We are talking about OSS projects that "need to pay the rent".
OSS projects that are created by companies as a strategic move are something completely different.
197 karma · joined September 11, 2017
OSS projects that are created by companies as a strategic move are something completely different.
I am lucky to have both options at my disposal - I live in the city, commute to work (~45 minutes by tram, more if I walk, which I do). On the other hand, my parents live in the suburbs, backyard and stuff.
Both options have advantages.
During the lockdown, apartment was fine, but claustrophobic a little bit. Not many things to do. In the house, you don't even notice it. Especially now, during the summer, garden, fruits, vegetables, swimming pool.
On the other hand, living in the city offers more options, like socialising, finding things to do, people with similar interests, training, learning classes for whatever, etc.
Both options offer experiences. They talk about an experience of commuting ruining everything. But what about an experience of enjoying personal swimming pool? Eating stuff from your own garden? Kids running around happy, having a tree house versus being limited to the apartment?
As I said at the beginning - there's no silver bullet. It's about finding out what you like, what works for you, and then act accordingly (if possible).
Problems come if that peace of software gets popular, they get a lot of bug reports, improvement suggestions/requests, emails, noise in general. And a person who wrote the software has a full time job, so the time available for OSS is limited. That person is probably well paid in it's current job, so the OSS has a long way to go in order to replace that income, meaning it's very hard to transfer from a regular job to maintaining and living from your OSS.
And the most important thing - those people are pure engineers, that don't know/are not interested in business, marketing, making a product out of their software, etc.. practically anything besides coding. It's like advising a mason: "Hey man, you know how to build a building, why don't you build one and sell it? You can pay the rent with it." It's a bit more complicated than that.
But nice article overall, good starting point for someone who wants to find out more on the topic.
It takes a lot of effort, energy, support from the spouse, ...
I often say - if I could go back in time, I would go visit younger me, single, with 9-5 job being only obligation. I would go there, and slap him (myself) across the face for complaining about not having enough time. I mean, seriously?
And a note to those parents with one kid - enjoy your spring break. That's what it feels like compared to having two kids. Wouldn't dare to think about how it is with 3+.
Enjoy your time with kids, you won't get another chance with that. With side projects you can always start over.
It takes some time to get used to lean principles, especially if you have a dev background (as you do it seams). It's the opposite of "build it and they will come" mantra, and dev people are always like "how do you mean sell it before it's built?!" But it works. And it's a way better approach.
As for your tool, if you built it because you had the same problem, you are in the perfect position. You should understand very well the pain points, who has them, how it affects their everyday work and from there it should be easy to make tactics on how to approach potential users, what are the best selling points.
They say (and I completely agree) that the best sales person in a startup are founders, because they know everything about the idea, they are passionate about it and they don't give up easily.
Good luck!
The only problem now is the time.