” #2 AI Tooling -Connectivity between Rails monolith and Python services built by data engineers “AI middleware”
171. 45 Integration with “AI middleware” #2 AI Tooling -Connectivity between Rails monolith and Python services built by data engineers “AI middleware” Data engineering & Data Science Product engineering
172. 46 #2 AI Tooling
173. 46 LLM Evals in Ruby #2 AI Tooling
174. 46 LLM Evals in Ruby -Gem to test prompts, with built-in prompt versioning #2 AI Tooling
175. 46 LLM Evals in Ruby -Gem to test prompts, with built-in prompt versioning -Internal dashboard to monitor performance #2 AI Tooling
176. 46 LLM Evals in Ruby -Gem to test prompts, with built-in prompt versioning -Internal dashboard to monitor performance -Upload a dataset to check against locally #2 AI Tooling
177. 46 LLM Evals in Ruby -Gem to test prompts, with built-in prompt versioning -Internal dashboard to monitor performance -Upload a dataset to check against locally -Run it on production to check against production data #2 AI Tooling
178. 46 LLM Evals in Ruby -Gem to test prompts, with built-in prompt versioning -Internal dashboard to monitor performance -Upload a dataset to check against locally -Run it on production to check against production data #2 AI Tooling
179. 46 LLM Evals in Ruby -Gem to test prompts, with built-in prompt versioning -Internal dashboard to monitor performance -Upload a dataset to check against locally -Run it on production to check against production data #2 AI Tooling ⚡ github.com/kieranklaassen/leva
180. 47 RAG tooling #2 AI Tooling
181. 47 RAG tooling -Generating and managing embeddings #2 AI Tooling
182. 47 RAG tooling -Generating and managing embeddings -Rails-native tools for document ingestion, chunking, and preprocessing #2 AI Tooling
183. 47 RAG tooling -Generating and managing embeddings -Rails-native tools for document ingestion, chunking, and preprocessing -Active Record embedding? #2 AI Tooling
184. 47 RAG tooling -Generating and managing embeddings -Rails-native tools for document ingestion, chunking, and preprocessing -Active Record embedding? # A concept of Active Record Embedding class Post < ApplicationRecord has_one_attached :pdf has_embedding :content, service: :mini_llm has_embedding :pdf, service: :openai, chunked: {recursive: true, engine: :baran} end # Usage example post.content_embedding.vector # Returns vector post.pdf_chunks # Return chunks w/ vectors Post.with_similar_content(query, limit: 5) # Search similar records #2 AI Tooling
185. 47 RAG tooling -Generating and managing embeddings -Rails-native tools for document ingestion, chunking, and preprocessing -Active Record embedding? # A concept of Active Record Embedding class Post < ApplicationRecord has_one_attached :pdf has_embedding :content, service: :mini_llm has_embedding :pdf, service: :openai, chunked: {recursive: true, engine: :baran} end # Usage example post.content_embedding.vector # Returns vector post.pdf_chunks # Return chunks w/ vectors Post.with_similar_content(query, limit: 5) # Search similar records #2 AI Tooling ⚡ github.com/patterns-ai-core/langchainrb
186. 47 RAG tooling -Generating and managing embeddings -Rails-native tools for document ingestion, chunking, and preprocessing -Active Record embedding? # A concept of Active Record Embedding class Post < ApplicationRecord has_one_attached :pdf has_embedding :content, service: :mini_llm has_embedding :pdf, service: :openai, chunked: {recursive: true, engine: :baran} end # Usage example post.content_embedding.vector # Returns vector post.pdf_chunks # Return chunks w/ vectors Post.with_similar_content(query, limit: 5) # Search similar records #2 AI Tooling ⚡ github.com/patterns-ai-core/langchainrb ⚡ github.com/ankane/neighbor
187. 48 #2 AI Tooling
188. 48 AI agent tooling #2 AI Tooling
189. 48 AI agent tooling -Work fl ow orchestration: long running, durable, resumable, testable, performant work fl ows #2 AI Tooling
190. 48 AI agent tooling -Work fl ow orchestration: long running, durable, resumable, testable, performant work fl ows -Agent memory and conversational state management #2 AI Tooling
191. 48 AI agent tooling -Work fl ow orchestration: long running, durable, resumable, testable, performant work fl ows -Agent memory and conversational state management -Tracking AI agent performance, logging interactions, and analyzing response quality #2 AI Tooling
192. 48 AI agent tooling -Work fl ow orchestration: long running, durable, resumable, testable, performant work fl ows -Agent memory and conversational state management -Tracking AI agent performance, logging interactions, and analyzing response quality ⚡ github.com/ fractaledmind/ acidic_job #2 AI Tooling
193. 48 AI agent tooling -Work fl ow orchestration: long running, durable, resumable, testable, performant work fl ows -Agent memory and conversational state management -Tracking AI agent performance, logging interactions, and analyzing response quality ⚡ github.com/ fractaledmind/ acidic_job ⚡ activeagents.ai #2 AI Tooling
194. 49 #2 AI Tooling
195. 49 MCP tooling #2 AI Tooling
196. 49 MCP tooling MCP is a “self-documented API” protocol that an LLM-operated system can use to interact with your app #2 AI Tooling
197. 49 MCP tooling How many of the first MCPs are built for Ruby backends? MCP is a “self-documented API” protocol that an LLM-operated system can use to interact with your app #2 AI Tooling
198. 49 MCP tooling How many of the first MCPs are built for Ruby backends? MCP is a “self-documented API” protocol that an LLM-operated system can use to interact with your app Stripe, GitHub, Gitlab, Block! #2 AI Tooling
199. 49 MCP tooling -Ruby SDK to build an MCP server How many of the first MCPs are built for Ruby backends? MCP is a “self-documented API” protocol that an LLM-operated system can use to interact with your app Stripe, GitHub, Gitlab, Block! #2 AI Tooling
200. 49 MCP tooling -Ruby SDK to build an MCP server -MCP generator from Swagger How many of the first MCPs are built for Ruby backends? MCP is a “self-documented API” protocol that an LLM-operated system can use to interact with your app Stripe, GitHub, Gitlab, Block! #2 AI Tooling
201. 49 MCP tooling -Ruby SDK to build an MCP server -MCP generator from Swagger -MCP proxy How many of the first MCPs are built for Ruby backends? MCP is a “self-documented API” protocol that an LLM-operated system can use to interact with your app Stripe, GitHub, Gitlab, Block! #2 AI Tooling
202. 49 MCP tooling -Ruby SDK to build an MCP server -MCP generator from Swagger -MCP proxy How many of the first MCPs are built for Ruby backends? MCP is a “self-documented API” protocol that an LLM-operated system can use to interact with your app Stripe, GitHub, Gitlab, Block! ⚡ github.com/yjacquin/fast-mcp ⚡ github.com/funwarioisii/mcp-rb #2 AI Tooling
203. 50 “WE NEED A NEW REASON TO BE VOCAL ABOUT USING RUBY – DESPITE THE SCEPTICISM” #1 …
204. 51 Peak of in fl ated expectations Time Visibility Trough of disillusionment S lop e of enlightenm ent Plateau of productivity Gartner Hype Cycle #1 …
205. 51 Peak of in fl ated expectations Time Visibility Trough of disillusionment S lop e of enlightenm ent Plateau of productivity Gartner Hype Cycle REMEMBER: SLOPE OF ENLIGHTENMENT 💡🕯☀ #1 …
206. 52 #1 Pragmatic Enlightenment
207. 52 Let’s share success stories that demonstrate enduring value of Rails #1 Pragmatic Enlightenment
208. 52 Let’s share success stories that demonstrate enduring value of Rails #1 Pragmatic Enlightenment -Companies: talk about Ruby and Rails in your technical blogs and mention it in press releases and on socials
209. 52 Let’s share success stories that demonstrate enduring value of Rails #1 Pragmatic Enlightenment -Companies: talk about Ruby and Rails in your technical blogs and mention it in press releases and on socials -We need more Ruby on Rails bloggers on YouTube
210. 52 Let’s share success stories that demonstrate enduring value of Rails #1 Pragmatic Enlightenment -Companies: talk about Ruby and Rails in your technical blogs and mention it in press releases and on socials -We need more Ruby on Rails bloggers on YouTube
211. 52 Let’s share success stories that demonstrate enduring value of Rails #1 Pragmatic Enlightenment -Companies: talk about Ruby and Rails in your technical blogs and mention it in press releases and on socials -We need more Ruby on Rails bloggers on YouTube ⚡ Ken Greeff, GoRails, SupeRails on YouTube
212. 52 Let’s share success stories that demonstrate enduring value of Rails #1 Pragmatic Enlightenment -Companies: talk about Ruby and Rails in your technical blogs and mention it in press releases and on socials -We need more Ruby on Rails bloggers on YouTube ⚡ Ken Greeff, GoRails, SupeRails on YouTube ⚡ “Patterns of application development using AI” Obie Fernandez
213. 52 Let’s share success stories that demonstrate enduring value of Rails #1 Pragmatic Enlightenment -Companies: talk about Ruby and Rails in your technical blogs and mention it in press releases and on socials -We need more Ruby on Rails bloggers on YouTube ⚡ Ken Greeff, GoRails, SupeRails on YouTube ⚡ “Patterns of application development using AI” Obie Fernandez
214. 53 Last 12 months Ruby conferences: 38 in 34 locations Ruby meetups: 639 in 127 locations #1 Pragmatic Enlightenment
215. 53 Last 12 months Ruby conferences: 38 in 34 locations Ruby meetups: 639 in 127 locations #1 Pragmatic Enlightenment
216. 53 Last 12 months Ruby conferences: 38 in 34 locations Ruby meetups: 639 in 127 locations #1 Pragmatic Enlightenment
217. 53 Last 12 months Ruby conferences: 38 in 34 locations Ruby meetups: 639 in 127 locations #1 Pragmatic Enlightenment
218. 53 Last 12 months Ruby conferences: 38 in 34 locations Ruby meetups: 639 in 127 locations #1 Pragmatic Enlightenment
219. 53 ⚡ rubyconferences.org ⚡ rubyvideo.dev Last 12 months Ruby conferences: 38 in 34 locations Ruby meetups: 639 in 127 locations #1 Pragmatic Enlightenment
223. 55 LET’S ADD SOME NEW NAMES
224. 56 #3 Performance And Scale #1 Pragmatic Enlightenment #4 Frontend Experience #2 AI Tooling
225. 56 WHAT ARE YOU BUILDING NEXT? #3 Performance And Scale #1 Pragmatic Enlightenment #4 Frontend Experience #2 AI Tooling
226. 56 WHAT ARE YOU BUILDING NEXT? #3 Performance And Scale #1 Pragmatic Enlightenment #4 Frontend Experience #2 AI Tooling
227. 56 WHAT ARE YOU BUILDING NEXT? #3 Performance And Scale #1 Pragmatic Enlightenment #4 Frontend Experience #2 AI Tooling
228. 56 WHAT ARE YOU BUILDING NEXT? #3 Performance And Scale #1 Pragmatic Enlightenment #4 Frontend Experience #2 AI Tooling
229. 56 WHAT ARE YOU BUILDING NEXT? #3 Performance And Scale #1 Pragmatic Enlightenment #4 Frontend Experience #2 AI Tooling
230. Thank you! Reach out: inazarova@evilmartians.com inazarova on X, Bluesky Irina Nazarova on Linkedin 🥷 Work with evilmartians.com ⚡Use anycable.io ❤Join lu.ma/sfruby 57