Community Capital - Making OSS and Businesses Successful Together

Explore how open source ecosystems thrive through strategic collaboration between maintainers, vendors, and users in this 37-minute conference talk from CNCF. Learn why successful businesses built on open source software require more than just competitive pricing, and discover how shared values and trust form the foundation of thriving communities. Examine the critical timing considerations for open sourcing projects or contributing them to foundations, and understand how vendors can build sustainable businesses by adding genuine value around open source rather than attempting to control it. Gain insights into why vendor success directly impacts project health and sustainability. Drawing from extensive experience with the Cilium project and leadership roles in the Technical Oversight Committee, the presentation analyzes real-world examples from CNCF and other ecosystems to demonstrate how shared values drive collective success. Understand the symbiotic relationship between project health and vendor viability, while discovering practical strategies for building community capital that benefits all stakeholders in the open source ecosystem.