I've noticed that many of the startups in the YC S23 batch are open source. Is that correct? If so, why has this become a trend?
Ask HN: Is it me, or are more and more YC companies open source?
1–10 of 22 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is it me, or are more and more YC companies open source?
#2Free labor.
Re: Ask HN: Is it me, or are more and more YC companies open source?
#3* marketing term
* bait and switch
* hold over from zero interest rates - get users and worry later about monetization
* emerging legit business models that use open core
Re: Ask HN: Is it me, or are more and more YC companies open source?
#4There are also more and more people getting paid for doing open source work.
Re: Ask HN: Is it me, or are more and more YC companies open source?
#5No idea. Open source seems to come and go in waves. It has pros and cons as a business model. Personally I prefer working on open source because my GitHub becomes my resume, whereas in closed source interviews are needed to determine basic skills.
Re: Ask HN: Is it me, or are more and more YC companies open source?
#6* marketing term * bait and switch * hold over from zero interest rates - get users and worry later about monetization * emerging legit business models that use open core
Exactly. Also, nowadays being "open source" is one of the only ways to gain technical-minded customers. The level of skepticism against closed-source things is high (and for good reasons, between vendor lock-in, guaranteed future enshittification which means you want a fork option, etc). Personally, I won't even consider adopting something that isn't open source anymore unless it's a product that I (or my company) really needs, and even then I take steps to avoid hard dependence.
Re: Ask HN: Is it me, or are more and more YC companies open source?
#7With the ability to get developer attention through HN and the startup ecosystem, YC has a competitive advantage in the open source business.
Re: Ask HN: Is it me, or are more and more YC companies open source?
#8[dead]
Re: Ask HN: Is it me, or are more and more YC companies open source?
#9It’s a cheap, viable, vetted user acquisition model. For most startups it’s about the best CAC you can get without investing in channel development. Close enough to none of them are OSI open source, it’s all source available or open core, laying the cynicism bare.
Re: Ask HN: Is it me, or are more and more YC companies open source?
#10* cheap CAC
* high customer engagement
both leads to high probability of finding PMF