I got my first GitHub sponsor, at u$d 70/m 🤩
by Leonardo Losoviz2 days ago I subscribed to GitHub sponsors, and I already got my first sponsor!
Following the example set by Caleb Porzio (who's making more than u$d 100k/y doing open source), I have decided to use the sponsorware model to fund my project. It works like this:
- Whenever I get 10 new sponsors (at u$d 14/m), I start developing the most up-voted feature from a special "Sponsorware" list (which I'm completing as I'm writing this milestone)
- Once implemented, the new feature becomes available to all the sponsors, via a private GitHub repo
- As soon as I get 50 new sponsors, the new feature becomes open source, accessible to everyone via the public GitHub repo, and is integrated into the plugin
In a few months, I will also start creating instructional videos, explaining how to make the most out of the plugin. According to Caleb, this is the biggest money-making strategy.
I have also decided to add a middle tier (at u$d 70/m), where I provide Slack-based personal support, to help users of my plugin set-up GraphQL with WordPress, troubleshooting, and answering their questions. A user needed help to develop a functionality, so he decided to sponsor me <= my first sponsor ❤️
Finally, I added a higher tier (at u$d 700) for corporate sponsors. I plan to ask around in the WordPress community if their companies may be interested in participating. That would be a win-win: They get plenty of face from contributing to open source, and I get the certainty that I can make a living wage from my work and can focus on the development of the plugin (and not on marketing, which is not my forte).
This first-sponsor milestone is extremely significant for me: I've been working on my code for a few years, and it's the first time I can make a bit of money from it. (Until today, my highest source of income was writing articles for online magazines, using the ideas and material from my open source work.)
Cheers!
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I've read Caleb's post before, and what I was wondering is:
After reaching your goal and open sourcing the plugin/repo, what's to prevent all of your sponsor from stopping to sponsor you?
Do you just trust that that doesn't happen?
I guess it wouldn't actually happen. There might be a few "malicious" sponsors that would stop the sponsorship after open-sourcing, but I suppose the percentage is small enough to account for.
EDIT: Also, congrats and good luck!
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I've been also pondering about this. For the time being, I'll trust it doesn't happen, and even more, I'll try to make the situation not happen by winning their confidence, by making it clear that their sponsoring me is a win-win situation. If they see I provide a good service, and that I keep adding new features to my product, then it's to their advantage to keep sponsoring me and keep having access to the new features.
However, if trust doesn't work, there are ways to make it work. For instance, when they don't sponsor me anymore, they wouldn't have access to the private repo anymore with all the new features. So if I keep producing new valuable features, then they'll miss out on them.
There is an even harsher strategy (I don't think I'd do this, but the possibility exists). If I wanted to, I could force to have to install a new version of the private plugin (the one hosted in the private repo), whenever I release a new version of the free plugin. That is to say, the public and private plugins are always in sync with each released version. Then, if they ever stop sponsoring me, their version of the private plugin would obstruct them from upgrading the public plugin, and that would suck for them.
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That makes sense. If you keep providing value that's the main selling point!
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This comment was deleted 4 years ago.
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Haha, I read it again now and realize that sounded very weird!
Please disregard the term malicious sponsor forever 😅
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Interesting model. Good luck!
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Thanks! In theory, it makes a lot of sense. In practice, let's see, I hope it will work out
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Congrats, it's good to find out general progress in Open Source.
My only question mark is about your 700$ for corporates. Think you should review it, most corporates with in-house developers would rather build their own implementation than ...
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And then there's another thing: I really want to make a living out of my work. The lowest tier is u$d 14/m. So I need to get 50 people to join to make u$d 700/m. What is more effort, convincing 50 people, or a single company?
I think, after some time, getting 50 people is doable because of word of mouth. But at the very beginning is very difficult.
Say that for each 10 people or companies I approach, I get one to sponsor me. Then I'd have to write 500 emails to people, or 10 emails to companies. 500 emails is a lot of effort, and I can't afford it. 10 emails to companies, I can do that.
The sponsorship tier really is there so that I can attempt to make a living wage, which is my goal, while making the company save money on implementations they need, so it's a win-win.
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u$d700/m is not a high amount for corporations. The average salary in the US for a backend developer is, I think, around u$d 100 k/y. If what they need to implement is needed by others too (say, integration with WooCommerce, sending notifications via Slack, etc), and they sponsor me to do it instead of using their own developers, they'll be saving plenty of money
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That's awesome well done!
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Thanks!
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Congratulations!
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Thank you!
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Wonderful. Looking forward for more as to how many devs hope onto this type of model. :D
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This comment was deleted 4 years ago.
