Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Open Sourcing a Failed Startup

nirvdrum.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 171 posts

Re: Open Sourcing a Failed Startup

#41

Post by gfwilliams »

buro9 wrote: post #11

I really feel for nirvdrum here, we had exactly the same hard process with Microcosm. We were somewhat better placed to open it up, we had separated various parts more completely, hadn't put in the full billing engine, and had no third party code or other things that we were distributing that might be an issue. But... one of the things nirvdrum didn't touch upon was that we just hadn't designed it to be a single-serv…

As one of buro9's users, I have to say I was very happy to hear that the software was going to be Open Sourced, however I was dreading having to migrate it all to my server.

In the end I'm much happier that buro9 found a way to keep it ticking over. Given the choice of continued service vs. Open Source I definitely would have chosen continued service - but it's even better to have both!

Re: Open Sourcing a Failed Startup

#42

Post by gfwilliams »

I actually had a lot of success with Open Sourcing. After a year of making virtually nothing out of selling Espruino as software (while being bombarded with sometimes abusive comments about the fact it wasn't Open), I decided to put it on KickStarter as Open Source hardware a year ago - and the result was very good. My second KickStarter is about to finish in 24 hours too.

It's a shame yours didn't work out - I think I was lucky I had something that could be crowdfunded more easily.

Having said that, none of the people that berated me for being Open Source have contributed anything back (others have been very helpful though). I've also had to cope with cheap clones, the possibility of competitors using my own software, and a huge support burden from users of other hardware.

Re: Open Sourcing a Failed Startup

#43

Post by ygjb »

curun1r wrote: post #23
maaaats wrote: post #7

What I hate is that some people feel entitled to getting one's hard work for free.

The one group that I feel is somewhat entitled to the code is the customer base. Not open sourcing it is one thing, but I'd highly encourage the author to release the code as shared source with only his former customers. They're the ones that tried to help make his startup a success. They're not the freeloaders. If they end up giving the code to someone else, then so be it...he's not making any more money off it anyw…

Why?

If there weren't enough customers to support the business model with the way he was approaching it, then there isn't enough business to sustain it. If one of his customers is interested in the platform enough that they want access to the code to run it, they should pay him for it - either to hire the talent, or to buy the business.

Some projects are created because people are passionate about them, and some are created so that people can keep the lights on.

Shared source is an awful model for startups - it results in increased legal wrangling to establish ownership and licensing, it creates entanglements that could prevent or constrain growth, and it explicitly says to the startup "I don't trust you to be here soon, so I want to own part of you."

The correct way for a business to eliminate a fear of a partner disappearing is to pay fair value and sign a contract so that the vendor they depend on has a reliable cash flow.

Re: Open Sourcing a Failed Startup

#44

Post by gfwilliams »

gfwilliams wrote: post #42

I actually had a lot of success with Open Sourcing. After a year of making virtually nothing out of selling Espruino as software (while being bombarded with sometimes abusive comments about the fact it wasn't Open), I decided to put it on KickStarter as Open Source hardware a year ago - and the result was very good. My second KickStarter is about to finish in 24 hours too. It's a shame yours didn't work out - I think…

Just to add: Overall open source has been great in my case. It's just that it's very easy for someone to make a comment on the internet - it doesn't mean they're particularly bothered about it or are prepared to do anything about it!

Re: Open Sourcing a Failed Startup

#45

Post by danielweber »

toddgardner wrote: post #13

Giving your customers a soft landing is really important to maintain trust. They loved your product, and proved that the market existed--but it wasn't as big as you thought. When closing down, has anyone explored not completely shuttering the company, but instead continuing to exist as a licensing entity? License the source code itself to your existing customers so that they can continue using it, without all the mes…

> Giving your customers a soft landing is really important to maintain trust.

Will "maintaining trust" pay his mortgage? Unless he's going to found another company, that's not very useful for him.

Re: Open Sourcing a Failed Startup

#46

Post by danielweber »

barce wrote: post #15

There's a cost to open sourcing software. I like that the OP pointed that there was software that was sub-licensed and needed to be excised. Netscape took close to a year to open source their browser as Firefox using every significant company resource.

He should have always been (trying to be) aware of all the licenses he was using from the start. You can't just use any code you find on the net and staple it into your project.

Re: Open Sourcing a Failed Startup

#47

Post by bonif »

GnarfGnarf wrote: post #28

There is a real problem with the perceived value of software. The public sees Google giving everything away, not understanding the underlying business model, and assumes all software has little or no value. Software is not made of physical materials, so why should it be compensated? The public sees Apple apps for 99¢, so shouldn't all software be priced like that? I recently dealt with a customer demanding a free upg…

>I recently dealt with a customer demanding a free upgrade. She paid $29 nine years ago, and was seething mad at having to pay for an upgrade. How do you deal with that?

After 15 years in the field (as a consultant) NOW I can say, you just drop the client if she does not want to pay. These people don't value other people's work.

Re: Open Sourcing a Failed Startup

#48

Post by fedoreo »

As a redditor, a gentleman and a scholar, I am somewhat divided on this issue. He lists one of the reasons for not releasing the source as "I swear in code". Profanity would not stop us from using the tech, so please, for the love of all that is holy, release whatever you can.

tips fedora

Re: Open Sourcing a Failed Startup

#49

Post by ChuckMcM »

" I decided to try a crowd-sourced campaign to help with the open sourcing effort. Precisely zero of the companies that have been begging me to open-source the code have contributed in any capacity."

Wow, that speaks volumes. Good call on not open sourcing your code.

Re: Open Sourcing a Failed Startup

#50

Post by danielweber »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #10
maaaats wrote: post #7

What I hate is that some people feel entitled to getting one's hard work for free.

No, that's not the issue. People object to useful IP rotting in the back of a filing cabinet, unused. It's not about getting it free, it's about being able to get it at all. (Some people may want things for free but that's a different issue.)

In a repeated game (which the world is), otherwise-paying customers can just sit back, wait for the company to fail, and then get the software for free.
Post reply on HN