How I Took My Open Source Business to a Fortune 500 Company
summary
A small open source services company gets acquisition interest after three months and averages half a dozen inquiries per year, then merges with a three-times-larger peer and is later bought by a Fortune 500, exposing specific failure modes: corporate rules override technical needs, travel and security policies block customer debugging, and 6–9 months to find a sponsor kills momentum. Mitigations that work include a dedicated M&A-savvy business developer who acts as coach, colocating and shielding the team, and pursuing a management buyout that restores the original business.
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chapters (7)
- 0:00Introduction
- 4:15Open source journey
- 9:15After Fortune 500 acquisition
- 13:13Corporate policies
- 18:59Policy vs business needs
- 21:11Open source culture
- 23:43Summary
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