To Be Continuous: Open Source for Enterprise

In this episode of Greymatter, Armon Dadgar and Glenn Solomon join the show to discuss HashiCorp's journey from an open-source project to a successful commercial company. Armon shares how he and his co-founder Mitchell Hashimoto started HashiCorp with the goal of building tools that would help developers manage their infrastructure more efficiently. They initially built eight open-source projects, but only one gained significant traction - Vagrant. Armon explains how they used local meetups and conferences to build a community around their products. He also talks about the importance of having a strong commercial product alongside an open-source project. Glenn Solomon, Managing Partner at GGV Capital, shares his perspective on investing in open-source companies and how HashiCorp's approach has evolved over time. The discussion then shifts to continuous development and the challenges that come with automating infrastructure management. Armon talks about the paradox of automation and how it can lead to both increased efficiency and increased risk. He also discusses HashiCorp's approach to mitigating these risks through meta-automation and policy as code. Finally, the conversation wraps up with some final thoughts from Armon and Glenn on the importance of agility, adaptability, and perseverance in building a successful open-source company.