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Artwork for Open Source Startup Podcast

Open Source Startup Podcast

Robby (MTF); Tim (Essence VC)
Open Source
Machine Learning
Kubernetes
Github
Fintech
Open Source Software
Developer Experience
AI Agents
Python Notebooks
Data Engineering
Metalbear
Portia Labs
Agents
Clickhouse
Authorization
User Experience
Devops
Chroma
Python
Ampersand

The leading podcast on how to build a successful open source company. Learn from the founders of HashiCorp, Chronosphere, Vercel, MongoDB, DBT, mobile.dev and more!

PublishesTwice monthlyEpisodes200Founded6 years ago
Number of ListenersCategory
Technology

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Artwork for Open Source Startup Podcast

Latest Episodes

This episode has our co-hosts Robby and Tim in conversation with Warp founder Zach Lloyd as he shares the company story and decision to open source their core product: the terminal.

They now provide an open source agentic development environment (b... more

This Open Source Startup Podcast episode has our co-hosts Robby and Tim in conversation with Pavlo Baron from Platform Engineering Labs - creators of open source infra-as-code platform formae.

This podcast explores why traditional infrastructure-as... more

This Open Source Startup Podcast episode has our co-hosts Robby and Tim in conversation with Dr. Felipe Huici, CEO of Unikraft - the compute layer for sandboxes, AI agents, or any workload with VM-grade isolation.

Their open source, also called uni... more

This Open Source Startup Podcast episode has our co-hosts Robby and Tim in conversation with James Bayer, Chief Product Officer at software development platform Flox.

Flox's open source, also called flox, provides a software environment platform pow... more

Key Facts

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Recent Guests

Felipe Huici
CEO of Unikraft
Unikraft
Episode: E198: How Unikraft Launches AI Agents in
James Bayer
Product leader with experience at Pivotal, HashiCorp, Flox
Flox
Episode: E197: The Evolution of Building Open Source Businesses from HashiCorp to Flox
Pedram Amini
Creator of Maestro, open source founder
Maestro (Maestro platform)
Episode: E193: Managing 100s of Agents with Maestro
Catherine Jue
CEO and co-founder of Kernel
Kernel
Episode: E191: Super Fast Infra for Agents to Use the Internet
Morgante Pell
Founder of Grit, an AI agent company focused on software maintenance
Grit
Episode: E179: LLMs for Software Maintenance (the Grit Story)
Ben Sigelman
Co-founder of Lightstep and creator of OpenTelemetry
Lightstep
Episode: E169: Building New Standards for Observability - Lightstep & OpenTelemetry
Kevin Wang
CEO of Fossa
Fossa
Episode: E166: Making Open Source Reliable & Secure with Fossa
Andrew Knut
CEO of Mermaid Chart
Mermaid Chart
Episode: E158: Open Source Diagramming and Charting with Mermaid Chart
Atai Barkai
Co-founder of Copilotkit
Copilotkit
Episode: E157: Build Your Own Production-Grade AI CoPilots With Copilotkit

Host

Tim Chen and Robby
Co-hosts with multiple affiliations across OSS and investment/fund ecosystems, regularly leading the show.

Reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars from 52 ratings
  • Awesome interviews

    Tim & Robbie are great and have interesting conversations each episode 🦊❤️

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    SavPoi
    United States4 years ago
  • So interesting!

    Love hearing from founders about how they got to where they are today :)

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    malloryck
    United States4 years ago
  • 5/5

    Lots of insightful stuff on this show

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    IowaDavid
    United States4 years ago
  • Insightful and Educational

    These conversations demystify the Open Source Startup world. This engaging podcast is a must listen!

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    ErmaTheLurker
    United States4 years ago
  • Fantastic interviews!

    Hi from Kitcaster! 🦊👋

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    radioestes
    United States4 years ago

Listeners Say

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

Thoughtful founder-focused conversations with practical takeaways.
Clear insights into open-source startups and infrastructure.
High-quality guests and actionable stories from the OSS world.
Excellent for listeners curious about building open-source businesses and tooling.”

Chart Rankings

How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.

Apple Podcasts
#143
Russia/Technology
Apple Podcasts
#201
Colombia/Technology
Apple Podcasts
#203
Norway/Technology

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

E198: How Unikraft Launches AI Agents in
Q: What do you see as the biggest opportunities and current hot takes in the infra/agent space, especially around GPUs and AI workloads?
The biggest opportunity lies in a platform that combines Lambda-like millisecond startup with EC2-like flexibility, capable of running any workload for agents and AI tasks. While GPUs are important for certain workloads, the platform aims to provide just-in-time GPU access and scalable VM-based execution, maintaining security and performance without locking customers into a single vendor or overly limited compute offering.
E198: How Unikraft Launches AI Agents in
Q: Can you explain what Unikraft is and how Unikernel fits into the platform you offer?
Unikraft is the Linux Foundation project that builds specialized VMs from a Dockerfile-like specification, enabling minimal OS images tailored to the target application. It can produce Unikernel or standard Linux VMs depending on workload, with tight OS component selection to minimize surface area and maximize startup speed. For generic workloads where runtime behavior is uncertain, a Linux VM is preferred, whereas for well-defined tasks a Unikernel offers smaller footprints and faster startup.
E198: How Unikraft Launches AI Agents in
Q: So in the very beginning, what was the commercial offering going to look like and who were you targeting?
In the early days the focus was on tech-savvy companies that could grasp the value of specialized VMs and the broader platform. Prisma became the first major customer, demonstrating the potential scale and hardware efficiency to run millions of databases with minimal hardware. The approach was horizontal rather than targeting a single vertical, allowing the platform to apply to databases, functions, and later headless browsers and agents.
E195: Taking on the New AI Attack Surface With Manifold: Runtime, Skills & Supply Chains
Q: What lessons from LLMGuard are you applying to Manifest?
Open-source security is hard, and it's crucial to define the open-core and licensing early while focusing on delivering practical, enterprise-ready features that drive real adoption rather than just hype.
E195: Taking on the New AI Attack Surface With Manifold: Runtime, Skills & Supply Chains
Q: How does Manifest fit into your broader mission and who are the main users today?
Manifest provides a shared, open foundation for inventory and risk across the agent supply chain, targeting both developers and security teams who need a low-noise, enterprise-ready way to govern assets and actions.

Audience Metrics

Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Open Source Startup Podcast

What is Open Source Startup Podcast about and what kind of topics does it cover?

Open source startup-focused conversations with founders, leaders, and technologists building OSS-powered companies and developer tools. Episodes typically explore startup journeys, open-source business models, product strategy, and technical infrastructure for scaling open projects. Notable angles include how teams pivot around customer needs, manage open-source communities, and navigate AI/infra disruptors, often featuring hands-on stories from early origins to scale. The show tends to appeal to practitioners, founders, engineers, and decision-makers seeking practical lessons, candid founder stories, and insights into open-source ecosystems and tooling.

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Rephonic provides a wide range of podcast stats for Open Source Startup Podcast. We scanned the web and collated all of the information that we could find in our comprehensive podcast database. See how many people listen to Open Source Startup Podcast and access YouTube viewership numbers, download stats, audience demographics, chart rankings, ratings, reviews and more.

How many listeners does Open Source Startup Podcast get?

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To see how many followers or subscribers Open Source Startup Podcast 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 Open Source Startup Podcast?

These podcasts share a similar audience with Open Source Startup Podcast:

1. Y Combinator Startup Podcast
2. Syntax - Tasty Web Development Treats
3. The a16z Show
4. Training Data
5. Software Engineering Daily

How many episodes of Open Source Startup Podcast are there?

Open Source Startup Podcast launched 6 years ago and published 200 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

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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 Open Source Startup Podcast?

Recent guests on Open Source Startup Podcast include:

1. Felipe Huici
2. James Bayer
3. Pedram Amini
4. Catherine Jue
5. Morgante Pell
6. Ben Sigelman
7. Kevin Wang
8. Andrew Knut

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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