a16z Podcast Free Software and Open Source Business
Oct 21, 2019
Armon Dadgar, Cofounder and CTO of HashiCorp, and Ali Ghodsi, CEO of Databricks, dive into the intersection of open source and business. They discuss the delicate balance of monetizing open source without losing community trust. Insights on transitioning to SaaS are shared, along with strategies for engaging cloud service providers. The guests also tackle the challenges of achieving market fit and the evolving role of data in open source, emphasizing innovation and collaboration as key drivers for success in this rapidly shifting landscape.
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Databricks Origin Story
- Ali Ghodsi and his team initially focused on academic impact, wanting companies to adopt their software.
- Despite sending interns to companies like Cloudera, their software was rejected, leading them to start Databricks in 2013.
Community Management and Product Strategy
- Articulate a clear product management framework to maintain community trust.
- Separate features based on user needs, distinguishing between enterprise features and those relevant to hobbyists.
One Company Leads
- Most open-source projects are primarily led by a single company, despite appearances.
- Ali Ghodsi observes that examining contributions reveals a small core group driving the project.