Curious about how to scale Open Source companies. Want to hear anecdotes of existential company killing moments that turned into defining assets? This episode has everything from leadership tactics, hard earned advice, managing in competitive industries, new category creation and much more.
Marten Mickos is CEO of HackerOne and the OG of Open Source. He has 36+ years of enterprise software experience. His resume would take too long to fully cover but he previously was the CEO of MySQL (one of the first open source companies) and CEO of Eucalyptus Software. He’s also served as a board member and advisor to companies like Nokia and Verizon Media. Broadly this episode can be categorized into three buckets: 1) building Open Source software with limited resources and overcoming numerous near death company experiences, 2) creating a new category with bug bounties as a service at HackerOne, and 3) specific startup advice on leadership, culture, and embodying decentralized decision making. There are countless gems in this episode that are too hard to cover in a summary so just listen and take in the anecdotes and lessons that Marten kindly shares in detail.
Where to Find Marten:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/martenmickos
Where to Find Shomik:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/
Newsletter: https://www.shomik.substack.com
Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google.
In this episode, we cover:
(01:04) - “Technology was not my dream nor is not a Purpose of its Own but Rather a Tool for Human Beings” - Marten’s Early Career
(04:27) - Joining the MySQL Team
(06:53) - Turning an Existential Moment with MySQL Getting Sued in 2001 at Seed Stage Into an Asset and Marketing Engine for Customers
(10:34) - Open Source Business Model at MySQL Before Playbooks Were Written
(12:45) - Closing the First Few Customers
(14:22) - “If Nobody Hates What You’re Doing in OSS Than You Don’t Have Enough Users”
(18:55) - The IKEA of Relational Databases - AKA Tips on Branding
(21:12) - How Business Model is Brand Dependent - RedHat & Android as Examples
(24:19) - Existential Moment #2 - Turning that into an Asset Again
(29:20) - Establishing the Brand for Eucalyptus Software & HackerOne - “When Building a Brand You Must Polarize”
(33:32) - How to Approach New Market Creation
(36:57) - Getting Early Customers at HackerOne
(39:22) - Balancing a Two Sided Marketplace at HackerOne
(43:20) - Parallels Between Open Source Companies and HackerOne
(45:34) - AI Impact on Security
(52:06) - Joining An Existing Companies with Founders Still There as CEO
(54:51) - Establishing a Culture of Decentralized Decision Making
(57:05) - Knowing When to Centralize Key Decisions vs Maintaining Decentralization
(59:55) - “I’ve Decided to Be Happy Because It’s Good for my Health”
(1:00:02) - Failure over a 36 Year Leadership Career and the Contrast Between Rational Thinking and Instincts
(1:10:00) - The Intrinsic Motivation to Keep Climbing New Learning Curves
(1:12:25) - How to Operate in a Constrained Capital Environment
(1:16:13) - Why Consumerization of Everything (yes including IT) is an Inevitable Force
How to Subscribe:
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google.
#26 - Marten Mickos (CEO, HackerOne & prev CEO, MySQL & Eucalyptus Software) - The OG of Open Source, Lessons Learned Scaling Multiple Enterprise Software Startups, Tactical Leadership Learnings