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Artwork for The Business of Open Source

The Business of Open Source

Emily Omier
Open Source
Open Source Software
Kubernetes
Kubecon
Community Engagement
Software Development
Database Management
Activepieces
Docker
Venture Capital
Developer Tools
User Experience
Harper
Artificial Intelligence
Saas
CNCF
Continue.dev
Go To Market Strategy
Pricing Strategy
Cloud Services

Whether you're a founder of an open source startup, an open source maintainer or just an open source enthusiast, join host Emily Omier as she talks to the people who work at the intersection of open source and business, from startup founders to leaders of open source giants and all the people who help open source startups grow.

PublishesWeeklyEpisodes281Founded6 years ago
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TechnologyBusinessEntrepreneurship

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Artwork for The Business of Open Source

Latest Episodes

This week on The Business of Open Source, I spoke with Adam Jacob, co-founder and CEO of the Swamp Club.

The first thing we talked about was When To Quit. System Initiative, Adam’s second company (after Chef), was one he ultimately shut down after d... more

In this episode of The Business of Open Source, I spoke with Dima Grossman, founder and CTO at Novu.

For Novu, being open source is part of the go to market strategy. Dima says a big part of the motivation behind going open source to get the widest ... more

In this episode of The Business of Open Source, I spoke with Kris Zyp, SVP of engineering at HarperDB, in the third and final episode in the series about how Harper went from a closed-source company to an open source company.

We talked about what Kr... more

In today’s episode of The Business of Open Source, I spoke with Matt Watson, CEO of Fullscale, about a number of topics related to product development and how AI is changing that.

Let’s start with a question: What is the difference between a softwar... more

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Recent Guests

Kris Zyp
VP of Engineering at Harper (open source transition)
Harper
Episode: A Product Strategy Framework for Going from Closed to Open Source
Matt Watson
CEO of Fullscale; author and newsletter creator
Fullscale
Episode: Giving your Users a Well-Lit Path with Matt Watson
Joshua Drake
Founder of Command Prompt
Command Prompt
Episode: Making AI an Opportunity with Joshua Drake
Stephen Goldberg
CEO and co-founder of Harper
Harper
Episode: From Closed to Open: Shortening Sales Cycles with Stephen Goldberg
Sam Alba
CEO and founder of Mendral
Mendral
Episode: Does AI Make Open Core Models More Difficult? with Sam Alba
Ethan Arrowood
Head of Open Source Engineering at Harper
Harper
Episode: Closed to Open Source Series: Doing Open Source "Right" with Ethan Arrowood
Yann Lechelle
Executive president and co-founder of Probabl
Probabl
Episode: The Value of Code is Dropping to Zero with Yann Lechelle
Manik Surtani
CTO of the Agentic AI Foundation
Agentic AI Foundation
Episode: Why the World Needs the Agentic AI Foundation with Manik Surtani
Glauber Costa
CEO and founder of Turso
Turso
Episode: The AI-Induced Death of A Bug Bounty Program with Glauber Costa

Host

Emily Omier
Host of The Business of Open Source

Reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars from 8 ratings
  • Such a wealth of knowledge! đź§ 

    This is such a great resource for anyone interested in the world of open source! No matter the subject, you’re guaranteed to gain something from every episode, and I can’t recommend tuning in for all of Emily and her guests’ tremendous insights enough. 🙌

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    ASobering
    United States4 years ago

Listeners Say

Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.

This show delivers deep insights into open source business with practical, actionable takeaways for monetization and governance.
Guests consistently bring real-world experience, making complex topics approachable for operators and sponsors alike.
Listeners appreciate the nuanced discussions on open core vs. open foundation models and governance decisions.

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Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

From Closed to Open: Shortening Sales Cycles with Stephen Goldberg
Q: Did open sourcing cannibalize enterprise sales?
No significant cannibalization; it built trust and shortened pilots, with the main value in faster technical validation and reduced support load.
From Closed to Open: Shortening Sales Cycles with Stephen Goldberg
Q: What were the board's concerns and how did you address them?
The board worried about authenticity and cost; the team emphasized transparency, de-risking through clear licensing, and a careful, staged rollout to avoid alienating developers.
Why the World Needs the Agentic AI Foundation with Manik Surtani
Q: What does the Agentic AI Foundation do?
The foundation serves as a governance and collaboration platform that amplifies open source agentic projects, runs working groups on security and privacy, hosts events like AgentCon, and provides a structured lifecycle for projects from growth to impact, with a sandbox pathway in development.
Why the World Needs the Agentic AI Foundation with Manik Surtani
Q: Why did you decide to become part of the Linux Foundation?
We evaluated multiple foundations and chose the Linux Foundation because it offers a foundation‑as‑a‑service model with the freedom to define our own trajectory while adhering to broad open source rules, enabling rapid launch and broad autonomy.
Why the World Needs the Agentic AI Foundation with Manik Surtani
Q: Tell me a little bit more about why you think this is important to keep this technology open source.
Open source lowers the risk of power concentration by ensuring that the infrastructure, standards, and protocols are openly accessible and governed, which in turn expands total addressable markets and fosters competition based on product value rather than vendor lock‑in.

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Frequently Asked Questions About The Business of Open Source

What is The Business of Open Source about and what kind of topics does it cover?

The show centers on the business side of open source, featuring founders, executives, and open source leaders who discuss monetization, governance, licensing, and product strategy in open source-enabled products. Episodes frequently explore how open source interacts with enterprise sales, pricing, governance, and AI-driven tooling, with practical anecdotes about community building, open core models, and open foundations. A notable strength is the depth of expert guests who bring hands-on experience from startups and established open source-led companies, making it especially useful for listeners looking to commercialize or govern open source software while maintaining community trust.

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How many listeners does The Business of Open Source get?

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To see how many followers or subscribers The Business of Open Source has on Spotify and other platforms such as Castbox and Podcast Addict, simply upgrade your account. You'll also find viewership figures for their YouTube channel if they have one.

Which podcasts are similar to The Business of Open Source?

These podcasts share a similar audience with The Business of Open Source:

1. The AI Daily Brief: Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis
2. The a16z Show
3. Hard Fork
4. The Daily

How many episodes of The Business of Open Source are there?

The Business of Open Source launched 6 years ago and published 281 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

How do I contact The Business of Open Source?

Our systems regularly scour the web to find email addresses and social media links for this podcast. We scanned the web and collated all of the contact information that we could find in our podcast database. But in the unlikely event that you can't find what you're looking for, our concierge service lets you request our research team to source better contacts for you.

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What guests have appeared on The Business of Open Source?

Recent guests on The Business of Open Source include:

1. Kris Zyp
2. Matt Watson
3. Joshua Drake
4. Stephen Goldberg
5. Sam Alba
6. Ethan Arrowood
7. Yann Lechelle
8. Manik Surtani

To view more recent guests and their details, simply upgrade your Rephonic account. You'll also get access to a typical guest profile to help you decide if the show is worth pitching.

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