This is the second post in my five part series, The Many Hats of SourceForge.net. I wrote about our role as an open source catalyst this past Tuesday, and the “hat” I’d like to write about now is similar but different: our role as an open source incubator. Being an open source catalyst is all about helping developers build better software; being an open source incubator is all about helping projects become successful businesses.
A recent trend I’ve been seeing is an increase in the number of commercial open source companies hosting their projects with us. The natural question to ask is: why? Why would they choose to host their projects on SourceForge.net instead of building their own infrastructure?
The first reason is cost. Building a project infrastructure from the ground up is costly — it requires hardware, a place to rack and power it, and someone to supply bandwidth. And those costs sometimes end up being negligible when compared to the cost of hiring someone to install all the necessary tools, tie them together, and brand them appropriately. Successful startups know how to focus on their core business, and running a CVS server usually isn’t part of that.
Still, having complete control over the interaction between a project and its users/developers can be massively beneficial. As some projects become larger and more successful, they have been known to leave SourceForge.net (partially or completely) so they can have that control. Some of our alumnae have gone on to become wildly successful businesses, so many of the big names in open source started here. These projects certainly could have done it on their own, but we allowed them to focus on building their tech. Other projects have become successful businesses and still choose to host with us because of what I’m going to write about next week.
The second reason is exposure. A new project trying to establish itself in the open source ecosystem needs a way to show people that it deserves to be trusted and respected, so choosing to host at an open repository like SourceForge.net can be a good start. Since we’re the largest and (arguably) most moderate repository, we become the obvious choice — especially for projects who seek to compete with the rest of the bunch.
All told, SourceForge.net ends up being a pretty good place to demonstrate success, since a project’s statistics are transparent and freely available. It’s no secret that impressive SourceForge.net download counts can be used powerfully as a PR aid, but fewer people realize that they can help startups secure that luscious series A funding they’ve been looking for.
For the quintessential startup commercial open source company, we often provide simply what I detailed above: a hassle-free “check box” for infrastructure and publicity. But it varies. Some projects are run by small teams working at companies that are already successful, and we provide them with a way to get more resources by showing their management that “this open source thing” must work if so many people care about their project. Still others never intended to be a financial entity at all, and their success on SourceForge.net showed them the possibility of building a successful business around what they love.
And with that, stay tuned for the next part of the series. I’ll talk about our role as an open source distributor (hint: we push a lot of downloads.)
Till next time,
Ross