The Business of Open Source

Daniel Loreto, the founder of Jetpack.io, is a massive believer in transforming how engineers scale their backend for cloud-based platforms. Deeply rooted in the tech industry, Loretto takes great pride in building tools to large usage scales and utilizing them to attend to the needs of his users and community.On this episode of the Business of Open Source, Hear about the inner workings of jetpack.io and its challenges in its history. Also, listen to Loreto's tips for success for a startup, his navigation of open source and proprietary coding, and why Loreto is not an open source purist.Highlights:The history of jetpack.io (3:31)Pursuing the open source model (4:53)Got to move fast as a startup (6:38)Re-integrating feedback into your work (7:43)Why an open source project (8:48)Open source code vs. proprietary code (10:55)Unexpected challenges ( 12:15)Not an open-source purist (14:54)Challenges in selling open source products (16:47)Developing guidelines for jetpack.io (17:42)Success does not mean success (20:01)Lessons from building a company (23:13)

"Fueling a culture of openness in innovation and research." That slogan is well known to Abigail Cabunoc Mayes, a leader in GitHub's open-source maintainer program. With a background in open science, Mayes felt right at home when jumping to open source and mentoring many developers at the Cloud-based Hosting service.On this episode of The Business of Open Source, listen to Mayes speak on sustainability and resilience in building a platform for developers and what makes a robust and sustainable environment. Mayes also talks about financial stability and models in the open source world and what it truly means to break from a main backer and build on your own.Highlights:Supporting "maintainers" (3:02)Succession planning (3:38)Being resilient in sustainability (5:40)Building financially without company backing (6:29)GitHub experimentation (10:42)Strategies for critical projects that are lower in the stack (11:55)Technical sustainability (13:47)Hypothetical financial models (19:33)Links:AbigailLinkedInTwitterGitHub

Akriti Dokania, a heavyweight in the venture capital business, is a partner at Ridge Ventures. With a background in computer sciences and building a B2B company from the ground up, it is no wonder Dokania is an expert in the complexities of developing software and understanding the lifecycle of a start-up.On this week's episodes of the Business of Open Source, Dokania shows her wealth of knowledge in investing in open source start-ups. She also explains what founders should look for in an investor and the struggles of monetization for an open source start-up. Lastly, Dokania gives the secrets to working towards a revenue model and scaling a start-up to a fully fleshed-out company.Highlights:Open source vs. non-open source companies(from an investor's eye) (2:07)The go to market for open source (4:03)Disadvantages of an open source start-up (5:29)Too deep into open source to monetize (7:53)Red flags a founder should look out for in an investor (14:24)Common mistakes for open source companies looking to monetize (16:24)Unique business strategies in open source (19:24)Links:Akriti LinkedInTwitterCompany

Stefan Avram, Co-Founder and Head of Growth at WunderGraph, is taking the open source world by storm. With his company specializing in full stack and workflows through API composition, it is no wonder he has fostered a vast community of developers around WunderGraph.On today's episode, Avram delves into the story and creation of WunderGraph. He also recounts how he organized a massive discord community to foster healthy feedback for growth. Lastly, Avram speaks on the hardships of building a start-up company and what it takes to flourish—all this and more on this episode of The Business of Open Source.Highlights:Taking a leap of faith (3:40)Engineer to Handler of Marketing (5:04)Navigating becoming a Co-Founder (7:03)The primary benefit of open source in WunderGraph (11:44)Building a community space for feedback (14:23)Top 3 mistakes in start-ups (18:25)Advice to your past self (22:38)Links:StefanLinkedInTwitterWunderGraph

Emre Baran is a man on a mission to simplify authorization protocols for software developers. With his company Cerbos, Baran has put in years of dedication to easy authorization and helping build the authorization databases of over one hundred EU companies.In this episode of The Business of Open Source, Emre Baran goes through the history of his company Cerbos. He also talks about telemetry challenges, monetization strategies, and the challenges that made him who he is today. Find out more in this episode!Highlights:The right time to take the plunge (4:48)Monetization strategy (6:21)The most interesting mistake (9:31)Overcoming telemetry challenges (12:10)The importance of open source for Cerbos (15:48)Selling shoes to shoemakers (17:47)Helping people through Cerbos (25:11)Links:EmreLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emrebaran/Twitter: @emreCompany: Cerbos.dev

Tyler Jewell is an enterprise technology investor and managing director of Dell Technologies Capital, with a hand in many open source companies. A returning guest to the podcast, Jewell shares with us his foresight and knowledge about the past and current history of the open source landscape.Hear about the inner workings of Lightbend and how far Akka open source projects have evolved over the years. Also, listen to Jewell discuss business strategy for open source companies and the common mistakes of running open source. Jewell also shares a little about the resiliency of open source businesses in the economic market.Highlights:Akka projects over the years (4:00)When companies should have open source licenses vs. when they should not (11:35)Eclipse Che open source (13:20)Is it better to be open source as a company? (14:30)Open source as a development strategy rather than a business strategy (19:10)Common mistakes in open source companies (21:25)Are open source companies resilient economically? (23:14)Links:TylerLinkedInTwitterDell Technologies CapitalLightbendEclipse CheWSO2

From software engineer to leading developer products at Facebook, Ron Efroni was familiar with the challenges facing developers. His co-founder recognized the power of Nix to remove the boundaries of development, and together they started Flox to reduce the barriers to the adoption of Nix.In our final episode from the State of Open Con in London, Ron Efroni, CEO and Co-founder of Flox, joins me to discuss the future of Flox and Nix, the amazing community that keeps Nix moving forward, and advice for his former self as well as anyone interested in building an open source company. Highlights:Ron introduces himself, Flox, and Nix (0:50)Ron recounts the origins of Flox (3:32)Ron reviews the value add Flox provides (7:04)Leaving the control of the Nix roadmap to the community (10:30)Ron shares advice for himself 1.5 years ago (13:33) and...Advice for other open source founders (14:40)Why Nix is happy to have feedback and excitement from the community (17:56)Links:RonLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronefroni/Twitter: https://twitter.com/ronefroniCompany: https://floxdev.com/Nix: https://nixos.org/

Sometimes it seems like our devices can read our minds. While that can occasionally be helpful, it can raise concerns about how much of our personal data is collected. Gael Duval, CEO of Murena, noticed this issue in 2017 and has been working on solutions ever since. In this episode, Gael joins me at the State of Open Con in London to discuss the origins of Murena and how you can protect your data. He also shares lessons he’s learned as an entrepreneur and advice for aspiring founders in the open source space. Listen to hear his unique perspective as an open source B2C founder. Highlights:Gael introduces himself and outlines why he started Murena (0:51)Murena’s relationships with hardware (3:43)Gael reflects on Murena being a rare B2C co, as opposed to most open source B2B companies (6:04)The value of being open source for Murena was building on existing technologies (9:16)Gael shares advice for his younger self (11:58)Gael recalls his most significant challenges at Murena (14:36)How views on privacy differ between Europe and the US (15:43)Gael shares advice for starting a B2C open source company (17:06)Links:GaelLinkedInTwitterMurenaE Foundation

Peter Zaitzev, the founder of Percona, is an expert on open source strategy and database optimization. With his level of experience in the world of open source, Peter enjoys challenging himself and going against the grain in order to come out on top.On this episode of The Business of Open Source, Peter breaks down his thought process on how he approaches open source for businesses as a consultant and dives into the inner workings of Percona from how they generate revenue to customer retention. We also discuss how anyone new to the space can get into open source and make a career out of it.Highlights:The differentiator between Percona and Oracle (3:11)Challenging yourself (6:02)How Percona generates revenue (9:43)Tough moments for Percona (13:07)Getting into open source as a businessman (15:09)Looking ahead for Percona (18:23)Advice for Peter’s past self (19:42)Links:PeterLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterzaitsev/Twitter: https://twitter.com/PeterZaitsevCompany: percona.comRenegade Underdogs

Frank Karlitschek has worked in the open source software space since the late 90s when he contributed to KDE. Since then, he’s managed multiple teams and start ups and used his influence to make the internet a better, more secure place. In this episode, Frank joins me at The State of Open Con to share his passion for open source and improving the internet. We discuss his early involvement in open source and how he started his own company. He also shares advice for new founders and encouragement for anyone hoping to make a positive impact on the world.Highlights:Frank introduces himself and Nextcloud and shares his initial excitement around open source (0:50)Frank shares some details about his open source business model and how the company came together (2:51)Frank recalls mistakes he made early on in his career and what he's learned (6:43)Current projects/ processes in the “trial and error” phase of development (8:10)The value of being open source (10:41)Frank shares the advice he’d give his younger self and someone starting an open source company now (13:03)Links:FrankLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankkarlitschek/Twitter: https://twitter.com/fkarlitschekMastadon: https://mastodon.social/@KarlitschekWebsite: karlitschek.deCompany: https://nextcloud.com/