Marketing open source projects: Gregory Chase's strategy for community-driven growth

Open-source software can be a great marketing tool, but only if you know how to build and nurture thriving communities around your projects.

By Tom Amitay

Edited by Lia du Preez

Fact-check by Romi Hector

Updated March 20, 2024.

If you're interested in the strategic use of open source for marketing and product development, this podcast is a must-listen. Our guest is Gregory Chase, the Director of Product Marketing at PagerDuty, a company at the cutting edge of leveraging open source projects.
Gregory has first-hand experience with Rundeck, an open-source automation platform that PagerDuty acquired a few years ago. He was one of the first tasked with integrating Rundeck and shaping its go-to-market strategy alongside PagerDuty's commercial offerings. This unique perspective makes Gregory the perfect guide to explore the intricacies of open-source.
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If an open source product has adoption, has people using it and buying it, and let's say the usage of that product has some complexity or there's different ways to use it, a community of users is going to form around it. The question is, are you ignoring it, or are you supporting it?
In this insightful conversation, Gregory pulls back the curtain on how companies can strategically utilize open-source projects to drive awareness, build communities, and fuel product-led growth. He candidly discusses the goals, benefits, and trade-offs of having an open-source offering alongside a commercial product.
You'll learn battle-tested strategies for generating interest, activating developers to contribute, and ultimately converting free users to paid customers. Gregory also shares what he's learned from Rundeck's journey, including the challenges of differentiation and the nuances of open source vs. traditional software trials.
We also cover:
Goals and benefits of open source projects for marketing and development
Building buzz and activating the open-source community
Using open source for product-led growth and customer acquisition
Striking the right balance between open source and premium offerings
Converting free users to paid customers
Lessons from integrating Rundeck into PagerDuty's strategy
The future of open source marketing and product development
» More from the podcast: Lomit Patel shares how UGC and organic marketing drive success.
Whether you're a marketer, product manager, or simply curious about the open source ecosystem, this podcast offers a rare insider's look at leveraging open source as a powerful marketing and development tool.
So get ready to take notes—this authentic discussion is packed with insights you won't want to miss. 
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