The unexpected things that happen when you go open source
Inspiring a community of people you've never met
When we made the decision to transition from a Chrome extension to a full-fledged web app, it was a significant shift. But what truly surprised me was how much going open source would change the way we build our company.
Going open source reshaped our approach to everything from development to community engagement, to marketing, and so much more.
Open Source = Community
First, let’s talk about the community.
One of the most remarkable outcomes of going open source is the sheer support and enthusiasm you receive from people who are genuinely passionate about your project. We launched on Hacker News, and almost immediately, contributors started jumping in—not just to help with code, but also expressing interest in investing their time, energy, and in some cases, even offering to invest in the project(!!). These aren’t just casual onlookers (no pun intended); they’re individuals who care about what we’re building and want to be part of it.
Open source, it turns out, is also a powerful marketing tool.
People discovered our project through all kinds of channels, one of which was through Good First Issues, a site that shows issues that GitHub projects have tagged as "good first issues."
As a result, we’ve attracted a lot of developers eager to get involved. It’s been incredible to have people from all over the world offer to jump in and offer feedback. Many of the people that scan through Good First Issues are (unsurprisingly) more junior level, but we have needed a lot of support on features that are definitely within reach for a novice developer.
Contributors = (a bit of) Chaos
But, with the enthusiasm from so many people comes the challenge of management. Suddenly, you’re not just building a product—you’re managing a community. Some contributors are highly active, engaging in our Discord, while others pop in and out, contributing when motivations strikes.
Managing these varying levels of involvement requires a delicate balance. Some contributors, especially juniors, need mentorship. They might submit work that isn’t quite up to the standard we’re aiming for, which means we have to decide whether to provide feedback or move on.
One example from my side of things: a designer wanted to contribute to the UI, and while their first pass wasn’t quite there, I offered some suggestions on other areas to explore. They never got back to me, but when people are volunteering their time and skills, it's totally understandable that they may not want to sit through a design review, even if only a few sentences.
And that brings me to another surprise: the unpredictability of feedback loops. Because people are contributing for free, there’s no accountability. It can feel like a waste of time when someone doesn’t follow through, but when a contributor does pull through, it’s incredibly rewarding. Walking someone through the process, seeing them grow, watching them deliver something that makes the product better, and then sharing their excitement with the world (Like Kartikey did below!)—that’s a unique kind of fulfillment that doesn't come with running a closed source business.
Keeping communications together
Another unexpected aspect is just how much work goes into maintaining communications.
We have a growing list of subscribers and stargazers (people who "starred" the GitHub repo that you can see here), and keeping them informed is no small task. Announcements can easily fall by the wayside amidst the day-to-day grind. We also have an email list for product updates, but dissecting everything that happens within the repo to communicate it effectively—while maintaining our brand and including relevant screenshots—is a heavy lift. We’re still figuring out the best ways to keep everyone in the loop without getting bogged down by the details.
Let’s not forget the benefits, though.
Our contributors have been a tremendous asset—essentially providing us with generous engineering help and great ideas on how we should implement things. In many cases, they’ve helped us move our roadmap forward faster than we could have on our own. It’s like having an extra half-engineer (if not a whole one sometimes) when you get a really competent contributor.
What about competitors?
Finally, I’ve had to adjust my thinking around competition.
Coming from the hyper-competitive world of e-scooters at Bird, where everything was locked down and people were actively trying to steal information from the company (yes actually), the openness of our current approach feels almost counterintuitive. This has been especially top-of-mind, as we're in a very crowded design and developer tools space.
But there’s a lot of value in transparency. Being open source means our code is out there for anyone—including competitors—to see, but what I’ve learned is that the real challenge in software isn’t just in the code—it’s in the marketing. As long as we keep people excited about what we’re building and maintain a genuine connection with our community, I’m confident we'll be in a place to compete.
As we continue on the open source journey, the surprises and challenges only reinforce the decision we made. Building in public, fostering a community, and staying transparent—it’s all part of a new way of doing things that feels more aligned with our values and the direction we want to take.
I’m sure we’ll run into weird quirks of open source (like what happens when we have to shift from accepting random contributions, to maintaining code from contributors), but it’ll be an exciting challenge to take on.
While it comes with its own set of hurdles, the rewards—both in the relationships we build and the progress we make—have really been worth it. Open source has not just changed our product; it’s reshaped our approach to growth, collaboration, and what it means to build something that people from around the world that we’ve never met are excited about.
We’ll be launching on Product Hunt soon (get notified here) and on Hacker News (link) tomorrow, August 29th! Be on the lookout for us and please upvote the project if you see it!