Want to build a startup and grow like crazy? Maybe creating an open source alternative to a well-known service is a good option

Andrey Novikov — Tue, 28 Dec 2021 16:46:38 +0000

I recently noticed how many new startups decided to go to a massive competitor market with an open-source alternative. Seemingly, this approach works quite well. For sure, the number of stars on Github does not represent how a startup is doing in reality, but it shows interest in developers and can demonstrate its development trajectory.

For illustrative purposes, I found several examples of this approach; it will be exciting to check how projects will grow in the near future.

Calendly → Cal.com, 9k ⭐️ achieved in 9 months
Google Analytics → Plausible ⭐️9.5k achieved in 16 months
Firebase → Supabase ⭐️25.5k achieved in 27 months
Mixpanel, Amplitude → Posthog ⭐️5.5k achieved in 24 months
Shopify → Medusa ⭐️5.6k achieved in 24 months
FullStory, LogRocket → OpenReplay ⭐️2.9k achieved in 8 months
Retool → Appsmith ⭐️10.8k achieved in 35 months
Zapier → n8n ⭐️19.3k achieved in 29 months

All these startups are quite different, but there are some similarities:

they are all going for a huge competitor with a $3b+ valuation
all main competitors are mature well-established startups (6+ years)
their product is in on massive B2B market with a relatively low price point

I personally think it's a great idea to compete in a massive market using all the benefits of an open-source community. To me, it is not easy to find any disadvantages (excluding possibilities of users migrating to their servers, but it happens quite rare).

What is your take on that? Do you have another examples of this approach?

DEV Community: Andrey Novikov

Want to build a startup and grow like crazy? Maybe creating an open source alternative to a well-known service is a good option