Why I'm building Hystruct

Last summer (2023), I started building an experiment for a friend who was trying to scrape a site for some data. Data scraping is a huge industry (you would be amazed at the number of companies that are built solely on scraping data from the web). A lot of these tools, however, required you to select certain elements on the page, which can be a bit technical for non-developers. In the age of AI, surely there must be a better way to do this?

The Genesis: A Summer Experiment

In short, the experiment did what it was designed to do. HTML would be passed into a model along with a carefully defined prompt, and (most of the time) some JSON would be returned. It was a bit rough around the edges, but it worked. I was excited about the possibilities of this tool, and so I decided to turn it into a full-fledged product.

From Experiment to Product

Fast forward to today, and the little experiment has come a long way. Alongside a few early customers, I've spent time developing, testing, and refining the tool. My goal was to build something that was powerful yet accessible to users of all skill levels. Whether you're a seasoned data scientist or someone with minimal technical expertise, I wanted Hystruct to meet your needs.

Simplifying Web Data Extraction

One of my primary objectives with Hystruct is to simplify the process of scraping data from the web. The internet is a vast resource of information, but accessing and organizing that data shouldn't be a daunting task. I want to make it as easy as possible for anyone to scrape data and convert it into the formats they need, whether that's for research, business, or personal projects.

Looking Ahead

As I continue to develop and refine Hystruct, my vision remains clear: to empower people with a tool that makes web data extraction easy and efficient. What started as a hacky experiment has grown into a mission to democratize data access. I'm excited about the future of Hystruct and can't wait to see how it will help others unlock the potential of web data.

Whether you're an existing customer, a curious visitor, or someone who stumbled upon this article, thank you for being part of this journey. (P.S, if you really read this far, send me a message and I'll give you a 50% discount on your first 3 months! (alex at hystruct.com))