Date post: | 22-Jun-2015 |
Category: |
Education |
Upload: | brian-whitmer |
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Can it be done? Building a Successful Business Around Open Licensed Software and Content
Presenters:Brian Whitmer, co-founder and Chief Learning Officer, InstructureMike Zackrison, Sr. Director, Partnerships, Instructure
A little about us.
Cool Facts:
- Founded in 2008 by Brian Whitmer and Devlin Daley
- 500+ college, university and K-12 customers
- 8+ million students & teachers
- 250+ employees
- Canvas is open source
About Instructure
www.instructure.comwww.canvas.net
About Us
• Brian Whitmer– Co-founded Instructure– Wrote lots of Canvas
code– Started Canvas open
source and the community
• Mike Zackrison– Commercialized uPortal
through Luminis product line
– Former executive at Unicon and rSmart supporting uPortal, Sakai, and Kuali solutions
– Former lead product manager Kuali Student
– Partnered with lots of open companies
Our frame of reference.
What do we mean by open?
• Openly licensed IP
– Software*• uPortal, Sakai, Kuali, Moodle, Dspace, Canvas, others mostly
in HE
– Content• Creative Commons• OER• Examples abound at this conference
*Most of our experience is on the software side
Key Concepts
Community
Sustainability
Production vs. adoption
Typical Business Opportunities
Software• Expertise• Development• Support• Hosting• Value-added UX, delivery
models• Solution integration
Content• Expertise• Development• Support• Curation• Assembly / mixing• Discoverability / distribution• Solution integration• Augmentation
Lessons Learned
You get to define success.
Get involved. Play nice.
Ask a high enough price.
Reinvest in the community.
Sales and marketing matter.
Timing is important.
Funding strategy matters.
Advice for the community
• Identify collaborative strategic partners
• Pick fewer of them
• Encourage them to participate in development process
• Support them with your dollars