Episode 198: FOSSY 2023 with Aaron Wolf

Guest Aaron Wolf Panelist Richard Littauer Show Notes Hello and
welcome to Sustain! Richard is in Portland at FOSSY, the Free and
Open Source Software Yearly conference that is held by the Software
Freedom Conservancy. Join us on a captivating journey with guest
Aaron Wolf, the co-founder of Snowdrift.coop, as he unravels the
story behind the innovative crowdfunding platform for open source
projects. From his initial resistance to founding something,
through his eye-opening Linux experience and a friend’s prompt to
solve a pressing problem, Aaron details how he ended up creating
Snowdrift.coop. Learn about the platform’s unique funding model,
the early challenges and progress made over a decade, and its
exciting recent developments. Despite not being a programmer, but a
music teacher, Aaron finds parallels between his profession and the
open source world, while he passionately advocates for the open
source process in other industries. Discover the ups and downs
faced by Snowdrift, the challenges of running a campaign, its
current standing as a debt-free entity with a dedicated team, and a
recent major milestone is revealed. Download this episode now!
[00:00:29] Aaron tells us about himself and being a co-founder, and
how his friend encouraged him to act on a problem he was
complaining about which is the lack of funding for public goods. He
was frustrated with certain software limitations and desired
improvements, which led to his idea for Snowdrift. [00:03:38] How
does Snowdrift work? Patrons pledge to donate more to a project
when others join the crowd that gives together, a method they call
'crowdmatching'. Aaron expresses his reluctance to start something
like Snowdrift due to the complexities involved, but his friend
convinced him to give it a shot. [00:04:47] Aaron talks about the
challenges faced and progress made over the past 10 ten years, and
the importance of early adopters. He also tells us he’s not a
programmer but a music teacher and discusses the similarities he
sees between open source software and the process of creating
music. [00:06:26] He talks about his frustration with the copyright
system and how it hampers creativity, discusses his belief in the
need for an open source process in other industries, like music
education, and discusses the obstacles encountered when trying to
use open source software and run Snowdrift as a co-op. He shares
the Snowdrift gained early attention and interest but struggled to
secure funding. [00:09:30] Aaron shares that despite difficulties,
Snowdrift is debt-free, has a small, dedicated team, and 156
patrons with real money. [00:11:52] Richard and Aaron discuss the
difficulties of applying for and giving grants. Aaron mentions they
have not focused much on this aspect as it requires a lot of time
and expresses that their work is still relevant and needed as it
was 10 years ago. He also reveals a recent major milestone.
[00:13:55] Aaron mentions their early effort in reviewing around
760 crowdfunding sites to understand the landscape. They found many
people working on similar projects but not collaborating, leading
to many of these projects disappearing after a few months.
[00:15:31] Aaron highlights Open Collective as the closest to their
own project, and mentions the benefits of Open Collective,
including their legal foundation and handling of money, which
Snowdrift has struggled with. [00:17:37] We hear about Aaron’s talk
on the nature of public goods and why coordination is necessary for
their type of solution. [00:18:02] Find out where you can follow
Aaron online. Links SustainOSS (https://sustainoss.org/) SustainOSS
Twitter
(https://twitter.com/SustainOSS?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor)
SustainOSS Discourse (https://discourse.sustainoss.org/)
podcast@sustainoss.org (mailto:podcast@sustainoss.org) SustainOSS
Mastodon (https://mastodon.social/tags/sustainoss) Richard Littauer
Twitter (https://twitter.com/richlitt?lang=en) Software Freedom
Conservancy (https://sfconservancy.org/) Open OSS
(https://openoss.sourceforge.net/) Aaron Wolf social.coop Mastodon
(https://social.coop/@wolftune) Aaron Wolf LinkedIn
(https://www.linkedin.com/in/wolftune/) Aaron Wolf Website
(https://blog.wolftune.com/) Snowdrift.coop
(https://snowdrift.coop/) Credits Produced by Richard Littauer
(https://www.burntfen.com/) Edited by Paul M. Bahr at Peachtree
Sound (https://www.peachtreesound.com/) Show notes by DeAnn Bahr
Peachtree Sound (https://www.peachtreesound.com/) Special Guest:
Aaron Wolf.