The 3 traps of open source funding models | Wes McKinney (pandas, Voltron Data, Posit)

From creating one of the Python’s most influential libraries to co-founding Voltron Data, Wes joins the show to chat about why the book cover of the pandas book doesn’t feature a panda, open source pitfalls to avoid, the pros and cons of hiring engineers at a non-profit, and more.

Segments:

(00:02:50) Guang’s complaint about the pandas book cover

(00:04:38) Quarto and Open Access Publishing

(00:12:00) Convincing Wall Street to Open Source

(00:15:31) Publishing the first python package over Christmas 

(00:18:01) Doubling Down on Building pandas

(00:23:23) Personal sacrifices for the sake of impact

(00:26:28) The Evolution of Open-Source

(00:29:19) “Open source development started out as a very privileged activity”

(00:32:40) The Consulting Trap

(00:35:17) The Startup Trap

(00:39:29) The Corporate User Trap

(00:44:21) Avoiding the Startup Trap

(00:46:54) Non-Profit vs. For-Profit

(00:48:09) The Challenges of Hiring Engineers in a Non-Profit Setting

(00:50:08) The Benefits of Remote Work for Open Source Development

(00:52:15) Balancing Open Source and Enterprise Interests

(00:57:25) New Funding Models for Open Source?

(01:00:01) Getting into VC

(01:06:19) The Future of Composable Data Systems

Show Notes:

- online edition of pandas book: https://wesmckinney.com/book/

- the new digital publishing tool that Wes recommends: https://quarto.org/

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Music: Vlad Gluschenko — Forest License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en