As a corporate decision maker, I wouldn't buy or license a library when there's only a single person behind it. What happens if that person suddenly stops worki

As a corporate decision maker, I wouldn't buy or license a library when there's only a single person behind it. What happens if that person suddenly stops working? Even if the source is available, the sole expert on that code is gone, so it's may be difficult to keep on going. Just open sourcing it (under a liberal license) may invite freeloading and potentially forking. Regarding less liberal licensing, many companies will not even consider any (A)GPL code, so a restrictive license is likely not making your business more successful. So what remains? If you can make a fantastic product that's way ahead of the market, the license and mode of delivery does not matter much, you can even keep it closed source as long as you provide the customers a continuity strategy (e.g. via a code escrow company that will open source it in case your company ceases to exist). If your product isn't that much ahead of other components, open sourcing it may boost popularity but can not guarantee you customers or income. Edit: typo, reworded second paragraph.