From Open-Source Side Project to Enterprise SaaS Solution with Ben Rometsch

The Business of Open Source

Ben Rometsch is the CEO and Founder of Flagsmith, an open-source feature flagging platform. In this conversation, we explore how he landed on the idea to develop an open-source feature flagging project and how that has snowballed into running a full-time SaaS company. Ben describes the challenges of creating a SaaS company from the ground up, especially when it comes to pricing and monetizing. We also discuss the importance of understanding and choosing the right licensing for your product.

Highlights:

• Intro (00:00)
• I introduce Ben Rometsch, who is the CEO of Flagsmith, a commercial open-source feature flagging and remote conflict platform (01:00)
• What made Ben want to build an open-source feature flagging project (01:29)
• How the open-source project Ben started led to building a company around Flagsmith (03:39)
• Why Ben feels licenses are so important and how he learned that through early licensing choices at Flagsmith (09:10)
• When Ben started to monetize Flagsmith (13:24)
• How Ben’s understanding of what features users wanted to pay for has evolved (15:36)
• Why caring about the developer experience has set Flagsmith apart for enterprise customers (20:51)
• When revenue started to take off and why it took external expertise (23:12)
• Why pricing can be such a frustrating challenge to get right (26:47)
• How Flagsmith is currently remotely structured (28:57)
• Ben shares his thoughts on how open source contributes to his business (33:04)
• How listeners can connect with Ben and learn more about Flagsmith (38:05)

Links:

Ben

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benrometsch/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ben_rometsch
• Company: https://www.flagsmith.com/