The Accidental Click That Changed Everything: the Apify Origin Story
Posted2 months agoActiveabout 2 months ago
blog.apify.comOtherstory
calmpositive
Debate
20/100
Startup StoryEntrepreneurshipWeb Scraping
Key topics
Startup Story
Entrepreneurship
Web Scraping
The Apify origin story is a tale of how an accidental click led to the creation of a successful web scraping company. The blog post shares the company's journey and lessons learned.
Snapshot generated from the HN discussion
Discussion Activity
Light discussionFirst comment
6d
Peak period
5
144-156h
Avg / period
3.5
Key moments
- 01Story posted
Nov 8, 2025 at 10:40 AM EST
2 months ago
Step 01 - 02First comment
Nov 14, 2025 at 5:29 PM EST
6d after posting
Step 02 - 03Peak activity
5 comments in 144-156h
Hottest window of the conversation
Step 03 - 04Latest activity
Nov 15, 2025 at 1:58 AM EST
about 2 months ago
Step 04
Generating AI Summary...
Analyzing up to 500 comments to identify key contributors and discussion patterns
Discussion (7 comments)
Showing 7 comments
Animats
about 2 months ago
1 reply"The year is 2014. ... Tesla announces self-driving cars..."
DiabloD3
about 2 months ago
1 reply"It is 2025 - Tesla announces self-driving cars. It is 2036 - Tesla announces self-driving cars. I am tired of this world, these people. I am tired of being caught in the tangle of their lives."
jc_811
about 2 months ago
It is 2025 and Tesla just announced flying cars. (Self driving cars are still not a thing)
pixelpoet
about 2 months ago
1 replyI don't understand the name. If it has something to do with apps, wouldn't it be "Appify"? Am I missing a simian connection here?
bberenberg
about 2 months ago
API ify
jc_811
about 2 months ago
Awesome product & team. I remember back in 2016/17 I used it for some fun projects and jumped on calls with the founders to help me with roadblocks or questions I had.
htrp
about 2 months ago
tldr: they clicked submit on a draft app vs save
View full discussion on Hacker News
ID: 45857425Type: storyLast synced: 11/20/2025, 1:20:52 PM
Want the full context?
Jump to the original sources
Read the primary article or dive into the live Hacker News thread when you're ready.