How Guava Started

My name is Felix Chi. I run Guava. Here's why.

Havana, 2005

My friend Edel and I got the job of building an educational Flash CD-ROM called Mi Amiga la Tierra for Cuba's National Geography Institute. The project came with a rare privilege: access to the internet.

I couldn't sleep that night. There was one computer hooked up in a room. "Ten cuidado que todo está monitoreado," I was told. Firefox was open on Yahoo.es. Step one: get an email address.

Bandwidth sucked, but I was relentless — download everything, read it later. I found the Flash studios pushing the web as an expressive medium. I found community, fellow ActionScript nerds sharing tips and tricks. I was hooked.

A computer before a car

I moved to the US in late 2007. The first things I bought: a computer, internet access, and a hosting account. Not a car. Not a TV. I didn't just want to use the web — I wanted to be on it.

I started with what I knew: Flash and ActionScript. But then came the iPhone and Steve Jobs' infamous letter. I pivoted to web standards without looking back.

I got Zeldman's book and a Blue Beanie, learned HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. I watched Chrome become the king of browsers and Node.js take over the dev world.

It's just a link. You make something, you put it at a URL, and anyone on earth can see it. No app store. No gatekeeper. It's the ultimate self-expression.

Why Guava exists

When you grow up somewhere the web is forbidden, you understand what most people take for granted. A URL is freedom. Your own domain is your own house. No one deciding who gets to see your work.

Guava exists because we believe everyone deserves a home on the internet. Not a rented room on someone else's platform. A real home — your domain, your design, your voice.