The Business of Open Source

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 relat...

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 difference...

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 taug...

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 enterpr...

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-so...

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 solution...

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 succe...

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 journ...

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...

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...

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 co...

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 Panta...

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 c...

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...

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...

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 prod...

Today I’m joined by CEO and founder of LeanIX , André Christ. André begins by describing his business, and then explains how his experiences working in large enterprise inspired him to build a product that would help businesses catalogue their software and optimize their portfolios. André offers advice for companies desiring to sell primarily to enterprise and expounds on the his experience with t...

Today I chat with Keith Basil, GM of Edge Computing at SUSE. We begin by reviewing the definition of edge: Keith explains how SUSE breaks edge computing down into 3 categories, and then talks about the shared understanding of edge by the industry at large. I ask Keith about the overlap of edge products with non-edge products, and then we discuss the maturity of the edge landscape and Keith explain...

Today I talk with Shaun O’Meara, the global field CTO at Mirantis . We begin by discussing the integration of Docker Enterprises with Mirantis approximately three years ago. We discuss the challenges of integrating companies, including incorporating new technology, processes, and customers and merging two very different work cultures. Shaun offers his advice for anyone considering selling to enter...

Today I sit down and chat with John McBride, senior software engineer at VMware. We begin by talking about John’s address at KubeCon, “Risks of Single Maintainer Dependencies and How to Mitigate Those Risks.” We discuss the definition of security and then John identifies some of the other non-security risks posed by single maintainer dependency. We talk a little bit about mitigating the risks and...

Today I talk with Catherine Paganini, Head of Marketing and Community at Buoyant . We begin by discussing the Cloud Native Glossary and how it is helping to make cloud native concepts more accessible for people around the world. Catherine talks about nurturing community in open source projects, and about the function of documentation. Catherine and I discuss pitfalls in building open source commun...

Today I talk with Yann Léger, CEO of Koyeb, the serverless developer platform that allows businesses to safely and easily deploy applications. We begin by talking about Yann’s decision to base the company on serverless, and the true meaning of cloud native. Yann then discusses Koyeb’s relationship with Kuma, and Koyeb’s posture towards open source projects. The conversation concludes with Yann sha...

Today I chatted with Dirk Hohndel, chief open source officer at the Cardano foundation. We begin by defining an open source ecosystem, and then talk about what different open source ecosystems might look like and how they are maintained. Dirk talks about best practices for steering an open source ecosystem, and then we discuss the role of foundations in open source projects. I ask “how do you defi...

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 m...

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-u...