I just got off the phone with Clint Oram, one of the founders of SugarCRM and currently their VP of Products and Services. That's a somewhat non-descript way of saying what Clint really does: build and leverage SugarCRM's development community. In other words, Chief Community Officer (which, as I've argued elsewhere, is something that every technology company needs.)
Clint said something that set me back on my heels. Of the top 50 contributors to SugarCRM's development community, 95% of them are SugarCRM partners. Think about that.
Some will say, "Of course. That's because SugarCRM doesn't get open source, and can only attract commercial developers."
The less ignorant (yes, the statement above reflects deep-seated ignorance of where open source has been and where it's going - it has always been a commercial phenomenon in the sense of developers solving business problems through technology) will note that it means that the open source development community around SugarCRM is very well aligned with the company. The community wants to make money around SugarCRM and so is going to contribute plug-ins, add-ons, extensions, etc. that make it a robust, superior product.
This is precisely what Microsoft has built over the years: a "keystone" strategy that fosters a benevolent network around itself (Note: I'm not sure I buy Microsoft as a benevolent dictator. Dictator, maybe... :-). The difference in Sugar's case, however, is that the software is open and, hence, the value network is more open, as well.
Where does Clint look for community inspiration? The top 5 open source (web) CMS communities (e.g., PHP-Nukes, Mambo, etc.). These, like SugarCRM, have always been about helping solve business problems (in their case, web content management), and have a strong core of commercial developers surrounding them.
This will be fascinating to watch. Commercial open source projects creating a highly virtuous community constellation of development and revenues.
Posted by Matt Asay on December 9, 2005 03:55 PM
