31–40 of 73 posts
To what extent did the publicity contribute to his success though?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I had this discussion with a (huge) US corporation, and they weren't interested in escrow, saying it was too complex. They wanted source code; and I had the impression that with appropriate license restrictions (i.e. they couldn't sell/distribute it) it wouldn't be a problem (actually, having source would help them give me bug reports). A secondary reason (or perhaps the true one?) was a sense of reassurance that the…
Personally, I feel that we worry way too much about keeping our source code top-secret. One reason people think source code is valuable is because "the resulting product is valuable, so therefore the source code is even more valuable, right?" ... well, no. The product is valuable because of the thousands of small decisions you made as you were developing the product. The source code is just the manifestation of those…
Giving something away -after- it has earned you a billion is less risky than doing it -before- you've earned the money.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I had this discussion with a (huge) US corporation, and they weren't interested in escrow, saying it was too complex. They wanted source code; and I had the impression that with appropriate license restrictions (i.e. they couldn't sell/distribute it) it wouldn't be a problem (actually, having source would help them give me bug reports). A secondary reason (or perhaps the true one?) was a sense of reassurance that the…
Personally, I feel that we worry way too much about keeping our source code top-secret. One reason people think source code is valuable is because "the resulting product is valuable, so therefore the source code is even more valuable, right?" ... well, no. The product is valuable because of the thousands of small decisions you made as you were developing the product. The source code is just the manifestation of those…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Personally, I feel that we worry way too much about keeping our source code top-secret. One reason people think source code is valuable is because "the resulting product is valuable, so therefore the source code is even more valuable, right?" ... well, no. The product is valuable because of the thousands of small decisions you made as you were developing the product. The source code is just the manifestation of those…
Great food for thought. But I would not so lightly consider suing as the answer to anything. It's really really expensive, it distracts you from what you really want to be doing and it grinds your nerves to a pulp.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I had this discussion with a (huge) US corporation, and they weren't interested in escrow, saying it was too complex. They wanted source code; and I had the impression that with appropriate license restrictions (i.e. they couldn't sell/distribute it) it wouldn't be a problem (actually, having source would help them give me bug reports). A secondary reason (or perhaps the true one?) was a sense of reassurance that the…
Personally, I feel that we worry way too much about keeping our source code top-secret. One reason people think source code is valuable is because "the resulting product is valuable, so therefore the source code is even more valuable, right?" ... well, no. The product is valuable because of the thousands of small decisions you made as you were developing the product. The source code is just the manifestation of those…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Personally, I feel that we worry way too much about keeping our source code top-secret. One reason people think source code is valuable is because "the resulting product is valuable, so therefore the source code is even more valuable, right?" ... well, no. The product is valuable because of the thousands of small decisions you made as you were developing the product. The source code is just the manifestation of those…
I don't think open-sourcing an entire product is a good idea (at least on launch). However, open-sourcing components (such as your internal tools, file specs, libraries, etc) can add as much value to the open source ecosystem while preserving your competitive advantages.
(I am considering doing this for a password vault app.)
Single founder + non-startup hub + non-web2.0-buzzworthy product == everything you're told not to do. I've said this before, but the biggest takeaway from the balsamiq story seems to be: put your head down and focus on making a great product, everything else will follow.
And market the hell out of it.
The Balsamiq approach to marketing (market the success story) is quite similar to that of 37Signals, actually, and both essential and very effective.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I had this discussion with a (huge) US corporation, and they weren't interested in escrow, saying it was too complex. They wanted source code; and I had the impression that with appropriate license restrictions (i.e. they couldn't sell/distribute it) it wouldn't be a problem (actually, having source would help them give me bug reports). A secondary reason (or perhaps the true one?) was a sense of reassurance that the…
Personally, I feel that we worry way too much about keeping our source code top-secret. One reason people think source code is valuable is because "the resulting product is valuable, so therefore the source code is even more valuable, right?" ... well, no. The product is valuable because of the thousands of small decisions you made as you were developing the product. The source code is just the manifestation of those…
Your argument for open sourcing your product is simply "why not?" rather than "why" :)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I had this discussion with a (huge) US corporation, and they weren't interested in escrow, saying it was too complex. They wanted source code; and I had the impression that with appropriate license restrictions (i.e. they couldn't sell/distribute it) it wouldn't be a problem (actually, having source would help them give me bug reports). A secondary reason (or perhaps the true one?) was a sense of reassurance that the…
Personally, I feel that we worry way too much about keeping our source code top-secret. One reason people think source code is valuable is because "the resulting product is valuable, so therefore the source code is even more valuable, right?" ... well, no. The product is valuable because of the thousands of small decisions you made as you were developing the product. The source code is just the manifestation of those…
A benefit to open sourcing the engine: it would make it possible to become a platform, with other games built on it - and the publicity etc could help you. (Of course, open-sourcing isn't enough to automatically have your platform adopted - you'd have to promote it and work at it. More work!)
BTW: your art assets are copyrighted automatically. You don't have to do anything (in the past this was necessary in some jurisdictions).
The vast majority of companies choose not to open source their products. It's therefore hard to draw conclusions from what happens to those that do. Please forgive me for this parody, it's for illustration purposes only: can you find just one example of a company that failed or was harmed because they exploded a hydrogen bomb in their head office?
balsamiq on piracy: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=337821
esr discusses id's decision (near the end) in the section "when to be open, when to be closed": http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/magic-cau...
It's been excellent to follow Balsamiq's progress and I'm stunned by the progress he's made. Congrats and here's hoping for the best for you. Just remember, don't overdo it. $100,000 isn't much in the grand scheme of things, so keep pinching those pennies!
yeah I think he is starting to miss the point, since he is starting to think of himself as a small business and not a start up. $100K on the startup scale is nothing
If you raise $50m, you don't have $50m - you have negative $50m, because that's $50m of value that you're going to have to create before you've even just returned their base investment to your investors.