open source business models: building a business in the joomla community

Biz meets open source CMS

A short, practical example of business success in a “free stuff” marketplace

Ryan Ozimek

Imperial College Business School

March 31, 2010

Imperial College Business School | Ryan Ozimek @cozimekMarch 31, 2010 2

Who am I?

• Ryan Ozimek• Chief Executive Officer, PICnet• President, Open Source Matters• Evangelist, open source software


Overview

• Joomla!: an open source success story• Business ecology around the Joomla software• Micro-level implementation and success


The key market opportunity

• Open source “freedom” means “free” as in “free kittens”

• An ecology of businesses blossom around providing services and extended the value of open source software


The key market opportunity – deliverables

• Infrastructure tools and services

• Productized add-on functionalities

• Implementation services

• Customization services

• Education and training

• Support services


A short story of open source success


Joomla’s success story



• Content management system (Web framework)• Created by a corporation in Australia• Open sourced to the community• Community involvement skyrockets, development boom• Small businesses begin selling add-ons• Consulting firms provide implementation services• Cloud computing firms virtualize services• The results…



• 15,605,591 downloads of Joomla• 1,992,970 posts on the Joomla forums• 365,883 registered community members• 201,200+ registered developers• 2,000,000+ estimated live sites• 4,565 registered extensions (add-ons), all GPL licensed


Possible business models?

• Products• Services


Product models

• Design templates• Development extensions• Packaged suite offerings


Design templates


Develop productized extensions


Service models

• Custom design/development services• Retained support services• Product delivery models


Success is in servicing the niche markets

www.nonprofitsoapbox.com


Success is also in the long tail


A short story of an OSS + biz relationship


PICnet’s short history

1999 – an NGO trip to Kosovo



2001 – a political Web portal



2003 – open source Web development firm



2007 – software as a service provider platform


Integrate, don’t reinvent

• Open source tools can provide the pivot point• It’s 2010, there’s TONS of great software and Web

services out there. Add value by delivering the niche solutions to the marketplace.

• Use the right tools for the problem


Be a bridge builder


How to build bridges

Build it yourself

Build it together with the

community


Relationships are greater than the tools

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What to look for in your OSS community

• Active communities with strong diversity (engineers, businesses, users, views and values)

• Strong local language community


What to look for in your OSS community

• Lots and lots of users, leverage the crowds• Joomla has more than 300k registered and active users,

with more than 15.6 million downloads


Nurture relationships with the community

• Free support!• Easier access to thought leaders and experts your

business might need for future solutions• Opportunity to reach large community of potential users

• Cultivate relationships, don’t just use tools


Economic impact of Joomla’s success

• More than 2 million easy to manage sites published• Code valued at more than US$2,000,000• Provisioning of powerful and affordable software to those

who normally couldn’t afford it


Thanks!

Ryan Ozimek

CEO, PICnet

www.picnet.net

President, Open Source Matters

www.joomla.org

Twitter: @cozimek

[email protected]

open source business models: building a business in the joomla community

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