Open Source as a Business — Models, Paths, and Practice

The discussion centres on concrete experience — different starting points, different ecosystems, different business models — with the shared thread being open source as a deliberate professional and commercial choice.

Key Questions:

1. Different entry points: You each came to building a business on open source from a different direction. What drove that decision — and what did you not expect?

2. Where the business actually starts: Open source is the foundation, not the product. How do you define what you sell, and to whom?

3. Community and commerce: How do you maintain trust and credibility in an open source community while running a commercial operation around it?

4. Open source and AI: The AI landscape is consolidating fast around closed systems. What does that mean for open source projects and the businesses built on them?

5. European perspective: Is there something specifically European about the way you think about open source as a business — around sustainability, sovereignty, or independence?

6. Advice: What would you tell someone who wants to build a business on open source — or switch to doing so — and has not yet started?