I am not sure making an open source product defensible is the right idea. I'd monetize in one or more of the following ways: 1. Extend the open source product

I am not sure making an open source product defensible is the right idea. I'd monetize in one or more of the following ways: 1. Extend the open source product in ways which makes it more valuable for specific groups of people, sell licenses to those people. As the product matures and you add more new features, maybe some of the early extended features get pushed into the open source product. 2. Offer monthly/annual support agreements to people who sign up for a licensed version. 3. Offer to make custom modifications for a fee for specific clients (this might be a way to help start doing #1 too). A lot of this will boil down to marketing the benefits to the right groups of people and finding features which are valuable to businesses over the open source edition -- this is true for open source just as it is to proprietary products. I don't see how (not to say it is impossible) Patreon or similar platforms will lead to enough income to make this a profitable project, although they may help validate people are willing to pay something for the product.