Monetizing open-source projects

posted by Abishek Muthian Ideator , 1522 days ago , show insights

Open-source software and hardware form the backbone of several early stage startup's infrastructure. Open-source projects which are not backed by large corporations are often run by the creators in their individual capacity and with the support of voluntary contributors in their free time.

These projects become successful because they create value for the consumers, but it rarely creates monetary value for its creators. If the creators, volunteers get remunerated for their time; they would be able to put more time into their projects, improving its quality and make faster releases.

On occasions, consumers do donate to these creators for their effort. But, the mechanism for donations are not straight forward, middle-men gains and the notion of donation seems altruistic where as it is not in this case (as the open-source project directly creates value to the consumer, often saving lot of money).

So, we need better monetization mechanisms for open-source projects, where the creators and contributors can outsource the business development of their project to someone else for getting compensated and focus on what they do best.
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