Mrs. Cadwallader on open source

He is vulnerable to reason there–always a few grains of common-sense in an ounce of miserliness. Miserliness is a capital quality to run in families; it’s the safe side for madness to dip on. (53)

Mrs. Cadwallader is speaking of Mr. Brooke and his generally foolish ways, but notes that the one thing that keeps him in check is how incorrigibly cheap he is.

Open source vendors could learn a lesson from this.

Larry suggests that an open source sales model should be informed by prudence and time. I agree. This same thinking should apply to open source commercial development (depending on the stage of the company, slowing down development could be a Very Good Thing), distribution, marketing, etc. You never want the company’s delivery to get out in front of demand.

The easiest way is to follow Clayton Christensen’s advice on this and be “impatient for profit but patient for growth. This is often the exact opposite counsel one hears from VCs, but it is critical for a healthy open source software company. Hype can be helpful, but it can kill you, too. (I once worked for an open source startup that blew through $63M worth of hype. It sold for a pittance.)

I remember meeting with Matthew Szulik several years ago. It was the first time I’d ever met him in person, and his first question was, “How much did your plane ticket cost?” It unnerved me a bit, but it set the right tone: deliver, but do it with pennies, not dollars.

All open source companies need to learn this lesson. To compete, you have to be disruptive. To be disruptive, you have to do what proprietary companies do at a fraction of the cost, allowing you to truly disrupt through free distribution.

Miserly is good.