Ask HN: How to sustain yourself with an open source business model?
Hey! I'm currently working on a social platform for developers with tons of cool features (hopefully one day you'll see it on hn) and I'm hesitating on whether I should go opensource. It would really make sense with this tech platform and I'd love to build this product with many other people but, I also want to be able to sustain myself.
I don't find it fair if other people contribute to the project and then I get the profits. How can I have an open source model that survives without profiting off other people's labour and that can sustain me?
Thanks for your help with this problem I am facing.
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What you need my friend is a strategy. Are there features that if delivered create outsized economic returns?
You need to invert your thinking. Nobody gives a shit about you, your product, your company, your mission, open source. Money is directly derived by delivering value to another party in a way that they could not or would not be able to create themselves.
Open Source software utilizes a confluence of patent law and hippy bullshit to create a safe space for collaboration and advancement and yada yada yada.
I didn’t invent fire, but I can start a hell of a bbq.
Do shit that matters and everything will be fine.
The best thing that you can ever do is make a ton of money, hire a ton of people, pay your taxes, and be there when your are called upon.