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January 13, 2005
Building an Open Source services company
I figured I should put my money where my mouth is and, after talking about other Open Source service companies, describe what I would consider to be some of the building blocks of an Open Source services company. Here we go...
Successful Open Source projects are built around a healthy community. To be a successful Open Source services company, you need to be a part of that community. The reason is pretty simple: Because that is where your customers will expect to find you.
Make sure your employees (no, not you Mr. Chairman or CEO) are visible to the public. Get your employees to write about the Open Source project in articles or books. Get them to speak about the software at OSCON or ApacheCon. Make sure they rank high on Google for a particular project. The reason is pretty simple: Because that is where your customers will expect to find you. When you send someone to work onsite for a customer, chances are pretty high that your customer will first enter the name into Google and see what the result is (I've actually seen a customer do this).
Work hard to gain the respect of the project you expect to be providing services for. Take on a role no-one else wants in the project (release-manager for example). If you don't take an active role or give something back, then the community may kill your business with a single weblog post or email. Treat the community fair and you'll be treated the same in return. If in doubt - ask.
Get the community to shape your company, maybe by taking on key project members either as employees or advisors. Establish an advisory board - not full of "names" but with respected peers from the projects you've chosen.
Remember those glossy brochures you wrote to impress your VC? Burn them. Now, start a weblog and write about why you can provide the support and services your customers need and the community respects.
Find that quote on your website that reads "Open Source is great for enterprises because it means you can use the software for free" (I actually saw that one today). Delete it. In fact, delete the whole page. Don't pretend that a corporation can use Open Source software for free - they can't. They'll need training, integration work, support and maybe documentation. And you expect to make money off that - don't you?
Don't pretend you have recognized experts for oodles (sorry - "stacks") of Open Source projects. You don't - and your customers won't believe you. It can take years to become a recognized (and respected) member and expert in a particular project. Concentrate on one project (or a couple) to start with and build from there.
Educate your customers on the Open Source way. Be honest about your role and the role of the community in your business.
Building an Open Source services company isn't rocket science but to build a successful and respected one (and remember you need respect from both your customers and the Open Source project) takes more than you might think.
Posted by Matthew at January 13, 2005 08:34 PM