I just got a very welcome e-mail – an acceptance for my talk at OSCON in Portland this July. I’ll be speaking on Thursday morning, on this subject:
Most open source start-ups have some sort of lock on the code – dual licensing, contributor agreements, “open core” add-ons and more. But is it possible to start a profitable company without any of those – with just skilled people delivering expert service and developing new code in the community? I don’t just think it’s possible – I’m doing it!
All things being equal I’ll be planning another ForgeRock party while I’m there – watch this space for details!
Wild Webmink 
A question to consider for this talk — possibly to talk about here too: to what extent does Forgerock’s success rely on the fact that it (i) was starting from a base of pre-existing code rather than having to develop from scratch and (ii) many of the people involved in the project were known and reputable to businesses and the community with respect to that pre-existing software?
This can be contrasted with e.g. a startup that is developing a new piece of software substantially from scratch.
No doubt that both were huge advantages, but the challenges remain real every time we approach a bank, VC or indeed a government customer.
No question that the challenges are real, and it wasn’t meant as a hostile question — I want Forgerock and all open source companies to succeed.
What I’d be interested in is understanding your perception of the differences (and similarities) in the challenges faced by startups developing from scratch. Considering these seems an important factor in persuading other open source businesses to work without the traditional locks & keys ….