Corporate Open Source Is Not About Generosity or Giving Back

Be a selfish open source strategist.

Companies build proprietary moats thinking it's their competitive advantage. But here's the reality:

Every proprietary component costs you: maintenance, updates, security patches, documentation, onboarding — costs that compound year after year.

While you're drowning in your own moat, competitors move fast with OSS.

The Selfish Case for Open Source

Share the maintenance burden. Turn industry peers into collaborators on shared infrastructure problems.

Multiply your investment. Pool resources with others facing the same infrastructure problems.

Test new ideas in the open. Get free validation and feedback.

Better retention. Your engineers will love that their work can survive beyond the current project.

Flip the Default

Today, closed software is the default. It should be the other way around: open by default.

Start with the obvious wins: tech that's not specific to your industry. Database connectors, dev tools, observability frameworks.

The more you do this, the easier it gets. By using open code, you adopt open standards — which makes reusing public code even easier. It's a virtuous cycle.

Carve your moat with a scalpel. Be surgical about what you keep proprietary. Your real moat isn't code ownership — it's execution speed, domain expertise, and customer relationships.

Don't drown in your moat. Bet on moving fast.