Ask Slashdot: Viable Open Source Models For Early Startups?

New submitter rchoetzlein writes "I am a software developer working independently for five years on various projects, and preparing to go public with my first product. Everyone is telling me I should make it open source. I would love to, but I just don't see how an early startup can afford to become profitable on service alone. My projects are no longer small-scale hobbies, they are large frameworks, and I need to make a living. Any ideas on business models that would allow me to open source while guaranteeing I can feed myself?"

Comments

Re:If you think open source is not the way to go..

[Ihmhi]

If you think open source is not the way to go, then why bother asking slashdot? Seriously? You won't get the answers you're looking for here.

Yes he will.

The way I read it, ethically he thinks open source might be the right thing. Practically, it might not be a reality. He's fishing for examples of unconventional open-source money generating techniques.