Open Source Underdogs

Ravi Mayuram is the CTO and SVP of Engineering at Couchbase, a NoSQL vendor responsible for the Couchbase Server, an open source, NoSQL, document-oriented database. In this episode, Ravi discusses how an entrepreneur may successfully orient themselves around the problem they’re solving. Couchbase Transcript Intro Michael Schwartz: Welcome back to Open Source Underdogs, the podcast...

Ofer Bengal is the Co-founder and CEO of Redis Labs, home of Redis, one the world’s fastest instant experience databases. In this episode, Ofer discusses the evolution of open source software in the cloud-hosted market. To note: This interview took place a few weeks prior to Redis Labs’ announcement of an updated license for modules...

Tyler Jewell is the CEO of WSO2, maintainers of a popular open source API Management Platform. In this episode, Tyler discusses WSO2’s subscription-based business model and the future of cloud versus on-prem services. Transcript Intro Michael Schwartz: Welcome back to Open Source Underdogs, the podcast where we get you into the middle of open source...

Martin Dougiamas is the Founder and CEO of Moodle, the leading open source learning platform. Moodle empowers educators to manage coursework, track class analytics, and communicate easily with students. In this episode, Martin discusses how Moodle leverages partners and revenue sharing to grow the business. Transcript Introduction/Background Michael Schwartz: Welcome back to Open Source Underdogs,...

Ajay Kulkarni, CEO, and Michael Freedman, CTO, are the co-founders of Timescale, a time-series SQL database optimized for fast analytics and complex queries. Timescale is deployed for mission-critical applications for organization’s in manufacturing, space, oil & gas, logistics, mining, finance, telecom and more. In this episode, Ajay and Michael discuss Timescale’s licensing and the evolution...

Bryan Cheung is the Co-founder and CEO of Liferay, a leading provider of open source software. Liferay’s digital experience platform is used by companies like Airbus, HPE, and NASA. In this episode, Bryan discusses how Liferay was founded to achieve both business and social goals — and how they stayed true to their mission over...

Jakob Freund is the Co-founder and CEO of Camunda, an open source platform for Business Process Management. Camunda’s customers include AT&T, Wüstenrot building society, Lufthansa Technik and Zalando. In this episode, Jakob discusses Camunda’s unique journey from consulting to a product-based company. Transcript Intro Michael Schwartz: Welcome to episode 15 of Open Source Underdogs, the...

Mark Shuttleworth is the Founder and CEO of Canonical, the creator and maintainer of Ubuntu Linux. One of the most popular platforms for cloud servers, desktops, and IoT devices, Ubuntu is the operating system of choice for new development. In this episode, Mark discusses the business model of Canonical and trends in the open source...

Jay Kreps is the Co-founder and CEO of Confluent, an open source real-time data streaming platform powered by Apache Kafka. Jay is the author of numerous open source projects, including Apache Kafka and Apache Samza. In this episode, Jay discusses creating a hybrid open source offering and usage-based subscription models. Transcript Intro Michael Schwartz: Welcome...

Sean Porter is the Co-Founder, CTO, and author of Sensu, an open source infrastructure and application monitoring solution. Sensu’s customers include Netflix, Uber, General Electric, and the Associated Press. In this episode, Sean discusses the challenges of managing two distributions of the Sensu code, and their journey to raising Series A funding. Transcript Intro Michael...