4 ms·

I'd like to encourage founders who are participating in this to consider directing at least some of their pledges to support open source software. I don't thin

I'd like to encourage founders who are participating in this to consider directing at least some of their pledges to support open source software. I don't think there are any YC companies which would have existed if it hadn't been for a large amount of open source software; if you want to maximize the impact of your donations, helping the projects which build tools the next generation of startups will rely on is a pretty good way to go. (At Tarsnap, I mostly fund the FreeBSD Foundation and other BSD-related organizations, but that's primarily because those are the groups whose work I am most familiar with and can judge most effectively. There are plenty of other organizations doing great work with open source software which can benefit from funding; but of course I'd love to see everybody here supporting the FreeBSD Foundation too.)

lifeisstillgood 10y ago
I would similarly like to encourage founders to build a ethos of "giving back to the community" in their day to day companies. Even if the start up does not set the world (and stock market) on fire, the accumulated talent and energy would be of immense use in hack-a-days, in food shelters and of course in open source projects and conferences We want your money tomorrow, of course, but just in case you don't make any, we will take your time and energy today :-)
- cperciva 10y ago
  Right. And at Tarsnap I do exactly that -- but Tarsnap is designed to be profitable. For startups which lose money hand over fist, it may be hard to justify making such contributions until after they're acquired.
  - BostonEnginerd 10y ago
    And thank you for both of those things -- making a small profitable business and giving back to the community!
  - lifeisstillgood 10y ago
    I am going to backtrack wildly here - I did not mean to imply your (very large) OSS contributions had not happened. I think your track record speaks for itself. On reflection I was speaking from a worry that the majority of companies I have worked for did not / refused to allow OSS contributions, and that a lot of engineering talent was squandered on proprietary work of dubious value. Fixing that seems like it would unleash enormous value across the economy / society. As such startups are perhaps less relevant to the solution, but startups can be the sexy blueprints of the future, copied by others, so it might help.
    - cperciva 10y ago
      Don't worry, I think I understood what you meant. I was just offering a possible explanation of why some startups might be better positioned to contribute later rather than right now. For example, I don't think I saw any code contributions from WhatsApp to FreeBSD, and I know Tarsnap donated more to the FreeBSD Foundation than WhatsApp did pre-acquisition -- but when they were acquired and Jan Koum suddenly had money available, he made the largest donation the Foundation ever received. So, if you can contribute now, great; if not, well, keep doing what you're doing, and if you're lucky enough to have a big exit hopefully you'll remember us at that point.
      - lifeisstillgood 10y ago
        I'm glad to hear about the BSD donation. And, I guess the status quo is ok, it's just we live in societies built off investments in open science and open standards and yet we privatise the value this created as if the prior foundations were just a natural phenomenon <lament over>
        cperciva 10y ago
        This is approaching the crux of the GPL vs BSD philosophical divide, actually. Some people say "you used my work and made money from it? You should share", while others (myself included) say "you used my work and made money from it? Awesome, great to know that you managed to make something people wanted out of it".
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]

lifeisstillgood 10y ago

I would similarly like to encourage founders to build a ethos of "giving back to the community" in their day to day companies. Even if the start up does not set the world (and stock market) on fire, the accumulated talent and energy would be of immense use in hack-a-days, in food shelters and of course in open source projects and conferences We want your money tomorrow, of course, but just in case you don't make any, we will take your time and energy today :-)

cperciva 10y ago
Right. And at Tarsnap I do exactly that -- but Tarsnap is designed to be profitable. For startups which lose money hand over fist, it may be hard to justify making such contributions until after they're acquired.
- BostonEnginerd 10y ago
  And thank you for both of those things -- making a small profitable business and giving back to the community!
- lifeisstillgood 10y ago
  I am going to backtrack wildly here - I did not mean to imply your (very large) OSS contributions had not happened. I think your track record speaks for itself. On reflection I was speaking from a worry that the majority of companies I have worked for did not / refused to allow OSS contributions, and that a lot of engineering talent was squandered on proprietary work of dubious value. Fixing that seems like it would unleash enormous value across the economy / society. As such startups are perhaps less relevant to the solution, but startups can be the sexy blueprints of the future, copied by others, so it might help.
  - cperciva 10y ago
    Don't worry, I think I understood what you meant. I was just offering a possible explanation of why some startups might be better positioned to contribute later rather than right now. For example, I don't think I saw any code contributions from WhatsApp to FreeBSD, and I know Tarsnap donated more to the FreeBSD Foundation than WhatsApp did pre-acquisition -- but when they were acquired and Jan Koum suddenly had money available, he made the largest donation the Foundation ever received. So, if you can contribute now, great; if not, well, keep doing what you're doing, and if you're lucky enough to have a big exit hopefully you'll remember us at that point.
    - lifeisstillgood 10y ago
      I'm glad to hear about the BSD donation. And, I guess the status quo is ok, it's just we live in societies built off investments in open science and open standards and yet we privatise the value this created as if the prior foundations were just a natural phenomenon <lament over>
      - cperciva 10y ago
        This is approaching the crux of the GPL vs BSD philosophical divide, actually. Some people say "you used my work and made money from it? You should share", while others (myself included) say "you used my work and made money from it? Awesome, great to know that you managed to make something people wanted out of it".
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]