Open Source / GitHub
OSS-first launch into paid hosted SaaS
Cal.com's open-source Calendly-alternative grew via GitHub stargazers + build-in-public — the OSS repo IS the marketing funnel.
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Cal.comThe playbook
- 1License everything permissively (MIT or AGPL)
AGPL forces companies that fork to contribute back; MIT maximises adoption. Cal.com chose AGPL.
- 2Build the cold-start audience via build-in-public
Daily commits + screenshots on X. Peer's audience went from zero to 10K followers in 6 months.
- 3Ship paid features for teams, not individuals
Individuals self-host; teams pay for hosted + SSO + audit logs. Standard OSS-to-paid split.
- 4Community-driven integrations
Stripe, Zoom, Google Cal — accept community PRs. Each integration is an SEO landing page + a partner-blog post.
Sources
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