diff --git a/content/images/10-year.jpg b/content/images/10-year.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..36b3efc Binary files /dev/null and b/content/images/10-year.jpg differ diff --git a/content/posts/10-year-anniversary.md b/content/posts/10-year-anniversary.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c39903b --- /dev/null +++ b/content/posts/10-year-anniversary.md @@ -0,0 +1,48 @@ +title: Read the Docs 10-year anniversary +date: 2024-08-15 +description: Reflecting on 10 years of trying to make open source sustainable +category: Meta +tags: meta, open-source, sustainability, anniversary +authors: Eric Holscher +status: published +image: /images/10-year.jpg +image_credit: Photo by Adi Goldstein on Unsplash + +Read the Docs was started at a [48-hour sprint in 2010](https://www.ericholscher.com/blog/2010/aug/16/announcing-read-docs/), and grew to become a large part of the documentation ecosystem within a few years. +Based on that success and the stressed that come with it, we [created a company](https://www.ericholscher.com/blog/2014/oct/24/announcing-read-the-docs-for-business/) to focus on sustainability in 2014. +So we've been working on Read the Docs as a project for 14 years, and a company for 10 years. +This post will reflect on the last 10 years of trying to make open source sustainable. + +## Our sustainability model + +We tried a number of different ways to make a sustainable open source project, really a service, over the years. +The model that we've found that has worked for us currently is a version of the classic open source model: + +* We offer a free service for open source projects, supported by a single, ethical, ad on the documentation. +* We offer paid services for companies that need more private repos, as well as support and consulting services. + +We tried relying on donations and other optional support, but that didn't work at all, and left us with some [mental health issues](https://ericholscher.com/blog/2018/feb/7/the-post-i-never-published/). +We tried a model where we focused on paid documentation consulting and services, but that mostly took time away from actually working on the core product that open source projects rely on. +We also [experimented with grant funding](https://blog.readthedocs.com/czi-grant-announcement/), +which was a much more aligned source of funding, +but is a one-time source of funding. + +The goal is to work on the core product each day, +and [our current model aligns the incentives](https://ericholscher.com/blog/2016/aug/31/funding-oss-marketing-money/) so that everyone who is using the product is supporting it in some way, +and we can focus on making things better. + +## Lessons learned + + + +## Gratitude + +We are grateful to have a team of 4 folks working full-time on Read the Docs. +The support of the Python community, the Django community, and the broader open source community has been amazing. +We depend on the trust of the projects that use our platform, and we have a core value not to violate that trust. +We're thankful to be mostly bootstrapped, outside of 6% equity we gave to our incubator, so that we don't have to follow the enshittification path of many venture-backed companies. + +We are also grateful for the sponsored services from many tech companies, most importantly [AWS](https://aws.amazon.com/) and [Cloudflare](https://www.cloudflare.com/). +This allows us to focus our funding on the team and core code, rather than infrastructure costs. + +##