Ask HN: Should I make my project open source to get users?
I recently launched a web app(B2C). But people say they're worried about putting their data in and being locked it in, and say that if you make it open source, I'll use it. The problem is that this is a commercial project and I have to make a living with it(otherwise I'll starve). So I have to find a way to make money while being open source. If I turn the project into open source, making money will be quite limited. But it doesn't seem wise that I'm more afraid of failing later so that not doing the thing to get more users now, considering that most startups just fail. Should I make the product open source in order to grow now in any way? (Perhaps one way is to get paid only for hosting the web app. But if I make it open source, hosting it is so easy that anyone can do it. If this will be really successful, someone could even distribute the hosted version for free (I'm working on the expectation that this will really be successful, so this assumption makes sense). I'd like to know if there is another way to make money while making the product open source.) 14 comments on Hacker News.
I recently launched a web app(B2C). But people say they're worried about putting their data in and being locked it in, and say that if you make it open source, I'll use it. The problem is that this is a commercial project and I have to make a living with it(otherwise I'll starve). So I have to find a way to make money while being open source. If I turn the project into open source, making money will be quite limited. But it doesn't seem wise that I'm more afraid of failing later so that not doing the thing to get more users now, considering that most startups just fail. Should I make the product open source in order to grow now in any way? (Perhaps one way is to get paid only for hosting the web app. But if I make it open source, hosting it is so easy that anyone can do it. If this will be really successful, someone could even distribute the hosted version for free (I'm working on the expectation that this will really be successful, so this assumption makes sense). I'd like to know if there is another way to make money while making the product open source.)
I recently launched a web app(B2C). But people say they're worried about putting their data in and being locked it in, and say that if you make it open source, I'll use it. The problem is that this is a commercial project and I have to make a living with it(otherwise I'll starve). So I have to find a way to make money while being open source. If I turn the project into open source, making money will be quite limited. But it doesn't seem wise that I'm more afraid of failing later so that not doing the thing to get more users now, considering that most startups just fail. Should I make the product open source in order to grow now in any way? (Perhaps one way is to get paid only for hosting the web app. But if I make it open source, hosting it is so easy that anyone can do it. If this will be really successful, someone could even distribute the hosted version for free (I'm working on the expectation that this will really be successful, so this assumption makes sense). I'd like to know if there is another way to make money while making the product open source.) 14 comments on Hacker News.
I recently launched a web app(B2C). But people say they're worried about putting their data in and being locked it in, and say that if you make it open source, I'll use it. The problem is that this is a commercial project and I have to make a living with it(otherwise I'll starve). So I have to find a way to make money while being open source. If I turn the project into open source, making money will be quite limited. But it doesn't seem wise that I'm more afraid of failing later so that not doing the thing to get more users now, considering that most startups just fail. Should I make the product open source in order to grow now in any way? (Perhaps one way is to get paid only for hosting the web app. But if I make it open source, hosting it is so easy that anyone can do it. If this will be really successful, someone could even distribute the hosted version for free (I'm working on the expectation that this will really be successful, so this assumption makes sense). I'd like to know if there is another way to make money while making the product open source.)
Hacker News story: Ask HN: Should I make my project open source to get users?
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March 19, 2020
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