Open Source 101. Monetize or Vanish

As a software development agency we work with 20-30 tech startups a year, and launch our very own commercial open source products. I want to speak from experience and prove that open source projects can be monetized.

Alongside fellow Evil Martians, Victoria builds devtools and commercial open source products, including AnyCable and imgproxy, and writes about her journey in tech.

Transcript

1. NDC Porto 2023 1
2. NDC Porto 2023 2
3. 3 NDC Porto 2023 This may look like a funny test, but it’s not
4. Supabase Vercel GitLab MongoDB Elastic Red Hat Estimated revenue range $1M to $10M $100M to $500M $1B to $10B Funding Series B, $116M Series D, $313M Post IPO Acquired by IBM 4 NDC Porto 2023
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7. 7 NDC Porto 2023 Good news!
8. 8 NDC Porto 2023 From 2010 to present day, the number of GitHub users exploded from 0.5M to 103M
9. 9 NDC Porto 2023 While the number of projects (repositories) has grown at an even higher rate, from 0.6M to 359M
10. 10 NDC Porto 2023 Investments in open source based products have almost tripled over the last 7 years: from 58 deals in 2015, to 144 deals in 2021 In comparison to 40% in SaaS
11. 11 NDC Porto 2023 There are 25–30M software developers in the world
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14. 14 NDC Porto 2023 What if I told you that…
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16. 16 NDC Porto 2023 Who am I to tell you this?
17. I am Victoria, Head of New Business at Evil Martians and your biggest cheerleader. 17 NDC Porto 2023
18. 18 NDC Porto 2023 Evil Martians transform growth-stage startups into unicorns, build developer tools, and create open source products.
19. 19 NDC Porto 2023
20. 20 NDC Porto 2023
21. 21 NDC Porto 2023 I study COSS and developer tools for a living.
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24. 24 NDC Porto 2023 Today, we will try to monetize open source together.
25. 25 NDC Porto 2023 Let’s start from the beginning.
26. 26 NDC Porto 2023 How do you decide whether to open source a project?
27. 27 NDC Porto 2023 1. Over-engineering What’s holding you back?
28. 28 NDC Porto 2023 Problem #1: Engineers love to engineer Solution: Apply startup mindset
29. 29 NDC Porto 2023 1. Discover a real pain point in your project and solve it 2. Try repeating this for other projects and talk to your peers 3. Is this issue common? ➡ Open source your solution
30. 30 NDC Porto 2023 Example #1 imgproxy.net Market need: 1. Millions of images in multiple resizes 2. Expensive storage 3. Slow loading Result: On-the-fly image optimization
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32. 32 NDC Porto 2023 3 years later: • 2M images processed for eBay alone • 7K+ GitHub ⭐ = thousands of open source users • dozens of paying users • thousands of dollars saved on storage
33. 33 NDC Porto 2023 1. Over-engineering 2. Time constraints What’s holding you back?
34. 34 NDC Porto 2023 Problem #2: I have no time for my project Solution: Devote time
35. 35 NDC Porto 2023 10 hours per week over 3 or 6 months is a great start
36. 36 NDC Porto 2023 Example #2 getunleash.io Market need: Tough to manage feature shipment in a large org Result: Easy-to-use feature flags alongside enterprise-level security & privacy
37. 37 NDC Porto 2023 Landing page with a waitlist. Does it spark interest? People are signing up, writing to you asking for paid features? Good sign!
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39. 39 NDC Porto 2023 4 years later: • $14M series A funding • 9K+ GitHub ⭐ = thousands of open source users • hundreds of paying users • 25+ SDKs
40. 40 NDC Porto 2023 1. Over-engineering 2. Time constraints 3. Lack of funding What’s holding you back?
41. 41 NDC Porto 2023 Problem #3: I have no money to spend Solution: Find ways to get paid
42. 42 NDC Porto 2023 Answer two important questions: 1. Do you want to fundraise? 2. How can you monetize your project?
43. 43 NDC Porto 2023 Example #3 sidekiq.org Market need: No efficient background processing for Ruby Result: Simple and efficient background job framework written in Ruby
44. 44 NDC Porto 2023 • Set SMART goals • Be transparent • Set boundaries • Experiment with pricing
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46. 46 NDC Porto 2023 10 years later: • $5M ARR • 12K+ GitHub ⭐ = thousands of open source users • thousands of paying users • #1 background jobs tool for Ruby
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48. 48 NDC Porto 2023 Before we go forward, let’s talk about business models
49. 49 NDC Porto 2023 • SaaS / Managed Cloud (Supabase, Neon) • Open Core (Sidekiq Pro, Cockroach Labs, AnyCable Pro, HumanSignal) • Loose Open Core (Tonic.ai, Roblox) • Platform/Cloud and framework (Vercel, Anyscale, Streamlit) • Support and consulting (RedHat, Evil Martians) • Mix and match
50. 50 NDC Porto 2023 one more thing, usage based pricing • Usage in SaaS: volume, seats • Usage in Open Core: concurrency, seats
51. 51 NDC Porto 2023 Don’t be afraid of experimenting with it. Lashback from the community is possible, but there are ways to minimize it.
52. 52 NDC Porto 2023 1. Over-engineering 2. Time constraints 3. Lack of funding 4. Too many cooks in the kitchen What’s holding you back?
53. 53 NDC Porto 2023 Problem #4: People are pulling me in different directions Solution: Strong mission & leadership
54. 54 NDC Porto 2023 Perhaps, it’s time to find a co-founder?
55. 55 NDC Porto 2023 Example #4 cal.com Market need: Calendly didn’t suffice for talent marketplace Result: Transparent, convenient and beautiful scheduling tool
56. 56 NDC Porto 2023 Landing page with a waitlist. A ton of requests, but no time. Scouted network, found a co-founder in the waitlist.
57. 57 NDC Porto 2023 1. Clear mission 2. Every decision is subject to alignment with the mission 3. Tough conversations, but strong partnership and clear trajectory
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59. 59 NDC Porto 2023 2 years later: • $32.4M ($25M series A) funding • 24K+ of GitHub ⭐ = millions of users • Wildly successful launch on ProductHunt
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61. 61 NDC Porto 2023 1. Over-engineering 2. Time constraints 3. Lack of funding 4. Too many cooks in the kitchen 5. Feedback: good and BAD What’s holding you back?
62. 62 NDC Porto 2023 Problem #5: People tend to be vocal about the bad, much less about the good Solution: Nurture your community and change your mindset
63. 63 NDC Porto 2023 Every bit of feedback is your opportunity to grow and improve your product. Iterate fast. Talk about it.
64. 64 NDC Porto 2023 Your community will share your DNA. Set boundaries, reward good behavior, nurture champions. Eliminate toxicity from day 1. Reality is people want to belong and connect.
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66. 66 NDC Porto 2023 1. Over-engineering 2. Time constraints 3. Lack of funding 4. Too many cooks in the kitchen 5. Feedback: good and BAD 6. Lack of empathy What’s holding you back?
67. 67 NDC Porto 2023 Write a good read.me
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69. 69 NDC Porto 2023 Documentation is the first thing people will see. Make it simple and clear, friendly, too.
70. 70 NDC Porto 2023 Now that you are free, let’s walk through the steps
71. 71 NDC Porto 2023 1. Discover a real pain point and solve it 2. Devote time to it 3. Find a co-founder 4. Talk to (potential) users 5. Choose a monetization strategy 6. Choose a license 7. Write a good read.me 8. Create a landing page 9. Build in public PROFIT, literally
72. 72 NDC Porto 2023 Warm & fuzzy
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74. Let’s connect, I’d be happy to answer any questions! 74 NDC Porto 2023
75. Stay tuned for Dev Propulsion Labs, Season 2 75 NDC Porto 2023
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