The Business of Open Source

Today I sit down with Romaric Philogène, CEO and founder of Qovery, a platform that helps developers build, deploy, run, and scale applications.  Romaric begins by talking about his first two start-ups, both social networks, and then we discuss the difference between creating consumer-facing products and products for developers. We then talk about marketing in the US as it compares to the global market. We discuss Qovary’s relationship to open source and the idea of fostering community around a company’s culture. Romaric concludes by offering advice to developers on the value of being a skilled communicator. Full Description / Show NotesHighlights:Romaric talks about his first two startups that preceded Qovery (3:26)The differences between building a consumer facing product and creating a product for developers (5:55)Romaric talks marketing in the US vs marketing in Europe  (11:50)Romaric answers the question “what are things you’re doing differently now that you’ve learned from previous efforts?” (17:00)The value of community building in marketing to developers (19:28)Qovary’s relationship with open source (20:46)Building community around your company vs just a product (25:00)The importance of communication as an engineer (28:47)Links:RomaricTwitter:@rophilogeneCompany: https://www.qovery.com/

Today I’m chatting with Avery Pennarun, CEO of Tailscale. Tailscale is a VPN service that makes devices and applications accessible anywhere in the world by enabling encrypted point-to-point connections using the open source WireGuard protocol. Avery begins by talking about his experience building a start-up while he was a college student and how things have changed as he leads his current start-up. Avery recommends the book “Crossing the Chasm” and we discuss market segmentation as it relates to creating a successful start-up. Avery explains how Tailscale has been successful in implementing market segmentation strategies. We conclude our conversation by talking about goal setting and the importance of quality.Highlights:Avery talks about his first start-up experience as a college student (1:10)Avery recommends “Crossing the Chasm” and discusses how it influenced his start-ups (7:54)We discuss market segmentation strategy (13:29)Specific marketing strategies used at Tailscale (18:41)Avery talks about mistakes he’s made while building his start-ups (22:24)Goal setting in start-ups (24:42)We talk about the importance of quality in building word of mouth success (29:49)Avery answers the question “How do you maintain an identity as an engineer when you are also a serial entrepreneur?” (33:23)Links:AveryTwitter: @apenwarr @tailscaleCompany: https://www.tailscale.com

Today I chat with Kiersten Gaffney, CMO of Codefresh, a software delivery platform. Kiersten begins by defining her role as CMO. We then discuss the unique challenges of product strategy with open source projects. Kiersten talks about the importance of maintaining both a top-down and bottom-up approach when taking a project from open source to enterprise, and then explains some of the most common mistakes she’s seen when companies undergo this process. We discuss how technical a team should be when marketing open source and conclude the conversation by talking about analysis paralysis in start-ups and how to avoid it. Highlights:Kiersten answers the question “What do CMOs do all day?” (1:49)Product strategy with open source products (2:58)How open source projects fit into marketing efforts (6:10)Kiersten’s advice on how to maintain both a top-down and bottom-up approach (11:28)Is there a magic formula for taking a project from open source to for profit? (13:02)Biggest mistakes when taking a project from open source to enterprise (15:54)Emily asks how technical a marketing team should be for an open source project (22:53)Kiersten and Emily discuss the tension between engineering and marketing (24:24)Analysis paralysis in startups (26:35)Links:KierstenLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kierstengaffney/Twitter: @kierstengaffneyCompany: https://codefresh.io/

In this short summation episode, I talked a little more about why I think Deepfence's open source strategy is so genius. 

Today I sat down with Sandeep Lahane, founder and CEO of Deepfence, a security preventive and detective solution for cloud and container native environments. Sandeep began by explaining both the open source and enterprise components of Deepfence. Threatmapper is a multi-cloud platform for scanning, mapping, and ranking vulnerabilities in running containers, images, hosts, and repositories, and Threatstryker is a commercial product that offers runtime attack analysis, threat assessment, and targeted protection for infrastructures and applications. We then talk about the inexhaustibility and the ever-changing landscape of cybersecurity. Sandeep explains the impetus for launching Deepfence and the process of getting to Threatmapper and Threatstryker, and then talks about his journey from working as a systems programmer to launching a tech startup. We discuss the tense relationship between security and development in the industry, and end the conversation with some words of advice for engineers considering the entrepreneurial plunge.Highlights:What is the difference between Threatmapper and Threatstryker at Deepfence? (00:55)Sandeep explains how the Deepfence commission product builds upon the open source one (2:14)Discussing the inexhaustibility of the cybersecurity landscape (11:40)The genesis of Deepfence (13:58)Sandeep discusses the business benefits of having an open source project (14:57)Sandeep talks about his journey from systems programmer to tech startup (17:20)Emily and Sandeep discuss the tense relationship between security and development (21:19)Sandeep gives advice to engineers considering entrepreneurship (33:57)Links:Sandeephttps://deepfence.io

Some short thoughts on marketing in the open source ecosystem, drawn from my conversation with Eric on Wednesday. 

Today I sit down with Eric Hendricks, the technical marketing director at Red Hat. Red Hat delivers open source solutions that make it easier for enterprises to work across platforms and environments. Eric begins the conversation by discussing his start as a technologist and how he decided to make the move to marketing. Eric then discusses the challenges of bringing marketing savvy into the devops space, including the unintended consequences of marketing buzzwords. I ask Eric about the relationship between marketing and open source, and Eric talks about how many of Red Hat’s community marketing efforts are driven through upstream communities. We then discuss the concept of the buyer in open source versus start ups, and how the difference is that the “big ask” in open source projects is emotional investment. Eric concludes the conversation by talking about the impact of his current role as a technical marketer as compared to the impact of a founder or IC. Highlights:Eric answers the question “At what point did you start to see yourself and did other people see you as a marketer?” (5:53)The stigma around marketing and the problem with marketing buzzwords in devops (10:22)Emily and Eric discuss the shared vocabulary problem that can arise with newer concepts in tech (14:35)Eric talks about equipping his product’s “champions” with all the resources they need to communicate need and efficacy to potential buyers (15:39)Emily asks Eric about the relationship between marketing and open source (19:50)Emily and Eric discuss the concept of “the buyer” with open source (25:14)Eric answers the question: “how are you able to have more of an impact in your current role than you would as an IC?” (29:30)Links:Personal website: www.itguyeric.comCompany website: www.redhat.comTwitter: @itguyericCompany: @rhelPodcasts: RHEL Presents, Into the Terminal

I'm trying something new this week — adding an extra episode with some key takeaways from the interview earlier in the week. In this one, I talked about the education battle many cloud native companies face, the problem of open source projects that are too good and understanding pain points for different personas. 

Today I’m joined by Omri Gazitt, founder of Aserto, an authorization company that offers cloud native authorization as a service. We discuss the differences between ID authorization and authentication and the problems associated with educating developers on the distinctions. Omri also talks about the evolution of authorization from server software all the way to cloud native authorization. He then expounds on the strategic nature of the decision to open source or not, and offers advice to developers based on his experience as both an engineer and an executive. Highlights:The beginnings of Aserto (7:50)Omri talks about what it was like to be part of a startup, Neon, in the 90s (10:49)Emily and Omri discuss what authorization was like pre-cloud native (13:32)How integration became the strategy used by Aserto to begin to solve authorization problems (17:10)The decision to open source and how organizations should be strategic when considering open source  (18:55)Omri discusses his unique perspective as both a former tech engineer and executive in forming his start-up (25:08)Omri talks about a missed opportunity in the early stages of Aserto (28:56)Links:OmriLinkedIn:TwitterCompany

I’m joined by Mark Grover, one of the founders of Stemma, a data catalogue for building decentralized data informed cultures. In essence it is a “Google Search” built for data scientists, data analyst, business leaders, and more. Stemma is striving to solve data documentation and relevance issues by keeping data cataloguing up to date and current.In this episode Mark covers his transition from the data team at Lyft to establishing Stemma. He discusses how he identified the need for a source of truth for ETA data, and how the data scientist in these teams should be the end all for this knowledge. Starting with building Amundsen, Stemma expands on the groundwork laid there to bring data to the user and open-source community’s needs.Highlights:An introduction to Mark and Stemma (00:00)The history of Stemma (00:45)How open source helped solved data cataloguing problems (4:40)The decision to found Stemma (07:40)How Stemma’s relationship with Amundsen has evolved (13:20)The unexpected challenges and unexpected eases (18:35)Navigating the co-founding experience (23:35)Mark’s vision for Stemma’s future (28:54)Mark’s tips for aspiring founders (32:54)Links:MarkLinkedInTwitterCompany