It sounds like you're really invested in the idea of Open Source, which is cool and all. But for a bit of perspective, imagine instead that you were just as in

It sounds like you're really invested in the idea of Open Source, which is cool and all. But for a bit of perspective, imagine instead that you were just as invested in puppetry. As in: How to build a business around software (involving puppetry)? Would it make sense for an outsider looking in to suggest that maybe you should put that whole puppetry bit on the back burner and instead double down on the Software part, since that's a much easier road? Maybe after the Software and Business parts are ticking away nicely, you could start adding some puppetry in on the fringes, or as a separate thing even. But maybe not start off right away mixing the two. Because that seems a lot more difficult.