Tom Preston-Werner with Chris Dixon: Building Companies and Developer Communities

TL;DR

GitHub co-founder talks about the inception of GitHub, its early growth, business model, and the importance of open source in the developer community.

Transcript

thank you thanks again for being here so um so obviously you know you're the founder co-founder of GitHub which is a incredibly important and iconic company and so how did the idea for GitHub come about that was that was while I was at Power set and we were using git internally a little bit I was working on an internal project with erlang and a co-... Read More

Key Insights

• ✊ GitHub's success was driven by its ability to tap into the power of Git and make it more accessible, particularly for web developers.
• 🤑 The company prioritized community engagement and leveraged word-of-mouth marketing to generate interest and user growth.
• 🈶 GitHub's business model of providing free access for open source projects and charging for private repositories allowed them to support the developer community while monetizing enterprise users.
• 🤗 Open source remains a vibrant part of the software development ecosystem, with various models for funding and sustaining projects.

Questions & Answers

Q: How did GitHub initially gain popularity?

GitHub used an invite-based system and created artificial scarcity, which generated buzz and made people eager to join. They leveraged word-of-mouth and the power of the developer community.

Q: What was GitHub's business model at the beginning?

GitHub followed a freemium model, where it was free for open source projects and charged for private repositories. This model allowed them to support the open source community while monetizing enterprise users.

Q: How did GitHub view itself in relation to social networks and collaboration tools?

Initially, GitHub's focus was on providing a platform for code collaboration and version control. However, the social element emerged naturally when users started sharing their repositories and collaborating with others, turning GitHub into a social network for developers.

Q: How did GitHub sustain its growth and revenue over time?

GitHub's growth was organic and maintained a linear trajectory. They focused on serving both open source projects and companies, providing value to the developer community. Their freemium model, along with growing user numbers, ensured a sustainable revenue stream.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• GitHub was born out of the founders' love for Git and their desire to make version control more accessible for web developers.

• The founders started using GitHub internally at Power Set, and realized the potential of Git for collaboration and open source projects.

• The company initially used an invite-based system to control user growth and created artificial scarcity, leading to word-of-mouth buzz around GitHub.