A Second-Time Founder’s First Foray Into Open Source with Lars Kamp

Lars Kamp is the Co-Founder and CEO of Fix — and as you listen to this episode, you’ll notice that the company rebranded, from Some Engineering (the company) and Resoto (the project).

In this episode, Lars describes what he’s learned from founding and working at multiple start-ups, as well as the main differentiators he’s experienced founding his first open-source startup. Lars describes his though process when it comes to selecting co-founders, and illustrates why it’s even more important to be discerning when selecting investors. Lars and I also discuss the advantages that open-source gives to founders who are focused on the distribution strategy for their product, and Lars reveals why he is a big proponent of having docs be a part of your product-led growth strategy.

Highlights:

  • I introduce Lars, (00:23)

  • Lars describes what he does and the user groups they work with (00:47)

  • How a tweet by Jeff Barr inspired Lars and his co-founders to start working on Resoto (01:37)

  • What it was like for Lars to start a company with co-founders he didn’t know very well (05:03)

  • Why Lars went from working with closed-source SaaS companies to founding an open-source company (07:26)

  • The main differences Lars has found between founding a SaaS startup and an open-source company (09:24)

  • Lars describes the value he sees in investing in really good docs (10:44)

  • Why Lars focuses more on distribution than product as a second-time founder (13:19)

  • What third time founders think about and what they don’t (16:18)

  • Lars’ advice to founders (18:40)

  • Why Lars sees a big advantage in open-source business models, especially when it comes to distribution (20:09)

  • The advice Lars would give himself if he could go back in time to the early days of Resoto (28:31)

  • How to get in touch with Lars (32:23)

Links:

Lars

Chris Hill