Episode 257: Kailash Nadh and Zerodha's FLOSS/Fund and funding.json

Guest Kailash Nadh Panelist Richard Littauer Show Notes In this
episode of Sustain, host Richard Littauer sits down with Kailash
Nath, CTO of Zerodha, to delve into the dynamics of funding and
sustaining open-source projects. They explore the establishment of
Zerodha's FLOSS/Fund, which allocates a million dollars annually to
support pivotal open source projects and discuss the development of
the funding.json format to streamline grant applications. The
conversation also covers the challenges of creating such funds,
including regulatory hurdles, and aims to make financial assistance
globally accessible. From detailing efforts to revive India's
open-source communities through the FOSS United Foundation to
highlighting the obstacles and innovative models in funding
open-source software, the episode provides a comprehensive look at
both global and Indian perspectives. Hit download now! [00:01:14]
Richard brings up the FLOSS/Fund, a $1 million annual commitment to
open source projects. Kailash confirms that the fund is still
active and explains how it recently became more structured and a
small team has been formed to manage the logistics of the fund.
[00:02:48] The FLOSS/Fund has been created to publicly commit to
supporting open source in a structured way. Kailash points out that
while other companies give donations to open source, there are few
structured initiatives from large organizations. [00:04:33] Kailash
expresses frustration that few billion-dollar companies have set up
similar initiatives to support open source projects. [00:06:24]
Kailash explains that the FLOSS/Fund is open to the global open
source community and target systemically important projects like
libraries and widely used software tools. [00:08:14] Richard
inquires about the application process and Kailash explains instead
of traditional grant forms, projects must create and publish a
“funding.json” file. [00:10:35] Kailash shares that the structured
application method is designed to avoid the usual awkwardness of
fundraising conversations and streamline the process. [00:13:31]
The two discuss the difficulty maintainers face when articulating
the importance of their projects, particularly for maintainers who
may not have strong written communication skills, Kailash
emphasizes that the funding.json method does not replace narrative
descriptions but simplifies signaling. [00:16:17] The conversation
switches to global scope and prioritization as Kailash tells us
Zerodha’s open source contributions are not limited to projects
they directly use, the fund is open to all global projects, and
Zerodha hopes to support projects that are crucial for open source
infrastructure. [00:17:09] Kailash discusses the complexity of
sending money internationally from India. [00:18:59] We learn the
goal is not to make funding.json go viral through financial
incentives, but to organically grow adoption if the tool proves
valuable. [00:20:49] Richard and Kailash explore the broader
challenges of sustaining open source projects beyond funding, such
as building healthy communities and incentivizing the proper use
and citation of open source infrastructure. [00:25:32] Kailash
discusses the Indian open source ecosystem. [00:30:29] Kailash
explains how Zerodha’s initiatives aim to push the Indian industry
to give back more to the open source community. He hopes that their
efforts will inspire other companies to set up similar initiatives.
[00:32:12] Find out where you can donate to Floss fund and follow
Kailash online. Spotlight [00:32:56] Richard’s spotlight is his
first grade teacher, Mrs. Barril. [00:33:25] Kailash’s spotlight is
Jim Martsolf who introduced him to “webmastering.” Links SustainOSS
(https://sustainoss.org/) podcast@sustainoss.org
(mailto:podcast@sustainoss.org) richard@sustainoss.org
(mailto:richard@sustainoss.org) SustainOSS Discourse
(https://discourse.sustainoss.org/) SustainOSS Mastodon
(https://mastodon.social/tags/sustainoss) Open
Collective-SustainOSS (Contribute)
(https://opencollective.com/sustainoss) Richard Littauer Socials
(https://www.burntfen.com/2023-05-30/socials) Kailash Nadh LinkedIn
(https://www.linkedin.com/in/kailashnadh/) Kailash Nadh Website
(https://nadh.in/) Zerodha (https://zerodha.com/) funding.json
(https://floss.fund/funding-manifest/) Sustain Podcast-Episode 153:
Kailash Nadh and the FOSS United Foundation
(https://podcast.sustainoss.org/153) FLOSS/Fund
(https://floss.fund/) FFmpeg (https://ffmpeg.org/) Zig
(https://ziglang.org/) Sustain Podcast-Episode 247: Chad Whitacre
on the Open Source Pledge (https://podcast.sustainoss.org/247) Open
Source Pledge (https://opensourcepledge.com/) Announcing
FLOSS/fund: $1M per year for free and open source projects-post by
Kailash Nadh (https://floss.fund/blog/announcing-floss-fund/)
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:
Kailash Nadh.