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For others looking for ways to monetize open source, we’ve learned at Ionic that many enterprises aren’t just looking to buy a premium version of your OSS proje

For others looking for ways to monetize open source, we’ve learned at Ionic that many enterprises aren’t just looking to buy a premium version of your OSS project, they want your help solving (with software) a ton of related challenges around the technology/space, too. The big money is in doing those things too and not just being one small piece of the puzzle. So, for us, that means helping teams be successful with app development in general using our software/tech in the process (i.e. scalable software product on a yearly subscription and the same as sold to other customers, not custom development). If you want to go down that route, get ready to have excellent support and be willing to be seen as an expert that your customers are going to call upon. But support is tablestakes for B2B so that comes with the territory. Of course, this is no small leap. Going from having a successful open source project to building an enterprise business around it is really hard and took a lot longer than I expected. Looking back I wish we spent a little less time worrying about GitHub stars and more about solving enterprise problems, but we made it through! Of course this is just one way to monetize and I’m also excited about the growing OSS sustainability offerings out there, like Tidelift

mistrial9 8y ago
companies outsource the jobs that are the hardest, least-desirable, or worst case, within some turf war or other management dysfunction.. plenty of those also pay "the big money" ... for some duration.. its not easy
usaphp 8y ago
Isn't it just consulting? How is it different from just offering dev services as a feeelance agency?
- TAForObvReasons 8y ago
  It is, the open source project functions as marketing for your abilities to develop solutions in the space.
- gk1 8y ago
  Because you can build products around the open-source core. So then you are selling enterprise products, not services.
- yesimahuman 8y ago
  No, you are shipping and licensing a software product (like SaaS) and you’re not building custom solutions (in the general case), but you are backing it with support. Support is also not the same as consulting hours as you aren’t billing hourly for it and customers can only purchase it if they also pay for the software. It’s probably more like an insurance policy than anything (and should be high margin on its own) Support is tablestakes for B2B so this isn’t unique to OSS
  - marpstar 8y ago
    Sounds like fixed-price consulting to me.
    - yesimahuman 8y ago
      No, it’s more like a SaaS model. Yearly subscription/license and you’re not doing bespoke development
    - krn 8y ago
      > Sounds like fixed-price consulting to me. Is there no difference between technical support and consulting? I see technical support as answering emails and picking up the phone when someone needs the help using your product. For instance, AWS Support Plans[1]. [1] https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/plans/ https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/plans/
      - yesimahuman 8y ago
        Yes there is s huge difference. One is a yearly subscription and the other is billed per-hour or is a set of consumable hours you buy one-off. Most teams don’t just sell support on its own, you only get it if you have a subscription to the software product behind it.
        deleted 8y ago
        [deleted]
  - 8y ago
em-bee 8y ago
this sounds much better than what the article suggests which i almost stopped reading at "making money from commercial licenses". that model just doesn't work for me because while it may work financially (and i have seen companies being successful with it), it prevents the product from being fully immersed into the Free Software ecosystem. to sell commercial licenses i need to own 100% of the code, which means i can't easily accept outside contributions, nor can i use GPLd libraries which would conflict a commercial license. i do not want to be limited in my choice of tools to suit a commercial license. that's not what i think a good Free Software project should be like. your comment therefore feels like a relief. my question is though, how to get the companies interested when the product is not yet proven? how to start, find the first customers? those who will pay enough for support to allow me to finish building the product?
- mk926 8y ago
  Yes, I have the same question?

mistrial9 8y ago

companies outsource the jobs that are the hardest, least-desirable, or worst case, within some turf war or other management dysfunction.. plenty of those also pay "the big money" ... for some duration.. its not easy

usaphp 8y ago

Isn't it just consulting? How is it different from just offering dev services as a feeelance agency?

TAForObvReasons 8y ago
It is, the open source project functions as marketing for your abilities to develop solutions in the space.
gk1 8y ago
Because you can build products around the open-source core. So then you are selling enterprise products, not services.
yesimahuman 8y ago
No, you are shipping and licensing a software product (like SaaS) and you’re not building custom solutions (in the general case), but you are backing it with support. Support is also not the same as consulting hours as you aren’t billing hourly for it and customers can only purchase it if they also pay for the software. It’s probably more like an insurance policy than anything (and should be high margin on its own) Support is tablestakes for B2B so this isn’t unique to OSS
- marpstar 8y ago
  Sounds like fixed-price consulting to me.
  - yesimahuman 8y ago
    No, it’s more like a SaaS model. Yearly subscription/license and you’re not doing bespoke development
  - krn 8y ago
    > Sounds like fixed-price consulting to me. Is there no difference between technical support and consulting? I see technical support as answering emails and picking up the phone when someone needs the help using your product. For instance, AWS Support Plans[1]. [1] https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/plans/ https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/plans/
    - yesimahuman 8y ago
      Yes there is s huge difference. One is a yearly subscription and the other is billed per-hour or is a set of consumable hours you buy one-off. Most teams don’t just sell support on its own, you only get it if you have a subscription to the software product behind it.
      - deleted 8y ago
        [deleted]
- 8y ago

em-bee 8y ago

this sounds much better than what the article suggests which i almost stopped reading at "making money from commercial licenses". that model just doesn't work for me because while it may work financially (and i have seen companies being successful with it), it prevents the product from being fully immersed into the Free Software ecosystem. to sell commercial licenses i need to own 100% of the code, which means i can't easily accept outside contributions, nor can i use GPLd libraries which would conflict a commercial license. i do not want to be limited in my choice of tools to suit a commercial license. that's not what i think a good Free Software project should be like. your comment therefore feels like a relief. my question is though, how to get the companies interested when the product is not yet proven? how to start, find the first customers? those who will pay enough for support to allow me to finish building the product?

mk926 8y ago
Yes, I have the same question?