GTM 169: How Airbyte Hit $1B: The Open-Source, Community-First Playbook

Nov 4, 2025

Michel Tricot, co-founder and CEO of Airbyte, shares insights from over 15 years in data infrastructure. He discusses why Airbyte launched as an open-source platform, focusing on community contributions to meet connector demand. Michel differentiates project-market fit from product-market fit, emphasizing the importance of community building. He highlights the role of AI as data consumers and Airbyte's evolution beyond analytics. Challenges like hiring and cloud complexities are also explored, all while maintaining a commitment to transparency and control for users.

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INSIGHT

Open Source Catches Engineers At Search

Open source catches engineers precisely when they search for solutions and lowers adoption friction.
Community-built connectors scale across infinite data silos better than a single company can.

INSIGHT

Project Fit Versus Product Fit

Project-market fit differs from product-market fit; the former is community adoption of an open project.
True PMF requires a monetizable product and repeatable commercialization motion.

ADVICE

Build A Founder-Led Content Engine

Build a content engine early and publish technical work, fundraising slides, and product thinking.
Use content to create trust, awareness, and to invite the community into your adventure.

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Michel Tricot is the co-founder and CEO of Airbyte, the open-source data movement platform he launched in 2020. Before Airbyte, Michel led integrations and served as Director of Engineering at LiveRamp, where he scaled the teams and pipelines that synced massive data volumes. He also helped build rideOS as a founding engineer and Director of Engineering. Michel has spent 15+ years in data infrastructure, with a focus on commoditizing data pipelines and giving teams control and sovereignty over their data.

Discussed in this episode

Why Airbyte launched open source first (catching engineers “at the search”)
Project-market fit vs. product-market fit, and why they’re different
The content engine: founder-led writing, shipping slides, and radical transparency
Turning interest into community: 25k+ Slack, champions, and hiring from within
The near-misses: hiring ahead of PMF, support-heavy community, cloud complexity
Going upmarket: enterprise motion, longer cycles, and team ramp realities
AI wave → agents as “data consumers” and what it means for pipelines
Replatforming for control & sovereignty, not just “more connectors”

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Follow Michel Tricot

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/micheltricot
X (Twitter):https://x.com/MichelTricot
Website:https://airbyte.com/Airbyte

Host links

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebuonassisi/
X (Twitter): https://x.com/sophiebuona
Newsletter: https://thegtmnewsletter.substack.com/
Website: https://gtmnow.com/

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