HN Explorer

How do i bill for open source software?

5 points by anovikov ↗ HN
Hi,

i have an idea of a startup which will change a lot in security field, post-Snowden. The problem is, it will only make sense if it's open source (because otherwise it can't be trusted). How do i bill for this? It is about 80% for corporate market, rest of privacy-concerned individuals (power users).

Any idea is appreciated.

without solving this question, i will probably never move past MVP because it's hard to get funding without a solid way to bill your users, few will pay if they can cut a few lines from code, run make, and have it for free.

6 comments

[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 30.0 ms ] thread
lbcadden3
GPL3, then charge target market for a different license and upgrades/support.

I saw someone else doing this and they said it was working well for them (sorry do not remember who).

J_Darnley
Was it x264? It has a dual GPL2/commercial licence and I believe they have been pretty successful.
mooreds
I would look at this exhaustive list of revenue models and see if you can find a company that does something similar to what you're contemplating.

https://hackpad.com/Web-and-Mobile-Revenue-Models-Ch2paBpUyI...

There are any number of things you can charge for with an open source project: commercial use licensing, documentation, support, advanced features, implementation consulting.

tonyplee
kickstarter? There are a few projects at kickstarter like this type already.
wikwocket
The same way you bill for any other software services.

Seriously: No startup or SAAS is really charging for their actual software. The whole reason an MVP works is that you are selling an idea, and a solution to a business problem, not some code. The actual execution of the solution is an implementation detail. That's why many people can get paying customers before they've written a line of code.

Also, I think you overestimate a corporate customer's ability and willingness to clone a repo, edit and run a build script, and host their own solution. Corporations pay money to remove problems from their business. Evaluating a new open source package, ramping up on building/running/customizing it, and then maintaining it in-house all sounds like adding a pain point to your average company.

In short, are you meeting a need, and solving a problem that businesses have? If so, then people will pay you money for that. After that it's just a matter of marketing.