The Business of Open Source

Finding the Right Co-Founder With Tanis Jorge

Are you struggling to find a co-founder? Having trouble navigating a relationship with your partners? These are all questions Tanis Jorge, CEO of The Co-founder's Hub, tackles daily in her work. A serial tech entrepreneur and a leading entrepreneur advisor, it is no wonder Jorge has founded and built many businesses, such as Trulioo and IQuiri Inc. On this episode of The Business Of Open Source, I ask Jorge about finding the right co-founder, why legal frameworks are so important, ...

Striving for a Frictionless Developer Experience through AI Workflows with Kyle Campbell

From college dropout to developer efficiency guru, Kyle Campbell knows his way around workflow integrations for software companies. He is a fierce proponent of efficient workflows and hopes to spread his experience to any company that can benefit from it.  In this episode of the Business of Open Source, Campbell discusses the origins of his Company CTO.ai, its revenue model, and why he created this AI companion for developers. He also talks about being a consultant, running a start...

Ethics In Open Source With Matt Butcher

Matt Butcher is no stranger to the ways of ethical philosophy. With a Ph.D. in Religion and Computer Science, he enjoys philosophical conversations of ethical dilemmas. Butcher passionately debates wild theories and paradoxical situations against those not afraid to question reality in pursuit of knowledge. In this episode of The Business of Open Source, Hear how Butcher discusses ethics in the open source world, the grey areas in being an ethical company, and the moral nature of w...

Enhancing Your Contributor Growth Strategy With Dawn Foster

Dawn Foster, Director of Open Source Community Strategy at VMware, is a champion of community strategy and development. A doctor of Philosophy, Foster is well-versed in the understanding of collaboration and leverages her mountain of knowledge to fight for the health of maintainers in open-source projects. In this episode of The Business of Open Source, Dawn Foster joins me from the Open Source Summit North America to tackle community strategy and contribution growth methods. Foste...

Developing Your Public Speaking Skills with Bart Farrell

Bart Farrell is a content creator and community leader in the public speaking world. Based in Spain, he has developed a massively popular platform through podcasting and consulting as a nontechnical person in a technical space. In this episode, Farrell breaks down the ins and outs of public speaking. He also discusses the art form of speaking offline rather than online, what to expect when talking to an audience, and what it takes to deliver the gift of gab. Farrell also goes into ...

Open Source Feature Management with Ivar Østhus

Ivar Østhus, The CTO and creator of Unleashed, is a revolutionary in shipping feature management tools and rollouts for companies worldwide. Through hardships, Østhus came into his own in the open source world by relieving the pressure on developers bringing new creations to light in their projects. On this episode of The Business of Open Source, Hear how Østhus discusses the inception of Unleashed and the struggles he overcame in the early stages. He also talks about being a Europ...

WebOps and Community Relations with Josh Koenig

Josh Koenig, Chief Strategy Officer and Co-Founder of Pantheon, is a WebOps aficionado focused on creating first-class platforms and delivering results. Recognized as a Top 25 Software Products Executive by The Software Report, it is no wonder he is passionate about his ability to discuss and understand the developer experience while fostering relationships with users. On this episode of the Business of Open Source, Koenig discusses the art of fostering opposing community relations...

Developing Open Source Coding Tools with Daniel Loreto

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 ...

Building a Sustainable Platform With Abigail Cabunoc Mayes

"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 an...

Investing and Monetizing a Start-up With Akriti Dokania

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 f...

Cultivating an Active Community With Stefan Avram

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...

Simplifying Authorization With Emre Baran

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...

Open Source Business Strategy With Tyler Jewell

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...

Pushing Boundaries and Removing Barriers with Ron Efroni

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 forw...

Demanding Something Better with Gael Duval

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 foun...

Challenging Yourself Through Open Source with Peter Zaitsev of Percona

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 custom...

Changing the World through Open Source with Frank Karlitschek

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...

Bootstrapping an Open Source Company with Matt Barker of Jetstack

Matt Barker, President and co-founder of Jetstack, has been involved in open source and Kubernetes since the early days of its development. With a long list of open source projects behind him, he decided to hone in on Jestack and with its success, share the knowledge he’s gained over the years as an OpenUK Entrepreneur in Residence. In this episode of The Business of Open Source, Matt joins me from the State of Open Con and shares his initial vision for Jestack and reviews the proj...

Bringing Hardware Design to The Software Space at The State of Open Con with Rob Taylor of ChipFlow

In the first of my series of interviews from the State of Open Con in London, I’m chatting with Rob Taylor, CEO of ChipFlow, about the intersection between open source software design and hardware design, bringing community into the hardware space, and how geopolitics could shape the future of open source.  In this episode, Rob shares his fascinating hardware and software design background, including his first job working on lighting desks for theaters. Then we delve into his other...

From Navy Seal to Entrepreneur with Josh Thurman

Josh Thurman, Co-founder and Head of DevRel at Uffizzi, joins me to chat about his journey from Navy Seal to tech startup Co-founder. In this episode, Josh and I discuss his background as a Navy Seal, how he dove into tech and started Uffizzi, and the mistakes and failures he overcame along the way. We also dig into open source as a development model, creating vs. capturing value, and the importance of compatibility with software users are already implementing. Listen to find out w...

Gaining Trust through Transparency with Nikhil Nandagopal

Nikhil Nandagopal, Founder and CPO of Appsmith, joins me to chat about building trust, the importance of starting as an open source offering, and how the community continues to shape the future of Appsmith. In this episode, Nikhil and I discuss the origins of Appsmith, building a business edition as well as a community one, and the challenges he and his team encountered along the way. We compare the community and business editions, discuss the importance of community and an educati...

From Closed Source to Open Source with Adi Gelvan of Speedb

Adi Gelvan, Co-founder and CEO of Speedb, joins me to share his experience in moving Speedb from a closed source proprietary company to open source with an enterprise offering.  In this episode, Adi and I explore moving from a proprietary to an open source strategy. From pros and cons, pushback from team members, and mistakes along the way, listen to hear how Adi and his team handled those challenges and more. Highlights: Adi introduces himself and Speedb (0:47) Why speedb decid...

Understanding the Legal Side of Open Source with Heather Meeker

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 introduc...

Exploring the World of Product-Led Growth with Sam Richard

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 ...

Bridging The Gaps Between Policy, Community, and Commerce in Open Source with Amanda Brock

Using Metrics to Keep Your Open Source Community Healthy with Georg Link

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...

Reaping the Benefits of Community-Led Growth with Jonathan Reimer

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 comm...

Verbs Not Nouns: Writing Effective Documentation with Brian MacDonald

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 e...

Developing Commercial Open Source Companies with Joseph Jacks

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...

Investing in The Next Generation of Developers

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...

Telling Fair Stories with a Full Perspective on Open Source with Brian Douglas

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...

Building a Healthy Company with Matt Butcher of Fermyon

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....

The Trifecta of a Successful Startup

Henrik Rosendahl, CEO of Spiio, joins me to chat about his experience as an entrepreneur and what he’s learned about building successful companies.  In this episode, Henrik and I cover the many aspects of building startups. From the top mistakes new founders make to the best way to monetize your open source business. Listen to learn Henrik’s thoughts on entrepreneurship, including monetization, the three things you need to build a successful startup, and whether or not founding a s...

Open Source is About the Masses with Fabien Pinckaers of Odoo

Today I’m talking with Fabian Pinckaers, CEO and Founder of Odoo, a suite of business apps to manage all of a business’s activities, about his passion for open source and knowing how and when to pivot as a start-up. In this episode, Fabien and I discuss the highs and lows of running a start-up as he details his history with Odoo. From its inception as a service offering for auction houses to its current state as an open core software vendor with a cloud offering, Odoo has challenge...

How Medusa is Becoming More Than an Open Source Shopify Alternative with Co-Founder Nicklas Gellner

Today I’m chatting with Nicklas Gellner, co-founder  of Medusa, “the open source Shopify alternative” about why he started the company, why open source, and his vision for the future. In this episode, Nicklas details the original inspiration for Medusa as well as why they chose the name. We also review the switch from an agency to a product focused company.  When I mention the buzz around a relatively young company like Medusa, Nicklas emphasizes Medusa’s developer-first approach a...

Relating Tech to People through Technical Marketing with Michael Chenetz

Michael Chenetz, Head of Technical Marketing at Portainer.io, joins me to discuss why technical marketing is so much more effective for open source companies and also why it’s a hard role to fill.  In this episode, Michael and I discuss his unique background that lead him to technical marketing in the open source space, and the importance of relating tech to people. Michael explains the differences between traditional marketing and technical marketing, as well as the impact technic...

The Gratification of Contributing to Open Source with Liz Rice

Liz Rice, Chief Open Source Officer at Isovalent, joins me to discuss the business model behind Cilium and the enjoyment she has found working in open source.  In this episode, Liz and I discuss why Isovalent decided to donate Cilium to CNCF, and the additional decisions behind developing for Cilium open source versus Cilium for Enterprise. Tune into this episode to hear how entrepreneurship taught Liz what she didn’t enjoy doing so she could focus on work she enjoys, and what she ...

Building Open-Source Strategy for Enterprise Organizations with Andrew Aitken

Andrew Aitken, Global Open Source Leader at Wipro, joins me to discuss the benefits and challenges that come with adopting open source as a large-scale enterprise organization.  In this episode, Andrew and I discuss the three stages of open source maturity from curiosity to full-scale adoption and mastery. Tune into this episode to learn more about the trigger events that cause large-scale enterprises to explore open source, as well as the barriers and legal challenges they must ov...

The Relationship Between Open Source and Cloud Native with Randy Abernethy

Randy Abernethy, Managing Director at RX-M, joins me for a chat about the relationship between open source and cloud native.   In this episode, Randy and I discuss how the clients he works with at RX-M are looking to cloud-native as part of their forward-thinking strategies. Tune into this episode to learn how Randy sees the C-Suite viewing open source, how he sees clients evaluate risk in open-source projects, and his views on the relationship between open source and cloud native....

Finding Unexpected Product-Market Fit with Ian Tien

Ian Tien, CEO and Co-Founder of Mattermost, joins me to talk about how Mattermost went from being a video game company to an open-source messaging platform that provides collaboration for developers and other mission-critical teams.  In this episode, Ian and I discuss the reality of product-led growth in open-source companies, Ian’s perspective on open source moving towards platform-based solutions, and the advice he would give to other open-source founders.   Highlights: Ian int...

Best Practices for Founding an Open-Source Company with Amanda Brock

Amanda Brock, CEO of Open UK, joins me for an engaging conversation on best practices in founding an open-source company.  In this episode, Amanda and I chat about the various business models available for building a company around open-source technology, the common pitfalls and crossroads open-source founders find themselves facing, and how to do open-source in a way that leads to long-term success and profitability.  Highlights: What is Open UK? (00:40) The various business mo...

The Open-Source Evolution of Python with Wes McKinney

Wes McKinney, CTO & Co-Founder of Voltron Data, joins me for an in-depth conversation on how his quest to develop Python as an open-source programming language led him to creating the pandas project and founding four companies.  In this episode, Wes and I dive into his unique background as the founder of the pandas project and he describes his perspective on the early days of Python, his journey into the world of open-source start-ups, and the risks and benefits of paying developer...

Making AI Accessible to All with Braden Hancock

Braden Hancock, Co-founder and Head of Technology at Snorkel AI, joins me to talk about his path from academia to start-up co-founder and his vision to make AI more accessible to both traditional and no-code development.  In this episode, Braden and I explore the journey he and his co-founders took to go from having an interesting idea to forming a company and the strategic business decisions they made along the way, such as why they opted not to use an open-source business model a...

Building Open Source Communities at DBT Labs with Anna Filippova

Anna Filippova, Director of Community & Data at DBT Labs, joins me to chat about the fundamental role community plays in the world of open source and her role helping to create a thriving community.  In this episode, Anna and I dive into the concept of a community: why it’s essential for open-source development, how to create business value through community, and how to track community health above and beyond user count.  Highlights: Why community is mission critical at DBT Labs ...

How the Department of Defense Uses Open Source with Rob Slaughter

Highlights: Open source software at the department of defense (1:36) Is there risk associated with using open source software in the department of defense? (5:30) Does the public sector contribute to and participate in open source communities? (9:13) Rob’s background and work experience (14:25) What led Rob to found Defense Unicorns (16:35) Rob’s focus on a specific niche in the founding of his company (17:33) How working with a fixed budget affects an open source company (19...

How Pantacor Fits into the Edge Continuum with Ricardo Mendoza

Ricardo Mendoza, founder and CEO of Pantacor, joins me for a chat at the Open Source Summit in Austin. Ricardo shares why he started Pantacor and describes the differences between IoT, edge, connected, and embedded devices. I ask him how Pantacor fits into the edge continuum, and he explains how Pantacor helps bring embedded devices into the future. Ricardo talks about the open source arm of Pantacor’s strategy, we discuss Pantacor’s unique interest in hardware versus primarily deal...

Open Source Licensing with Jeff Shapiro

Live from the Open Source Summit in Austin, I sit down with Jeff Shapiro, the License Scanning Manager for the Linux Foundation. Jeff begins by explaining what he does at the Linux Foundation, including ensuring that open source licenses are compatible and compliant. We discuss what license issues start-ups should be aware of, how to educate yourself on open source licensing, and when you should consult an expert. Jeff clarifies some confusion around dual licenses and explains the c...

From Open Source Project to Commercial Product with Webb Brown of Kubecost

Today I sit down with Webb Brown, CEO and cofounder of Kubecost. Kubecost provides real-time cost visibility and insights for teams using Kubernetes. Webb tells the story of building Kubecost, starting with the pain points that inspired the open source tool. He talks about the transition from an open source project to becoming a commercial company, and explains the decision to build a company with the same name and branding as the open source tool. Webb talks about Kubecost’s newest...

Security and Freedom with Ev Kontsevoy of Teleport

Today I sit down with Ev Kontsevoy, the CEO and co-founder of Teleport, a software company that began as an open source project. Teleport is an identity aware multi protocol access proxy that Ev was inspired to create because of the inherent frustrations with security he experienced in his career. Ev talks about how Teleport began as an open source tool and then grew into enterprise. I ask Ev what things he has done differently from his first start-up, Gravity, and we discuss how th...

The Ethics of Privacy with Cillian Kieran of Ethyca

Today I’m joined by Cillian Kieran, the CEO and co-founder of Ethyca, to talk about the privacy challenges that served as the impetus to found Ethyca. In our chat, he explains the overarching goals of the privacy engineering platform. We discuss the decision to begin Ethyca as an open source tool and why that was critical to the mission. Then we talk about the decision to move to a commercial product and how to decide which features to offer as paid versus free. Cillian reviews the ...