The hidden benefits of being an open-source startup

PostHog wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t open source. It’s that core to our success, and has been since day one. Inevitably though, what “being open source” means has changed as we've grown. It started as a product differentiator, but it’s evolved to be more than that: a core part of our culture and business strategy. Throughout this evolution, we've learned a lot the benefits (and the downsides) of being open source. We're detailing them here in the hope more will follow this path. Rarely is a software product entirely original. Everything is a remix. This creates a lot of competition, but being open source instantly distinguishes you from your closed-source competitors. Many new products ride this differentiation to successful launches. Just look up “open source alternative” on Hacker News to see how successful this is. We know this because PostHog did the same. Launching as “open-source product analytics” was instrumental in helping us get our first 1,000 users. A couple of days af

PostHog wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t open source. It’s that core to our success, and has been since day one. Inevitably though, what “being open source” means has changed as we've grown. It started as a product differentiator, but it’s evolved to be more than that: a core part of our culture and business strategy. Throughout this evolution, we've learned a lot the benefits (and the downsides) of being open source. We're detailing them here in the hope more will follow this path. Rarely is a software product entirely original. Everything is a remix. This creates a lot of competition, but b