The Business of Open Source

Heather Meeker, General Partner at OSS Capital, joins me to discuss the legal elements of open source, including options for licensing and business structure.In this episode, Heather and I explore the intersection of law and open source by reviewing licensing options, challenges, and common mistakes startups make early on. We also get into less common licensing and business models and what might be in store for the future of licensing in open source.Highlights:Heather introduces herself and reviews her background in open source (0:50)Legal issues startups can run into early on (2:02)Common licensing paradigms in open source (6:00)Less common licensing options (10:40)The model Heather would use if she were starting a new business (15:21)How the challenges commercial open source startups face are different from those proprietary software companies face (16:58)Heather shares her idea of the number one mistake new startups make (26:37)Heather shares her thoughts on the future of open source startups (27:28)Links:HeatherLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heathermeeker/Twitter: @HeatherMeeker4Company: https://oss.capital/Website: HeatherMeeker.com

Sam Richard, Head of Growth at ngrok, joins me to talk about product-led growth in open source and ngrok’s history in open source.In this episode, Sam and I discuss product-led growth - how it differs from a traditional sales model, what metrics founders can use to track their development, and how to find your activation metrics. We also review what kind of companies would benefit from a product-led approach, who might not, and how companies can avoid mistakes others have made in implementing the strategy. Highlights:Sam introduces herself and shares her definition of product-led growth (0:45)Traditional metrics vs. product-led metrics (8:53)How product-led growth evolves once a company moves past the early stages (13:12)What kind of companies or founders product led growth is appropriate for (14:54)Sam and Emily explore questions about products that buyers love, but users hate (19:53)Moving from product-led growth to a sales-led model (21:15)Sam reviews ngrok’s moves from open source to closed source and back (23:57)Links:SamLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-crowell-richard/Twitter: https://twitter.com/SamCRichardCompany: https://ngrok.com/productbenchmarks.com

 

Georg Link, Director of Sales at Bitergia, joins me to chat about how open source startups can use metrics to keep their communities healthy, why he approaches his role as an educator first, and how a company’s culture impacts the way they sell for open source. In this episode, Georg and I discuss how he started the CHAOSS (Community Health Analysis Open Source Software) project to evaluate the health of open source communities and how to use metrics to gain that understanding. We also get some insight into Georg’s passion for open source, his views on sales, and Bitergia’s company culture.Highlights:Georg introduces himself and Bitergia (0:48)What metrics are helpful for an open source startup to track? (4:33)How Georg approaches his role as Director of Sales primarily as an educator (11:48)How Biturgia’s company culture impacts the way they sell for open source (17:41)Ideal use cases for open source metrics (24:15)Links:GeorgLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georglink/Twitter: @georglinkEmail: georglink@bitergia.comCompany: https://bitergia.com/

Jonathan Reimer, CEO & Co-Founder at Crowd.dev, joins me to chat about community-led growth and cultivating a community around an open source startup.In this episode, Jonathan and I discuss the differences between community-led growth and product-led growth, review the meaning of community, and explore the challenges of building a community around an open source startup. We also get into how community-led growth can benefit a company, the biggest mistakes startups make around community building, and the origins and operations of Jonathan’s company, Crowd.dev.Highlights:Jonathan introduces himself, and his definition of community-led growth (0:45)The motivation behind community-led growth strategies (3:04)Gauging the health of a community (8:14)The origins of Crowd.dev and how it works to make community building easier (12:47)Common pain points in community building and how to keep cultivating a healthy one (16:17)Jonathan’s path to starting his own company (18:08)Links:JonathanLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathimer/Twitter: https://twitter.com/jonathimerCompany: https://www.crowd.dev/

Brian MacDonald, Manager of Technical Editing at DigitalOcean joins me to discuss the importance of writing efficient documentation for any product.In this episode, Brian and I chat about his talk at All Things Open entitled Verbs Not Nouns and covering the importance of writing documentation that instructs your users on how to use your product to solve the problem it intends to solve for them. We also cover common mistakes in writing documentation and tips for ensuring yours is effective. Listen to hear Brian's advice and resources to improve your documentation. Highlights:Brian introduces himself and his role at DigitalOcean (0:47)Why does documentation matter? (3:29)The most common mistake people make with documentation (7:07)Why are docs frequently neglected? (11:37)Who should write the docs? (15:47)How to ensure your docs are efficient (20:21)When should you start writing your documentation? (24:32)Links:BrianLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/macdonaldeditorial/Twitter: https://twitter.com/bmac_editorCompany: https://www.digitalocean.com/Resources: Verbs Not Nouns Slides: https://archive.org/details/verbs-not-nouns-ato-2022Write The Docs Community: https://www.writethedocs.org/

Joseph Jacks joins me to share his enthusiasm for Open Source and what he calls Commercial Open Source Companies, how the idea of Open Source is changing with new technologies, and what that means for the definition of Open Source.In this episode, Joseph gets specific about the definition of Open Source and new technologies building on the original concept while sharing his excitement about the developments in and around the Open Source community. We also discuss the pros and cons of building an Open Source company and his philosophy on investing in Open Source Startups.Highlights:Joseph introduces himself and discusses his background and how he started OSS Capital (0:48)How open source is beneficial and critical to any business (6:12)The origins and definition of open source and how to differentiate new technologies that expand on the concept (7:58)What most people think of when they say "Open Source Company" and Joseph's suggestion for a more accurate name (11:31)Why Commercial Open Source Companies are awesome (13:21)The challenges of building a Commercial Open Source Company (17:21)The importance of differentiating between your users and your customers (19:57)Freemium vs. Open Source (22:04)Links:Joseph LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephjacks/Twitter: https://twitter.com/JosephJacks_Company: https://oss.capital/

Jon Gottfried, Co-founder of Major League Hacking, joins me to chat about community building, open source as a career accelerator, and how Major League Hacking began.In this episode, Jon and I discuss the role of open source in Major League Hacking and the lessons maintainers can learn from new developers and vice versa. Jon also shares his thoughts on community, sharing responsibilities, and tips for ensuring the future of open source. Listen to hear his perspective and learn how Major League Hacking came to be. Highlights:Jon introduces himself and Major League Hacking (0:42)How Open Source fits into the work MLH does with developers entering the industry (1:44)How to be a successful open source contributor (3:20)Lessons maintainers can learn from the new developer experience (6:07)Jon shares his thoughts on community building (13:06)Jon shares his views on meeting in person vs. virtually (15:40)Sharing responsibilities in a business vs. an open source project (18:03)How contributing to an open source project can accelerate a career trajectory (21:48)How Major League Hacking began (24:01)Links:JonLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonmarkgo/Twitter: https://twitter.com/jonmarkgoCompany: https://mlh.io/

Brian Douglas, CEO of OpenSauced, joins me to discuss insights - how they’ve been provided in the past, how OpenSauced is different, and how he hopes to contribute to the future of open source. In this episode, Brian and I explore the origins and future of OpenSauced, including his hopes for how providing different insights can help contributors find worthy projects and maintainers find worthy contributors to hire. We also discuss the importance of community and telling fairer and fuller stories of open source projects. Listen to hear Brian’s unique perspective on the business of open source.Highlights:Brian introduces himself and OpenSauced (0:45)Brian describes his ideal OpenSauced users (4:42)How OpenSauced began and why Brian chose and stuck with the pizza theme (8:29)Why OpenSauced focuses on the contributor first (15:01)Using data to tell the full story of an open source project (18:44)Brian describes his target company size and use case (20:42)The value of the open source community (22:38)What companies get wrong when working with open source (24:42)Links:BrianLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianldouglasTwitter: https://twitter.com/bdougieYOCompany: https://opensauced.pizza/The Secret Sauce PodcastAudio: https://thesecretsauce.transistor.fm/YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHyZ0Wz_A44VR4BXl_JOWSecQeWcZ-kS3

Matt Butcher, CEO of Fermyon, joins me to discuss the ethics of open source and how to keep your company's health in mind when growing your business.In this episode, Matt and I dig into the ethics of open source and how his background in philosophy influences the decisions he makes as a CEO. We also cover how you can intentionally create and maintain your company values and culture. Finally, Matt reveals his top mistakes as a CEO and how he's overcome them to improve his business. Highlights:Matt introduces himself and his background in open source and philosophy (0:47)How Matt's background in philosophy changed his perspective on the ethics of open source (3:14)How that background influences how they began and continue to run Fermyon (8:58)How to establish values for a new company and stick to them (15:16)Why Matt started Fermyon when he did and with the focus on web assembly (21:59)Matt reviews the top mistakes he made as a founder and how addressing them has helped him improve the company culture (26:44)Links:MattLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattbutcher/Twitter: https://twitter.com/technosophosCompany: https://www.fermyon.com/Fermyon Discord: https://discord.com/invite/AAFNfS7NGf