Open source sustainability

A transparent breakdown of how I fund my open-source work through sponsorships, consulting, and courses. Includes real numbers and lessons learned.

The numbers

In 2023, my open-source work generated the following income:

| Source | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub Sponsors | $42,000 | 380 monthly sponsors |
| Consulting | $58,000 | 4 engagements, ~10 hrs/week |
| Course sales | $31,000 | One course, ~1,200 students |
| Book (pre-order) | $18,000 | 600 pre-orders |
| Speaking | $9,000 | 4 conferences |
| Total | $158,000 | |

This is before taxes and expenses. After taxes, health insurance, and business expenses, take-home is around $98,000.

What I learned

1. Sponsorships are not enough on their own

$42k from sponsors sounds great, and it is. But it took 4 years to build that sponsor base, and it is concentrated — my top 10 sponsors account for 60% of the total. If one of them pulls out, the math changes.

The lesson: treat sponsorships as a base layer, not as the whole structure.

2. Consulting is the highest-leverage activity

10 hours a week of consulting generated more income than 40 hours a week of open-source work. The consulting also fed the open-source work — every engagement surfaced new problems that became new features.

The lesson: consulting and open source are not in tension. They feed each other.

3. Products scale; time does not

A course is a lot of work up front and very little work after. Sponsorships and consulting trade time for money; products decouple them.

The lesson: build products. They are the only path to scale that does not require more hours in the day.

4. Transparency builds trust

I publish my income and my roadmap publicly. Sponsors tell me this is why they sponsor — they know where their money goes. Customers tell me this is why they buy — they trust the product will be maintained.

The lesson: open source is a relationship. Transparency is how you build it.

What did not work

• Paid support tiers — too much overhead for the revenue. Killed after 6 months.
• Open core — the open-source version was good enough that nobody bought the paid version. Killed after 1 year.
• Bounty programs — incentivized the wrong contributions. Killed after 3 months.

The path that worked

1. Years 1-2: Build useful tools, build an audience, no income.
2. Year 3: Launch GitHub Sponsors. First $1k/month.
3. Year 4: First consulting engagement. First course. $60k total.
4. Year 5: Scale all three. $158k total.

There was no shortcut. No viral moment. Just consistent shipping for 5 years.

Closing

Open source sustainability is possible, but it is not easy and it is not fast. If you are starting: pick tools you would maintain for free, build in public, and be patient. The income follows the trust, and the trust follows the years.