
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 educational, product-led approach to marketing, and even touch on the stigma of the “low code” label with which Appsmith has chosen to align. Listen to learn Nikhil’s views and insight on open source, community, education, developer relations, and more. Highlights:Nikhil introduces himself and Appsmith (0:49)Why open source? (2:37)Lessons learned by starting with an open source approach (4:57)Appsmith community edition vs. business edition (6:33)Nikhil recounts his most significant mistakes in creating Appsmith (9:59)Nikhil shares Appsmith’s marketing strategy (12:20)The importance of nurturing your community in open source (16:01)Unexpected challenges Nikhil encountered in the early days of Appsmith (18:03)Links:NikhilLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikhil-nandagopal-05534241/Twitter: @NikilNandagopalCompany: https://www.appsmith.com/
15 Helmi 202319min

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 decided to switch to open source and the changes they made to do it (2:28)Adi reviews the pros and cons of open source for Speedb (8:34)How Adi and his team handled the pushback on the decision to move to open source (12:43)Adi’s top two mistakes in making the transition to open source (15:04)Surprises Adi encountered in switching to an open source strategy (16:38)Adi shares his advice for someone thinking about switching from closed source to open source (19:22)Links:AdiLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adi-gelvan/Company: speedb.io Open Source site: speedb.devDiscord: https://discord.com/invite/5fVUUtM2cG
8 Helmi 202323min

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 introduces herself and reviews her background in open source (0:50)Legal issues startups can run into early on (2:02)Common licensing paradigms in open source (6:00)Less common licensing options (10:40)The model Heather would use if she were starting a new business (15:21)How the challenges commercial open source startups face are different from those proprietary software companies face (16:58)Heather shares her idea of the number one mistake new startups make (26:37)Heather shares her thoughts on the future of open source startups (27:28)Links:HeatherLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heathermeeker/Twitter: @HeatherMeeker4Company: https://oss.capital/Website: HeatherMeeker.com
1 Helmi 202332min

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 implementing the strategy. Highlights:Sam introduces herself and shares her definition of product-led growth (0:45)Traditional metrics vs. product-led metrics (8:53)How product-led growth evolves once a company moves past the early stages (13:12)What kind of companies or founders product led growth is appropriate for (14:54)Sam and Emily explore questions about products that buyers love, but users hate (19:53)Moving from product-led growth to a sales-led model (21:15)Sam reviews ngrok’s moves from open source to closed source and back (23:57)Links:SamLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-crowell-richard/Twitter: https://twitter.com/SamCRichardCompany: https://ngrok.com/productbenchmarks.com
25 Tammi 202327min

Bridging The Gaps Between Policy, Community, and Commerce in Open Source with Amanda Brock
18 Tammi 202328min

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 also get some insight into Georg’s passion for open source, his views on sales, and Bitergia’s company culture.Highlights:Georg introduces himself and Bitergia (0:48)What metrics are helpful for an open source startup to track? (4:33)How Georg approaches his role as Director of Sales primarily as an educator (11:48)How Biturgia’s company culture impacts the way they sell for open source (17:41)Ideal use cases for open source metrics (24:15)Links:GeorgLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georglink/Twitter: @georglinkEmail: georglink@bitergia.comCompany: https://bitergia.com/
11 Tammi 202330min

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 community building, and the origins and operations of Jonathan’s company, Crowd.dev.Highlights:Jonathan introduces himself, and his definition of community-led growth (0:45)The motivation behind community-led growth strategies (3:04)Gauging the health of a community (8:14)The origins of Crowd.dev and how it works to make community building easier (12:47)Common pain points in community building and how to keep cultivating a healthy one (16:17)Jonathan’s path to starting his own company (18:08)Links:JonathanLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathimer/Twitter: https://twitter.com/jonathimerCompany: https://www.crowd.dev/
4 Tammi 202323min

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 effective. Listen to hear Brian's advice and resources to improve your documentation. Highlights:Brian introduces himself and his role at DigitalOcean (0:47)Why does documentation matter? (3:29)The most common mistake people make with documentation (7:07)Why are docs frequently neglected? (11:37)Who should write the docs? (15:47)How to ensure your docs are efficient (20:21)When should you start writing your documentation? (24:32)Links:BrianLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/macdonaldeditorial/Twitter: https://twitter.com/bmac_editorCompany: https://www.digitalocean.com/Resources: Verbs Not Nouns Slides: https://archive.org/details/verbs-not-nouns-ato-2022Write The Docs Community: https://www.writethedocs.org/
28 Joulu 202228min