Alya Abbott

what your title is or how long you've been involved with Zulip or anything like that. It's really about kind of working together to come to the best decision we can about how something should work. Yeah, let me know if I didn't quite answer everything, all the parts of your question.

what your title is or how long you've been involved with Zulip or anything like that. It's really about kind of working together to come to the best decision we can about how something should work. Yeah, let me know if I didn't quite answer everything, all the parts of your question.

Yeah, absolutely. So we have intentionally not raised VC money and do not plan to raise VC money. And in terms of the business model, what we want is just to build a sustainable company on top of this open source project. So we've discussed some paid plans we have on the cloud side, on the self-hosted side, services we can provide.

Yeah, absolutely. So we have intentionally not raised VC money and do not plan to raise VC money. And in terms of the business model, what we want is just to build a sustainable company on top of this open source project. So we've discussed some paid plans we have on the cloud side, on the self-hosted side, services we can provide.

And so that's really our strategy to have our users pay for the software and then that funds the development of the project and the product. And kind of a key reason we don't want to go the VC route is that We feel that kind of misaligns the incentives. There's kind of an inherent misalignment of incentives. So for us, we're not going to take 100 swings at this.

And so that's really our strategy to have our users pay for the software and then that funds the development of the project and the product. And kind of a key reason we don't want to go the VC route is that We feel that kind of misaligns the incentives. There's kind of an inherent misalignment of incentives. So for us, we're not going to take 100 swings at this.

We're not going to try to build 100 different products and see which ones land and abandon ones that don't. We really are building Zula because we think it's a better way to work. And we're really, really committed to making that around for our users for the long term. So as I mentioned, we still have users from 2013 who are on Zilp now, and we want that software to be around for the long run.

We're not going to try to build 100 different products and see which ones land and abandon ones that don't. We really are building Zula because we think it's a better way to work. And we're really, really committed to making that around for our users for the long term. So as I mentioned, we still have users from 2013 who are on Zilp now, and we want that software to be around for the long run.

And so we want to just take that one single bet and make it work. Whereas VCs, their incentives are, you know, they're looking for like the next, you know, your next Facebook, your next like giant company that just explodes. And they're willing to take big risks in order to have that probability of a really remarkable, amazing return.

And so we want to just take that one single bet and make it work. Whereas VCs, their incentives are, you know, they're looking for like the next, you know, your next Facebook, your next like giant company that just explodes. And they're willing to take big risks in order to have that probability of a really remarkable, amazing return.

Whereas for us, we want to take very small risks and have a very high probability of kind of success without necessarily aiming for that like galactic outsized return, right?

Whereas for us, we want to take very small risks and have a very high probability of kind of success without necessarily aiming for that like galactic outsized return, right?

We just, you know, our main priority is really to get to a point where the software, we have enough, you know, we're making enough money to really continue to develop the software and have the staffing and the team that we want. And it doesn't have to be, you know, stratospheric. And of course, we would like to reach as many people as we can.

We just, you know, our main priority is really to get to a point where the software, we have enough, you know, we're making enough money to really continue to develop the software and have the staffing and the team that we want. And it doesn't have to be, you know, stratospheric. And of course, we would like to reach as many people as we can.

And we think it can benefit lots and lots of different kinds of organizations. It's a huge market. There's definitely tons of opportunity. But just like the kinds of risks we're facing comfortable taking to get there are very different from the kinds of risks VCs would feel comfortable with taking to get there.

And we think it can benefit lots and lots of different kinds of organizations. It's a huge market. There's definitely tons of opportunity. But just like the kinds of risks we're facing comfortable taking to get there are very different from the kinds of risks VCs would feel comfortable with taking to get there.

Which part?

Which part?

Well, I think it's not just about open source. I think there are now starting to be VC firms that are focused on open source and really buy into that model. But it's also just kind of the structure of how you do that investment, right? So do you...

Well, I think it's not just about open source. I think there are now starting to be VC firms that are focused on open source and really buy into that model. But it's also just kind of the structure of how you do that investment, right? So do you...