In Depth artwork

The business of growing and monetizing an open source product | Ashley Kramer (GitLab CMO/CSO)

In Depth

English - October 26, 2023 08:00 - 1 hour - ★★★★★ - 51 ratings
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Previous Episode: How to leverage intuition, customer support, and raw effort | Colin Zima (Omni & Looker)
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Ashley Kramer is the CMO and CSO at GitLab, a publicly listed DevSecOps platform. Ashley took a unique path into her CMO role. She started out in software engineering before becoming a product leader, and eventually, a marketer. Most recently, Ashley was the CPO and CMO at Sisense, a data analytics company last valued at over $1b.
—
In today’s episode we discuss:

How GitLab layered a commercial model on top of open source roots

GitLab’s main marketing metrics

Examples, benefits, and downsides of a transparent company culture

How GitLab serves enterprise customers, and a passionate developer community

Unique marketing lessons from working in an open core company

An example of a recent marketing campaign

—
Where to find Brett Berson:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/brettberson

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/

—
Where to find Ashley Kramer:

Twitter/x: https://twitter.com/ashleyekramer

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyekramer/

—
Where to find First Round Capital:

Website: https://firstround.com/

First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/firstround

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital

This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast

—
Referenced:

CISO: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/security/what-is-ciso.html

DevSecOps: https://about.gitlab.com/topics/devsecops/

E-Group: https://about.gitlab.com/company/team/e-group/

GitLab: https://gitlab.com

GitLab legal team’s SAFE framework: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/legal/safe-framework/

GitLab’s open core business model: https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/company/stewardship/

GitLab’s open source employee handbook: https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/people-group/

GitLab’s open source marketing handbook: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/

GitLab’s open source remote handbook: https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/company/culture/all-remote/guide/

Sid Sijbrandij, CEO of GitLab: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sijbrandij/

Tableau: https://www.tableau.com/

—
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(02:34) Marketing in closed vs open source companies
(07:40) The role of marketing at GitLab
(09:23) The tensions of being a commercial, open source company
(12:36) Advice for nurturing community and dealing with disagreements
(15:02) GitLab's main marketing metrics
(20:26) The thinking behind GitLab’s org structure, in and around marketing
(28:19) Selling to enterprise as an open core company
(29:53) The difference between open core and open source
(30:39) Serving many different customer segments
(35:10) GitLab's planning process
(39:22) An example of GitLab’s marketing in practice
(42:12) How marketing collaborates with product
(45:55) Marketing lessons from working in an open core company
(49:46) Examples of GitLab's focus on transparency
(52:22) Why GitLab is transparent about their marketing
(54:59) 2 examples of GitLab's uniquely transparent culture
(58:35) The downsides of being a transparent company
(60:13) GitLab's meeting structure and cadence
(62:04) Benefits of having an engineering and product background as CMO
(71:09) People who made an outsized impact on Ashley's career

Ashley Kramer is the CMO and CSO at GitLab, a publicly listed DevSecOps platform. Ashley took a unique path into her CMO role. She started out in software engineering before becoming a product leader, and eventually, a marketer. Most recently, Ashley was the CPO and CMO at Sisense, a data analytics company last valued at over $1b.

—

In today’s episode we discuss:


How GitLab layered a commercial model on top of open source roots
GitLab’s main marketing metrics
Examples, benefits, and downsides of a transparent company culture
How GitLab serves enterprise customers, and a passionate developer community
Unique marketing lessons from working in an open core company
An example of a recent marketing campaign

—

Where to find Brett Berson:


Twitter: https://twitter.com/brettberson
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/

—

Where to find Ashley Kramer:


Twitter/x: https://twitter.com/ashleyekramer
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyekramer/

—

Where to find First Round Capital:


Website: https://firstround.com/
First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/firstround
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital
This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast

—

Referenced:


CISO: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/security/what-is-ciso.html
DevSecOps: https://about.gitlab.com/topics/devsecops/
E-Group: https://about.gitlab.com/company/team/e-group/
GitLab: https://gitlab.com
GitLab legal team’s SAFE framework: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/legal/safe-framework/
GitLab’s open core business model: https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/company/stewardship/
GitLab’s open source employee handbook: https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/people-group/
GitLab’s open source marketing handbook: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/
GitLab’s open source remote handbook: https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/company/culture/all-remote/guide/
Sid Sijbrandij, CEO of GitLab: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sijbrandij/
Tableau: https://www.tableau.com/

—

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(02:34) Marketing in closed vs open source companies

(07:40) The role of marketing at GitLab

(09:23) The tensions of being a commercial, open source company

(12:36) Advice for nurturing community and dealing with disagreements

(15:02) GitLab's main marketing metrics

(20:26) The thinking behind GitLab’s org structure, in and around marketing

(28:19) Selling to enterprise as an open core company

(29:53) The difference between open core and open source

(30:39) Serving many different customer segments

(35:10) GitLab's planning process

(39:22) An example of GitLab’s marketing in practice

(42:12) How marketing collaborates with product

(45:55) Marketing lessons from working in an open core company

(49:46) Examples of GitLab's focus on transparency

(52:22) Why GitLab is transparent about their marketing

(54:59) 2 examples of GitLab's uniquely transparent culture

(58:35) The downsides of being a transparent company

(60:13) GitLab's meeting structure and cadence

(62:04) Benefits of having an engineering and product background as CMO

(71:09) People who made an outsized impact on Ashley's career

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