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I developed osTicket [0] - a popular ticketing system. I was an early Linux user so open source made sense. Accidentally turned into a real profitable business- with full time devs & support to maintain the project. We have a SaaS [1] offering and provide commercial support to enterprise users.

[0] https://osTicket.com

[1] https://SupportSystem.com

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When have you started thinking about making it a profitable project? Did it start from a community need, or the project started as a commercial open-source solution?

Community needs at first - I had no intention of turning it into a business. I did paid consulting for years until SAAS became a thing that users demanded.

Thanks for your words! Did you started with the Saas business model or you served some support services before.

I'm having some asking from my community to open an enterprise support to my project and then we will see at the opportunities for other project, like a saas solution

When we started, circa 2003, SaaS wasn’t a thing! Initially I focused on commercial support - we still do it for those who want to self host with someone to blame.

That said - there’s no reason not to explore both options from the start.

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