Open Source Software is cool and exciting. If you are a developer. But building a business around it is quite challenging. Many have tried and failed. And only a few have succeeded.
Recently, I came across this article – “The Internet Was Built on the Free Labor of Open Source Developers. Is That Sustainable?” – which dives into this issue and explores it pretty deep.
That also reminded me of so many post-mortems for technical startups that I’ve read over the years. “RethinkDB: why we failed” is one such example.
Surely, articles like these shouldn’t stop people from building businesses around the Open Source Software. But they should at least balance out the rosy eyes approach many entrepreneurs have.