Surviving to Thriving - Building an Open Source Business in the Era of Rugpulls and OSPO Layoffs

Learn how to build a successful open source-centric business model through the real-world journey of Kusari, a cybersecurity startup founded during challenging times for open source initiatives. Discover how Michael Lieberman and his team navigated the landscape of OSPO layoffs and industry upheaval to create a thriving business leveraging open source contributions and community leadership. Explore the strategic decisions behind transitioning from end user companies in financial services and defense contracting to founding a startup that stands out through active participation in the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) and Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) communities. Examine the lessons learned from early challenges with productizing FRSCA, an open source CI/CD project, and the subsequent success with GUAC, an open source supply chain security tool. Understand how consistent open source contributions and leadership roles in communities like OpenSSF and Clearly Defined helped establish Kusari's reputation as expert practitioners in the cybersecurity space. Gain insights into focusing your startup's open source activities effectively, differentiating from competitors through meaningful contributions, convincing skeptical venture capitalists of open source viability, leveraging community participation for go-to-market strategies, and knowing when to discontinue underperforming open source projects.