Open Source Founders' Summit
I go to a lot of conferences, and recently decided I wanted to try my hand at putting one on. My idea is that there should be a conference out there that’s dedicated just to building open source businesses — rather than having open source business topics shoved in next to technical talks (not a bad thing, but business will always be a bit of a second-class citizen at a tech conference).
Does such a thing exist? Yup. I’m going to one next week (and want to meet you if you’ll be there too!). Open Core Summit is the closest to what I’m envisioning. But it’s put on by a venture fund and, by definition, going to be taking a VC-centric view of open source businesses. There was also Cloud Native Startup Day at KubeCon in Chicago and HeavyBit’s DevGuild: Open Source. Both of those were super focused on dev tools.
So I want to create a 100% open source business conference that’s:
1) Focused on DevTools and non-DevTools
2) Includes VC-backed and bootstrapped companies
I don’t think this exists. But I’d love some feedback from people on the list. Here’s a Google Doc with the description, or you can check it out below.
Here’s what I want to know, in broad terms: 1) Is this a stupid idea? 2) Is this a good enough idea that you personally would be interested in coming?
Thanks, and if you are at Open Source Experience in Paris on Wednesday or Open Core Summit on Thursday, let me know!
Open Source Founders’ Summit
Are you the founder of an open source company who’s looking for a place to connect with other open source founders and get concrete strategies for building financially successful open source companies?
Join us on May 27th and 28th in Paris for an event that will bring together open source founders of companies at all maturity levels to share actionable strategies and tactics and build a community of open source founders and business leaders.
Why is this event important?
Open source companies face challenges and opportunities that proprietary software companies never encounter — and general startup programs, investors and employees often won’t understand how to navigate these challenges or take advantage of the opportunities unless they have open source experience. This event gives open source founders and operators a place to learn from each other and build a community that doesn’t exist elsewhere.
The key objectives
Connect and collaborate: A deliberately small-scale event to facilitate meaningful interactions between founders.
Get actionable takeaways: Talks that provide concrete, practical skills and strategies that attendees can put into place in their companies, focused on open-source related topics attendees won’t find addressed elsewhere.
Expand the conversation about open source businesses: Open source companies include DevTool and non-DevTool companies, bootstrapped and venture funded companies. They all have something to contribute to the conversation about open source businesses.
Focus on revenue growth: Focus the conversations on business fundamentals like revenue, unit economics and profitability, not just valuations.
What’s in it for you?
Benchmark your performance: See how your stats measure up — or even which stats you should care about — and how to improve them.
Gain new skills: Get concrete strategies and tactics to try out in your business.
Form lasting connections: Build relationships with industry leaders and peers.
Get unstuck: Struggling with something specific right now? Get input from peers, more mature companies and other industry leaders to get you unstuck.
What will the event look like?
Morning talks: Single-track addresses that are both thought provoking and actionable. No panels.
Afternoon unconference workshops: Afternoon breakout sessions where founders can discuss specific open source business challenges, from community building to revenue building to acquisitions.
Networking Breaks: Social events to provide plenty of time + space for one-on-one conversations and connections.
Join us to learn, laugh and build a stronger ecosystem of open source businesses together.
Dates: May 27th and 28th
Location: Paris, France (venue TBD)