Amanda “Robby” Robson is a Partner at Cowboy Ventures and the co-host of the Open Source Startup Podcast. In this episode, Robby shares insights on what she’s looking for in open-source founders to potentially invest in, including the importance of being able to manage both your community and your paid model simultaneously. Robby and I also discuss the importance and pitfalls of choosing a monetization strategy, as well as the dangers of having too many monetization models too soon. Throughout our conversation, Robby highlights the specific challenges that open-source founders face, and how she’s seen successful founders either avoid or overcome them.
Highlights:
- I introduce Robby, who is a Partner at Cowboy Ventures and the co-host of the Open Source Startup Podcast (00:22)
- Robby gives some insight into how she evaluates startups from an investment perspective, and the peculiarities that go into evaluating an open-source startup (00:45)
- The nuances of evaluating the market opportunity for an open-source company (05:20)
- A common mistake Robby seeks early stage founders make when evaluating their market size (08:06)
- Robby shares what she’s learned about best practices for seed-stage startups who are looking to determine their monetization strategy (10:02)
- The dangers of having too many monetization models as an early stage startup (13:22)
- Traits that Robby feels are most valuable for an open-source founder to possess (14:48)
- Robby reveals the common traps that open-source founders fall into (17:13)
- Why Robby feels that successfully monetizing an open-source company has more to do with resources than timing (19:46)
- Robby’s thoughts on whether she would ever found an open-source company and how she would approach it (21:18)
- How Robby’s thoughts have changed on whether open source projects need to intentionally become a company or vice versa (23:44)
- What it’s like to advice against the open-source business model as a venture capitalist (29:10)
Links:
Robby
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.