44: Exploring the Open Source Business Model - a podcast by Ben Orenstein and Derrick Reimer

Rob Walling, co-founder at Drip, MicroConf organizer, and host of the Startups For the Rest of Us podcast, continues to co-host with Derrick while Ben is in Hong Kong. Rob is becoming a believer in 3 to 6 hour work days; he is more productive and has more motivation to get things done.
As for Derrick, he read an article titled, After 5 years and $3M, here’s everything we’ve learned from building Ghost, which relates to the business model he is following for his Level product. Ghost is using the open source core product and it’s bootstrapped, which can be difficult. in this episode, Derrick pulls out a few pieces of the article that are relevant to share.Today’s Topics Include:
Piece 1: Competing on convenience with centralized platforms was a mistake; took too much time and made it a difficult experience for end usersLevel customers will either pay or go to the open source version; if they find that self-host vs. buy does not work out, there will be a transition path
Piece 2: Building a distributed team is both easier and harder than imagined; the biggest challenges came from human problems, not business problemsDrip experienced similar issues with a distributed team; Level will probably have a distributed team to find talent but not be able to compete with bigger companies
Pros and cons of remote- vs. office-based teams, such as building camaraderiePiece 3: Open source development is more broken than ever; you are criticized for not doing something or meeting certain standards
Derrick plans to set expectations up front and promote opportunities for integration; be transparent and provide valueBrand is recognition within a group of people; brand association can be positive when they trust you, but negative if the brand treats them badly
Drive word of mouth; it is one of the biggest attraction channels for companiesLinks and resources:
Rob Walling on Twitter (https://twitter.com/robwalling)Startups for the Rest of Us (http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/)
Derrick Reimer Website (http://www.derrickreimer.com/)Derrick Reimer on Twitter (https://twitter.com/derrickreimer)
Ben Orenstein Website (http://www.benorenstein.com/)Ben Orenstein on Twitter (https://twitter.com/r00k)
MicroConf (https://www.microconf.com/)Drip (https://www.drip.com/)
After 5 years and $3M, here’s everything we’ve learned from building Ghost (https://blog.ghost.org/5/)Build Your Saas Podcast (https://saas.transistor.fm/)
SaaStr (https://www.saastr.com/)

Further episodes of The Art of Product

Further podcasts by Ben Orenstein and Derrick Reimer

Website of Ben Orenstein and Derrick Reimer