From Open-Source Side Project to Enterprise SaaS Solution with Ben Rometsch
Dec 13, 2023
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Ben Rometsch, CEO of Flagsmith, shares his journey of building an open-source feature flagging project and turning it into a full-time SaaS company. He discusses challenges with pricing and monetizing, importance of licensing, and how caring about developer experience sets Flagsmith apart. They also talk about when revenue started to take off, the frustrations of pricing, and the benefits of being an open-source business.
Flagsmith's open-source nature contributed to building trust, getting valuable feedback, and fostering an inclusive community around the project.
Flagsmith's shift in target customers led to a change in pricing, offering on-premise deployments and customization options for large enterprise organizations.
Deep dives
The Genesis of Flagsmith
In this podcast episode, Ben Romesch, CEO and founder of Flagsmith, shares the story behind the creation of his open-source feature flagging and remote config platform. Initially, Ben and his team wanted to introduce feature flags into their software agency's development methodology, but found a lack of open-source platforms available. This led them to create their own platform, as they couldn't find an open-source equivalent to tools like LaunchDarkly. The idea started as a side project, with spare time from the agency being dedicated to building out a basic version. The team decided to make the project open-source from the start and released it on GitHub, gaining traction and acquiring paid customers slowly. Over time, they discovered that their ideal target customers were large enterprise organizations with data sensitivity concerns, as they appreciated the ability to run the platform on-premise. The project continued to grow thanks to the contributions and collaboration of users who wanted to add features or fix bugs. Overall, Flagsmith's open-source nature contributed to building trust, getting valuable feedback, and fostering an inclusive community around the project.
The Importance of Public Issue Tracker
One of the key benefits of Flagsmith's open-source approach is the public nature of its issue tracker on GitHub. This transparency helps build trust with customers, especially developers and technical decision-makers. When customers encounter a bug or issue, they can see that it is acknowledged publicly, tracked, and worked on by the team. Customers have the opportunity to follow the progress of bug fixes, provide additional insights, and even contribute their own solutions through pull requests. This open collaboration fosters a sense of accountability and reliability that strengthens relationships with customers. Additionally, having a public issue tracker promotes transparency in addressing software bugs, helping customers understand that all software products, even proprietary ones, have their fair share of issues.
The Evolution of Pricing and Target Customers
Flagsmith initially believed that their target customer base would be similar to their software agency's clients. However, they realized that their ideal customers were large enterprise organizations with data sensitivity requirements. This shift in target customers led to a change in pricing, as enterprise customers were willing to pay more for on-premise deployments and customization options. The challenge of pricing is that there is no one-size-fits-all solution, and it often requires trial and error. Flagsmith discovered that pricing can have a significant impact on how customers perceive the value and quality of a product, and they learned to adjust pricing iteratively based on market feedback. Additionally, Flagsmith's open-source offering and the ability to run the platform anywhere provided a unique selling point for enterprise customers who required more control over their feature flagging and remote config infrastructure.
Remote Company Challenges and Growth
Flagsmith embraced a remote company structure from the start, assembling a globally distributed team. While remote work has its advantages, they also faced unique challenges, such as navigating immigration and visa complexities for team members from countries with limited travel or work opportunities. Despite these challenges, the remote team at Flagsmith has shown resilience and adaptability. They have also learned the importance of addressing operational aspects of a remote company, highlighting the need for guidance that goes beyond the technical collaboration tools typically discussed when it comes to building remote teams. Overall, Flagsmith's remote structure has enabled them to attract talented team members from around the world and foster a diverse and inclusive workforce.
Ben Rometsch is the CEO and Founder of Flagsmith, an open-source feature flagging platform. In this conversation, we explore how he landed on the idea to develop an open-source feature flagging project and how that has snowballed into running a full-time SaaS company. Ben describes the challenges of creating a SaaS company from the ground up, especially when it comes to pricing and monetizing. We also discuss the importance of understanding and choosing the right licensing for your product.
Highlights:
Intro (00:00)
I introduce Ben Rometsch, who is the CEO of Flagsmith, a commercial open-source feature flagging and remote conflict platform (01:00)
What made Ben want to build an open-source feature flagging project (01:29)
How the open-source project Ben started led to building a company around Flagsmith (03:39)
Why Ben feels licenses are so important and how he learned that through early licensing choices at Flagsmith (09:10)
When Ben started to monetize Flagsmith (13:24)
How Ben’s understanding of what features users wanted to pay for has evolved (15:36)
Why caring about the developer experience has set Flagsmith apart for enterprise customers (20:51)
When revenue started to take off and why it took external expertise (23:12)
Why pricing can be such a frustrating challenge to get right (26:47)
How Flagsmith is currently remotely structured (28:57)
Ben shares his thoughts on how open source contributes to his business (33:04)
How listeners can connect with Ben and learn more about Flagsmith (38:05)
