Yesterday @ sweet potato asked me out! However, it is a draft, let me talk about how I do open source projects on OSC and use open source projects to make money. Everyone knows how to make open source software, so the focus is on how to make money with open source software.
Let me briefly introduce my open source project: Open Source Invoicing PSI ( http://git.oschina.net/crm8000/PSI ), is an enterprise management software that helps enterprises manage purchasing, sales and inventory. This is my entrepreneurial project, not a hobby, so from the very beginning of the project, I planned the entire commercialization steps. The invoicing product itself has no technical content, so it is necessary to innovate in the business model before it can gain a foothold and develop.
Business on the Internet, the first important factor is: traffic. I noticed that many softwares are particularly concerned about the traffic on the OSC homepage (such as various versions of Emperor), but I focus on the import of traffic to the blog. The traffic here is far less than the homepage, but it is very accurate and the conversion rate is very high. I have written PSI's help manuals and technical content as blogs as much as possible, and the blogs also serve as a knowledge base.
An important factor in converting traffic to users is the demo. Users browse OSC and discover PSI, and immediately want to see a demo of the product. At this time, it is also an inevitable choice to deploy the product using the demonstration environment provided by OSC and MoPaaS. Speaking of MoPaaS, let me just say a little more. I have established contact with their business people through their community, and I am also discussing the next business cooperation. Not only to make full use of OSC's resources, but also to make full use of the resources of OSC's partners. This is my basic idea.
With users, the next step is key: converting to paying users. At present, there are two main situations for paying users of PSI. One is that the user offers to pay for custom development, and the other is that the user pays to provide technical service support. For users of custom development, the principle I adhere to is: I would rather charge less, and let users agree that I have the right to open source custom development code. This looks like I'm at a loss in terms of cash income, but think about it from another angle: doesn't this mean that someone is funding my open source project? Another type of payment is used to buy technical support services, which is the normal sales process. In this sales process, it is necessary to speculate on the user's psychology at all times, and do not rush to make a deal. Many times, I suggest payment after serving first.
If it's just the above, PSI can't talk about innovation in business model. The innovation in PSI's business model is to also play crowdsourcing. By constantly observing OSC's crowdsourcing platform ( https://zb.oschina.net/ ), I apply the marketing methods in the OSC crowdsourcing platform to my own projects middle. I have a series of articles on my blog explaining how PSI plays crowdsourcing. If you are interested, please see here:
http://my.oschina.net/u/134395/blog/516606
http://my.oschina.net/u/134395/blog/517345
http://my.oschina.net/u/134395/blog/518302
Because I live in Dalian, the software industry in Dalian is deeply influenced by the Japanese software outsourcing business. Another innovation of mine is to apply the R&D method from the Japanese software outsourcing business to the crowdsourcing of PSI. Other factors aside, from the point of view of product development management, the various methods in outsourcing business in Japan are really a treasure trove.
One last topic: financing. The troops and horses have not moved the food and grass first, so it is necessary to do financing. Because investors in the capital market can view PSI from a more commercial perspective, they can listen to their suggestions and use their resources during the financing process. Although financing cannot be achieved in one step, in these processes, the gains are far greater than the monetary value. If you happen to be a professional investor in the direction of SaaS, please give me some pointers on my project!
These are my practical experiences in the past six months. "If criticism is not free, praise is meaningless." Welcome everyone to make a brick.