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Zach Leatherman :11ty:

Really appreciate all of the kind words in this thread—they really mean a lot.

I’ve learned an overwhelming amount running this project—and not just on the technical side.

I’ve learned things about our industry, funding, and investment that have really challenged my views on open source—I’m still trying my best to process things and prune off cynicism from the truth.

But regardless, y’all are amazing—I really appreciate every single one of you. Couldn’t have done any of this without y’all ❤️

@zachleat I can sympathize. I had a company that got several VC rounds “back in the day.” Once gave an "Open Source Business Models" talk at a VC conference. We were in Cathedral and the Bazaar.

Got pushed out of the company I co-founded. Been an enlightening open source journey.

I suspect you remain who you were before your episode started. I admire that. You're the champion of a view I hold dear, we've been lucky to have you fighting for it.

@zachleat One of the biggest plus sides to the side-project route is that you are completely unencumbered by "support X" requests. You have more freedom to explore new ideas that haven't been tried before. Funding is a killer for originality; you are incentivized to make safe choices others have already made. In other words, I see a very bright future for Eleventy.

@zachleat Somewhat similar feelings from the past. I have seen so many OSS projects turning to a mostly vendor-locked products, so it's refreshing to see you are focusing back on the core features of Eleventy (instead of serving the business priorities of a hosting platform company).

Also, many years ago I joined one company because they said they were doing OSS product. It turned out that OSS version was being replaced with a closed source SaaS product and promises were not matching with past.

@zachleat Thank you, Zach! You’re the hero we don’t deserve!