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OK, so I just got an email saying @penpot just got $8M in series A.

Last I raised concerns about their funding (mastodon.ar.al/@aral/107213277…), @diacritica assured me “you won't see any VC” (fosstodon.org/@diacritica/1072…)

Well, this sure looks like VC to me.

Folks investing $8M are going to want a billion-dollar exit. So who’s that exit going to be to (Adobe’s already full, is Google hungry for a design tool?) Or do they plan on going public?

#vc #ventureCapital #BigTech #exits #openSource #penPot


diacritica (@diacritica@fosstodon.org)

@aral@mastodon.ar.al @penpot I think I know what happened here? the "ventures" term misled you, which is understandable but if you take a look at our website kaleidos.net you won't see any VC.
Fosstodon
#opensource #bigtech #vc #venturecapital #penpot #exits @Penpot @Pablo Ruiz-Múzquiz
in reply to Pablo Ruiz-Múzquiz

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Aral Balkan

@FediThing Forking a project is trivial, yes. Maintaining a fork isn’t. I can fork Penpot with the click of a mouse. I can’t maintain it without setting up a team like you have. I can’t set up a team like you have and compete with you because I don’t have $8M in investment. Again, I’m pretty sure you know this too.

Furthermore, MPL is also excellent for enclosing an open source project because its share alike “protections” are file-level. There’s a reason Penpot isn’t AGPL.

@FediThing has moved!
in reply to Aral Balkan

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Pablo Ruiz-Múzquiz

@FediThing On the fork side. Absolutely, forking on Github is cheap and useless 99% of the time. What I meant is that if Penpot got massively big and relevant and suddenly the whole team goes mad and betrays its own Community (like Figma) there could be an opportunity (and resources) for a takeover. Significant FOSS projects have that escape route. I'm not saying you could do it, but I'm sure there would be critical mass to effectively fork it.
@FediThing has moved!
in reply to Aral Balkan

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Pablo Ruiz-Múzquiz

My response back then was referring to the fact that we had used the company name "Kaleidos Ventures" when no VC was backing us, we have dropped that since then, it was misleading. At the same time, earlier this year we looked for like-minded investors who would protect the open source nature of the project FOR EVER and after many many many! disgusting conversations we met the guys at open source VC Decibel and we made a deal.
in reply to Aral Balkan

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Pablo Ruiz-Múzquiz

The Figmagate had nothing to do with this, the investment came when few people would believe in our open source/open standards design&prototype tool (or would want to close source it). Now that Figmagate happened my inbox is full of "want to catch-up VC emails", but the team here is really happy to have the right open source investors. Be critical of all this but most important, trust our process, not my word as CEO
in reply to Pablo Ruiz-Múzquiz

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Aral Balkan

It’s the process I don’t trust because I know how venture capital works and I’m pretty sure you do too (at least I hope you do or you’re in for a rude shock. I don’t say that sarcastically either, I’ve actually met founders who didn’t know what they were giving up by taking VC.)

So, assuming you know how VC works, what’s the return on investment your investors expect for $8M? In other words, what’s the exit you promised them in exchange for $8M?

#ventureCapital #vc #penPot

#vc #venturecapital #penpot
in reply to Aral Balkan

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Pablo Ruiz-Múzquiz

We promised nothing in return except executing our vision. They promised to fully protect the open source nature of our products. People sometimes think the product itself has to become the basis for any ROI but there are many other ways. But for that we need to build a greater ecosystem. We're focusing on an altruistic game-theory pattern and hoping it'll work in the end. If this becomes big enough $8M will look like peanuts in retrospective, don't you think?
in reply to Aral Balkan

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Pablo Ruiz-Múzquiz

May I suggest something? The Kaleidos team and myself are very excited to bring more good Penpot stuff next month, when we exit BETA, we're really really busy with all the sudden attention and pressure. We will also keep communicating our plans in more detail. I'd love to have a more synchronous talk at some point in Jan/Feb, perhaps a videocall? We can pick a few key topics and have a more easy to follow conversation. Do any of you attend FOSDEM by any chance?
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