The future of monetizing open source with Spencer Kimball, CEO of Cockroach Labs

"Unpack Pricing" with Scott Woody

In this episode of Unpack Pricing, Spencer Kimball, co-founder and CEO of Cockroach Labs joins Scott Woody, co-founder and CEO of Metronome, to discuss CockroachDB's evolution over the past 10 years and how that's impacted their business models.

Spencer Kimball discusses the pivotal decisions in open-source strategy, how the company navigated competition with hyperscalers, the non-obvious transformative power of open-source, and the importance of customer focus in driving long-term success for their business.

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FULL TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE HERE: https://metronome.com/podcast/unpack-pricing/the-future-of-monetizing-open-source-with-cockroach-labs-co-founder-ceo

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Follow:

Scott:

X: https://x.com/l3amm

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-woody-21677121/

Spencer:

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerwkimball/

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Check out:

• Cockroach Labs: https://www.cockroachlabs.com/
• Metronome: https://metronome.com/

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(00:59) Spencer's background and CockroachDB's origin

(06:06) The evolution of open source business models

(10:05) Challenges and strategies in commercializing open source

(16:29) The impact of hyperscalers on open source

(18:42) CockroachDB's licensing journey

(21:31) Future of open source

(30:59) CockroachDB’s unified product offering

(33:39) Customer reception and adjustments

(35:41) Philosophical changes in tech

(36:35) Cloud services and competition

(40:47) Customer needs and strategic strengths

(47:29) Future of cloud and AI

(58:27) Staying energized as an entrepreneur

(01:01:39) Wrap