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Infrastructure Software
Powered by Battery  |  June 16, 2016
Open-Source Software: Here to Stay

How can entrepreneurs build mature, sustainable businesses while giving away software for free through open-source code?

That was the central question at the Battery Ventures Open Source Summit, a half-day conference in early June, which gathered 140 technology executives, investors and others together to discuss the issue. IT executives from Goldman Sachs and Capital One offered their perspective on the open-source value equation for enterprises, while open-source pioneers from RedHat, MySQL, Cloudera and Chef* offered advice on monetizing open-source projects. Finally, corporate-development executives and investment bankers discussed the metrics required to lead to a successful M&A or IPO exit.

There is no question that open-source software has gone mainstream. Don Duet, head of the global technology division at Goldman Sachs, quipped that open source is “eating Goldman Sachs”–a riff on the popular “software is eating the world” meme–as he described the investment firm’s “download, build, buy” manta of software development. “If you are looking to solve a problem at Goldman Sachs, we look first to see if the technology is available from the open-source community; if not, we consider software development; the last cause is really purchasing proprietary software,” he said.

Don Duet, Goldman Sachs
Keynote from Don Duet, Goldman Sachs

That is not to say, however, that Goldman Sachs is not willing to pay for open-source software itself. “As an open-source solution becomes more and more important to our business, and critical to the successful running of our firm, we find many times we are willing to, and desire to, pay for these services and solutions,” said Duet.

Dharmesh Thakker, Skip Potter
(L to R: Dharmesh Thakker, Battery Ventures; Skip Potter, Capital One)

One critical element, from Capital One’s perspective, is support services. “It is really hard to hire and retain great engineers,” said Skip Potter, managing vice president of engineering at Capital One, when asked about the value of paying for services, versus using internal engineering resources to maintain open-source code. “If we can focus our talent on building the capabilities that are unique to Capital One, I would rather spend resources on creating those better experiences, than operationally running something.”

open-source monetization panel
(L to R: Max Schireson, Battery Ventures; Jim Frankola, Cloudera; Barry Crist, Chef; Alex Pinchev, Rackspace; Marten Mickos, HackerOne)

The open-source monetization panel gathered pioneers of the open-source industry including Marten Mickos, former CEO of MySQL and Alex Pinchev, former president of RedHat, as well as modern leaders Barry Crist, CEO of Chef and Jim Frankola, CFO of Cloudera. The panel was moderated by former MongoDB CEO and current Battery Ventures Executive-In-Residence, Max Schireson. The panel discussed how open-source monetization models have evolved from the days of MySQL and RedHat, and how to strike the right balance between free open-source software and commercial offerings. “If you want to drive ubiquity with your solutions, you should be a little scared by how much you are giving away,” said Barry Crist, CEO of Chef. “It is like putting salt in your food. You don’t need a lot [of commercial features], just enough to make them pay,” Marten Mickos, former CEO of MySQL, added.

Panel: Preparing for an IPO
(L to R: Roger Lee, Battery Ventures; Mark Baillie, Stifel; Melissa Knox, Morgan Stanley; Lev Finkelstein, Goldman Sachs)

The afternoon wrapped up with two panels focused on exits—strategic acquirers from Cisco, EMC, HP and Oracle discussed the acquisition landscape for open-source and other technology companies, while investment bankers from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Stifel shared insights on the IPO environment. Both panels agreed there is no real difference between open-source and proprietary-software company valuations, as open-source companies likely will be measured on same set of characteristics as traditional software companies.

open-source acquisitions panel
(L to R: Alex Benik, Battery Ventures; Phil Kirk, Cisco; Lak Ananth, HP Enterprise; Daniel Docter, EMC Ventures; Peter Magnusson, Oracle)

What is critical for open-source companies, however, is protecting the company’s core intellectual property, participants on the M&A panel emphasized. While other concerns around contamination and different licensing agreements do come play during an M&A scenario, ultimately, “by the time there has been a decision to acquire, unless something is crazy egregious, it is all just mud to work through,” said Peter Magnusson, senior vice president of cloud development at Oracle.

Battery Ventures Open Source Summit

Following the summit, the group gathered for drinks, networking and more discussion. Additional photos from the event are included below. For more insights from the Battery Ventures Open Source Summit, follow Powered by Battery for upcoming podcasts from the sessions.

Battery Ventures Open Source Summit

 

Battery Ventures Open Source Summit

 

Battery Ventures Open Source Summit

 

Battery Ventures Open Source Summit

 

Battery Ventures Open Source Summit

 

Battery Ventures Open Source Summit

 

Battery Ventures Open Source Summit

 

Battery Ventures Open Source Summit

 

Battery Ventures Open Source Summit

This material is provided for informational purposes, and it is not, and may not be relied on in any manner as, legal, tax or investment advice or as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in any fund or investment vehicle managed by Battery Ventures or any other Battery entity. 

The information and data are as of the publication date unless otherwise noted.

Content obtained from third-party sources, although believed to be reliable, has not been independently verified as to its accuracy or completeness and cannot be guaranteed. Battery Ventures has no obligation to update, modify or amend the content of this post nor notify its readers in the event that any information, opinion, projection, forecast or estimate included, changes or subsequently becomes inaccurate.

The information above may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or expectations. Predictions, opinions and other information discussed in this video are subject to change continually and without notice of any kind and may no longer be true after the date indicated. Battery Ventures assumes no duty to and does not undertake to update forward-looking statements.

*Denotes a Battery portfolio company. For a full list of all Battery investments, please click here.

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