The video features Elliot Horowitz, co-founder of MongoDB and Viam, discussing open source strategy and developer community building within enterprises. Horowitz emphasizes the essential nature of integrating open source into infrastructure software and elaborates on the evolution and importance of open source in building stable and secure systems for developers. He describes the approach and success MongoDB had, focusing on community strategy to establish its presence in the market dominated by giants like Oracle.

This discussion is a must-watch for anyone invested in or intrigued by the domains of software development and enterprise market strategy. Viewers will gain insights into how MongoDB capitalized on developer excitement to grow its user base by leveraging open source as a core tenet. The conversation also highlights how Viam is adapting and applying these lessons in modern-day business strategies, assuring a seamless product experience that bridges business and developer needs.

Main takeaways from the video:

Please remember to turn on the CC button to view the subtitles.

Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. consumption-based pricing [kənˈsʌmpʃən-beɪst ˈpraɪsɪŋ] - (noun phrase) - A pricing model where customers are charged based on the amount they use a product or service. - Synonyms: (usage-based pricing, pay-per-use pricing, metered billing)

The great things about sort of the modern world we live in is that, you know, people are very comfortable with consumption-based pricing, with SaaS, you know, with SaaS-based tools and with the cloud.

2. bottoms-up sales motion [ˈbɒtəmz ʌp seɪlz ˈmoʊʃən] - (noun phrase) - A sales strategy where the focus is on attracting and convincing individual users or small teams within an organization, which later leads to broader adoption across the enterprise. - Synonyms: (grassroots sales, user-led growth, participatory sales)

And what follows is a discussion about how they built the developer community, scaled a bottoms-up sales motion and established trust in the enterprise market.

3. developer-led products [dɪˈvɛləpər lɛd ˈprɒdʌkts] - (noun phrase) - Products primarily driven by and for developers, emphasizing ease of use and functionality that appeals directly to developers. - Synonyms: (developer-first products, engineer-friendly products, coder-driven offerings)

My whole belief on developer LED products is you've really got about, you know, 5 seconds, 30 seconds maybe to convince someone that like they should spend two minutes listening to you or 10 minutes and then you got two minutes to convince them to spend 10 minutes listening to you.

4. infrastructure software [ˈɪnfrəstrʌktʃər ˈsɒftwɛər] - (noun phrase) - Software systems that are foundational to technology services, enabling critical processes and functionalities across organizations. - Synonyms: (backend systems, foundational software, core technology)

But open source I believe is the only way to Build infrastructure software.

5. evangelizer group [ɪˈvændʒəlaɪzər ɡruːp] - (noun phrase) - A group of enthusiastic supporters or users who actively promote and recommend a product, helping to increase its popularity and adoption. - Synonyms: (advocate group, promoter circle, supporter community)

Right, which is like, are you doing the meetup and the community strategy which we often See is like, you know, sort of top of funnel inbound versus sort of helping educate and grow usage amongst or any your evangelizer group within your, your users.

6. nefarious [nɪˈfɛərɪəs] - (adjective) - Wicked or criminal in nature, describing actions that are morally wrong. - Synonyms: (wicked, evil, malevolent)

It keeps enterprises and big companies in check so they can't be completely nefarious.

7. monetize [ˈmɒnɪtaɪz] - (verb) - To convert an asset or any aspect of a business into money or revenue. - Synonyms: (commercialize, capitalize, profit from)

It's not an uncommon thing. We hear from repeat founders that they feel like they're short circuiting some of the not necessarily mistakes, but sort of the one foot, the two steps forward, one step back motion that they went through the first time around, and especially having a better, clearer sense of how to monetize or like how to build a business model around what they're doing the second time around.

8. guerrilla marketing [ɡəˈrɪlə ˈmɑrkɪtɪŋ] - (noun phrase) - Innovative and unconventional marketing strategies, often with limited budgets, to promote a product or service. - Synonyms: (unconventional marketing, grassroots marketing, informal marketing)

Just go to conferences. Just very guerrilla marketing. We had no marketing team, we had no marketing budget.

9. trodden path [ˈtrɒdn pæθ] - (noun phrase) - A well-followed or established course of action or strategy. - Synonyms: (beaten path, established route, well-worn course)

No, that makes, I mean that makes a ton of sense and it's now, I feel like a well, well trodden path.

10. hobbyist use case [ˈhɒbiɪst juːs keɪs] - (noun phrase) - An application or scenario where a product is used by amateurs or non-professionals for personal interest or pleasure. - Synonyms: (amateur use, DIY application, personal project)

The other point that you had brought up earlier that I'd love to dig in on is the hobbyist use case.

Building a $20B+ Open Source Business with MongoDB's Eliot Horowitz

Let enterprises work the way they do. You know, your go to market strategy can't just be going after really big enterprise deals because sometimes they take three years. And so you just have to really understand these things and let developers be developers because trying to change the way developers work is never going to happen.

It's 2007, the cloud's fairly new, most databases are on prem and Oracle is the 800 pound gorilla leading the market. But managing databases was challenging. As our guest today, Elliot Horowitz, will tell you, Elliot is a co-founder of MongoDB and VM. When MongoDB began, the team knew they couldn't win against Oracle's developer headcount. So they embraced the open source community. What follows is a discussion about how they built the developer community, scaled a bottoms-up sales motion and established trust in the enterprise market.

Elliot, thanks so much for joining me today. Really excited to chat about your journey. Thanks for having me. Seema excited to be here. MongoDB was not like an open source project that got commercialized, the story that you often hear with open source. But open source was what I would view is a very effective strategy to get where you guys wanted to from day one. So I'm curious just how you guys thought about the open source side.

My fundamental belief, and I've had this belief, you know, since when we were starting MongoDB, is that open source is a really powerful thing for the world for developers. It's a way to make sure that systems are stable, are secure, outlive companies. It keeps enterprises and big companies in check so they can't be completely nefarious. And the cat's out of the bag, right? There are too many. Even in 2007 when we were first starting to build MongoDB, there were really great open source databases.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP, TECHNOLOGY, INNOVATION, MONGODB, OPEN SOURCE, COMMUNITY STRATEGY, A16Z