[Discuss] Boston Linux VIRTUAL Meeting Wednesday, January 21, 2026 - Open Source Business Crash Course

[Jerry Feldman via Announce]

When: January 21, 2026 7:00PM EST (6:30PM for Q&A)

Topic: Open Source Business Crash Course

Presenters:  Federico Lucifredi, Kurt Keville

Location: Online: https://meet.jit.si/blu.org

Meeting will be recorded, but not live streamed. Recordings will be 
posted: https://blu.org/video/

Summary:

Open Source business models, trade-offs, and pitfalls

Abstract:

We review Open Source business models, trade-offs, and pitfalls for 
entrepreneurs new to its promise and challenges.

Of course, you know Open Source and Free Software are a development 
model, not a business model. Or maybe you don't, in which case this is 
definitely the session for you!

Graduate from :Open Source -> Giant Ecosystem -> Profit" naive thinking 
to understanding how product and project ecosystems work, and what's in 
it for the business and its customers – as well as what tradeoffs come 
in the bargain.

As VCs no longer accept open-ended business plans starting with Open 
Source code, building an ecosystem, and unexplained profit as the third 
step, a more nuanced view is needed for the next generation of 
entrepreneurs. We review the fundamental structure of Open Source 
business, illustrate the known mistakes that others have made before you 
so you can actually avoid them, and dissect the fundamental strategies 
to monetizing Open Source.

The aim is to chart a path for your business to grow harmoniously 
alongside its project and Community, not in tension degenerating into 
rivalry with it. Let us show you what is well understood, so you can 
make new, exciting mistakes instead of repeating the old ones.


      Bio

    Federico Lucifredi is The Ceph Storage Product Management Director
    at Red Hat, formerly the Ubuntu Server PM at Canonical, and the
    Linux “Systems Management Czar” at SUSE.

    For further information and directions please consult the BLU Web site:

http://www.blu.org

Our meeting recordings are found on the Video tab: http://blu.org/video/

-- 
Jerry Feldman<gaf.linux at gmail.com>
Boston Linux and Unixhttp://www.blu.org
PGP key id: 6F6BB6E7
PGP Key fingerprint: 0EDC 2FF5 53A6 8EED 84D1  3050 5715 B88D 6F6B B6E7
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