From Project to Profit with Heather Meeker

This week on The Business of Open Source I talked to Heather Meeker, General Partner of OSS Capital and author of From Project to Profit, How to Build a Business around your Open Source Project. We talked about some things that I entirely agree with, and then there were some points I challenged Heather on — all in all, it was fabulous conversation. 

Here’s what we covered:

• Why you should think of your project and product as two different products so you avoid thinking of your open source project as a loss leader and get your incentives right
• The differences between supplementary and complementary products, and how the relationship between project and product is often complementary, even in situations where that relationship is non-obvious
• We disagreed about pricing — should COSS businesses have cheaper products than closed-source companies? 
• Why cares about your being open source? 
• Are open source companies more capital efficient? Heather says so, but I’m not convinced. 
• Heather also talked about how they select companies to invest in
• Do open source companies by definition do a better job at paying attention to user / customer demand? 

Check out the episode, and check out more about Heather Meeker here: 

Personal website

OSS Capital

LinkedIn

What is The Business of Open Source?

Whether you're a founder of an open source startup, an open source maintainer or just an open source enthusiast, join host Emily Omier as she talks to the people who work at the intersection of open source and business, from startup founders to leaders of open source giants and all the people who help open source startups grow.