Kee Jefferys (@JefferysKee) is the technical co-founder of Session, the end-to-end encrypted messenger that emphasizes user confidentiality and anonymity. Session uses a blockchain-based decentralized network for message transmission and is open-source, so the system can be run entirely by its community. In this episode, Kee explains the importance of reducing metadata, the challenges of centralization, and the role of incentives in creating a decentralized network. Contributor is looking for a community manager! If you want to know more, shoot us an email at eric@scalevp.com.Subscribe to Contributor on Substack for email notifications!In this episode we discuss:Why the demand for better privacy has increased How Session differs from other encrypted messaging platforms Combining encryption and incentive modelsWhy open-source is so critical to messaging applications trying to prove their securityHow Session could outlast its developersLinks:Session

Clément Salaün (@superzamp) is the co-founder and CTO of Formance, the open-source platform which is building an agnostic infrastructure for the future of the financial Internet. Formance is divided into several modules which allow fintech engineers to build and operate complex flow of funds, weaving together multiple payment rails with internal ledger accounts. Tune in to find out what it takes to build a scalable and extensible financial core system. Contributor is looking for a community manager! If you want to know more, shoot us an email at eric@scalevp.com. Subscribe to Contributor on Substack for email notifications! In this episode we discuss: How Clem got into fintech through Minecraft Thoughts on the European open-source scene  Formance’s ratio of community size to Github stars The influence of crypto on Formance What it means to split an open-source project into many repositories Links: Formance

Gideon Mendels, co-founder and CEO of Comet, dives into the fascinating world of AI with a focus on Opik, his open-source model evaluation platform. He shares how Opik's rise exceeded expectations and emphasizes the critical role of CI/CD in AI development. Gideon also discusses the alarming decline in dedicated machine learning engineers and differentiates between genuine and 'fake' open-source solutions. The conversation wraps up with insights on the evolving AI landscape and the need for organizations to adapt to new evaluation methodologies.

Hanson Ho (@bidetofevil) is an Android Architect at Embrace, the mobile-first observability solution built on OpenTelemetry. Embrace began as a proprietary platform but went open-source at the end of 2023. Hanson shares about how the project is still at the beginning of its open-source journey and why his team is committed to collaborative development with the larger community of OpenTelemetry. Contributor is looking for a community manager! If you want to know more, shoot us an email at eric@scalevp.com. Subscribe to Contributor on Substack for email notifications! In this episode we discuss: The missing piece in mobile observability tooling How Embrace switched its perspective after going open-source 3 use cases for Embrace Links: Embrace OpenTelemetry Other Episodes: Robust Observability: OpenTelemetry with Austin Parker

Stephan Ewen (@StephanEwen) is the co-founder of Restate, the open-source workflow-as-code engine. Restate is lightweight, simple, and provides durable execution. Before Restate, Stephan co-created Apache Flink, the open-source stream processing framework. Lessons learned from Flink have heavily influenced the development of Restate, although Stephan says they have exact opposite use cases. Contributor is looking for a community manager! If you want to know more, shoot us an email at eric@scalevp.com. Subscribe to Contributor on Substack for email notifications! In this episode we discuss: The history of Flink and the impact of the 2016 U.S. election Why tooling for real-time transactional problems has historically had room for improvement What constitutes “modern” workflow engines Can you use Restate for any use case? Moving from a large company to a small startup as an open-source developer Links: Restate Apache Flink People mentioned: Kostas Tzoumas (@kostas_tzoumas) Other episodes: Temporal with Maxim Fateev

Eyal Solomon (@EyalSolomo44643) is the CEO and co-founder of Lunar, an open-source platform which bills itself as the “first reverse API gateway.” Lunar allows engineering teams to monitor, manage, and optimize API consumption. According to Eyal, it’s very easy to integrate with APIs, but difficult to keep them maintained, and there was a clear need for a generic solution to control and scale every API consumed in production.  Contributor is looking for a community manager! If you want to know more, shoot us an email at eric@scalevp.com. Subscribe to Contributor on Substack for email notifications! In this episode we discuss: How most companies think their API maintenance is a unique problem The importance of managing API consumption in the face of the AI revolution Why Eyal and his team decided to open-source Lunar Future plans for Lunar, including the development of autonomous optimization and pre-built flows Eyal’s thoughts on how to start conversations with potential enterprise clients Links: Lunar People mentioned: Roy Gabbay (LinkedIn)

Shirshanka Das (@shirshanka) is the CTO of Acryl Data and founder of DataHub, which bills itself as the #1 open-source metadata platform. It enables data discovery, data observability and federated governance to help tame complex data ecosystems. Shirshanka first developed DataHub while at LinkedIn, but has grown it into an independent project with a thriving community. Contributor is looking for a community manager! If you want to know more, shoot us an email at eric@scalevp.com. Subscribe to Contributor on Substack for email notifications! In this episode we discuss: How DataHub differs from traditional data catalogs Themes around why community members get involved and stick with the project Partnering with Netflix to develop runtime metadata model extensibility The influence of the pandemic on DataHub’s open-sourcing Dealing with the future of a project with big community and unlimited scope Links: DataHub The History of DataHub

After his first child was born, Matt Wonlaw (@tantaman) imagined giving his son life advice. What kind of life did he want his kid to lead? At the time, he was working for Facebook, and he decided that his own life needed a change in direction. So Matt started vlcn, aka Vulcan Labs, a research company that develops open-source projects like CR-SQLite and Materialite. vlcn has an unusual business model – Matt receives donations and sponsorships from users and clients. It’s all part of his mission to rethink the modern data stack for writing rich and complex applications. Contributor is looking for a community manager! If you want to know more, shoot us an email at eric@scalevp.com. Subscribe to Contributor on Substack for email notifications! In this episode we discuss: One reason that software is still too hard to write: Object orientations How CR-SQLite allows databases to be merged together and Materialite provides Incremental View Maintenance for JavaScript Why coding directly to relations can provide a more flexible and efficient approach to building applications Matt’s decision to build vlcn as a research lab rather than as a startup Thoughts for the future on PGLite Links: vlcn (Vulcan Labs) CR-SQLite Materialite fly.io PGLite People mentioned: Johannes Schickling (@schickling)

Amplication is an open-source development platform for scalable and secure Node.js applications. It allows engineers to skip writing boilerplate code and offers the flexibility to customize and add components. Amplification was created by Yuval Hazaz (@Yuvalhazaz1), a veteran developer who determined that low-code platforms save time but restrict freedom. Instead, Amplication uses code generation to reliably and consistently build robust production‑ready backend services. Contributor is looking for a community manager! If you want to know more, shoot us an email at eric@scalevp.com. Subscribe to Contributor on Substack for email notifications! In this episode we discuss: Yuval’s “secret sauce” for building an open-source community How platform engineers can use Amplication for company-wide standardization A baseline organic growth rate for open-source projects The role of generative AI in code modernization Links: Amplication

OpenBB is an open-source investment research platform created by Didier Lopes (@didier_lopes). OpenBB grew out of a project called Gamestonk Terminal that Didier began working on shortly before the Gamestop short squeeze in January 2021. Today, OpenBB has evolved into an infrastructure platform that allows users to build extensions and access financial data with automation and customization. Contributor is looking for a community manager! If you want to know more, shoot us an email at eric@scalevp.com. Subscribe to Contributor on Substack for email notifications! In this episode we discuss: What Vice Media got wrong about OpenBB Some major contributors to the project and the features or directions that they proposed How a machine learning engineer from Bloomberg reached out about OpenBB Different types of OpenBB users – students, retail investors, and other financial professionals OpenBB’s exciting AI roadmap Links: OpenBB People mentioned: James Maslek (@jmaslek11 Artem Veremey (@artemvv)