Bob Young
Co-founder and CEO, Red Hat
Proving you can build a real business on software you give away
Rating
89Impact score
Domains
Linux distributionsOpen source businessSubscriptions
Scouting report
Sold Linux CDs out of a catalogue business, co-founded Red Hat with Marc Ewing, and worked out the argument that made open source investable: nobody pays for the bits, they pay for support, certification and someone to call. Red Hat’s 1999 IPO was one of the largest first-day gains in Nasdaq history, and the moment Wall Street conceded free software was a business.
Curator’s note
The business model half of open source has one author, and it is him.