The open source hippy to open source hustler spectrum

In the world of open source startups, there’s a tension between open source purists and people who see open source primarily as a tool to use on the road to building a successful company.

For example, when someone says, “I don’t think you can build a dev tool company today that isn’t open source,” that person is pretty far on the ‘open source hustler’ side of the spectrum. Open source is just a tool to get the successful company.

The most successful open source companies are run by people who have a foot firmly in both camps. They are open source purists in one sense, in that they’ll often say that a part of the reason to build an open source company was because they fundamentally believe in the principles behind open source. Not “open source is the best way to build a company” but “the only kind of company I personally was interested in building was an open source company.” At the same time, they’re committed to building a company, which means caring about revenue and not just giving absolutely everything away.

My take? If you don’t have even a drop of the open source hippy in you, don’t bother with an open source company. And if you don’t have even a drop of the open source hustler in you, don’t quit your day job.