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