Jeff Atwood on Growing Discourse to $120,000/mo
by Jeff Atwood (codinghorror) (interviewed by Courtland Allen)
TL;DR: Jeff Atwood, co-founder of Stack Overflow and long-time blogger at codinghorror.com, launched Discourse in 2013 after realizing forum software had stagnated for years. He secured $1.7M seed funding from Greylock Partners and SV Angel, largely due to his Stack Overflow track record. The business model combines open source software with managed hosting services. Rather than chasing customers, Jeff let launch publicity filter to people who actively sought them out - those willing to embrace risk and beta software. Boing Boing became their first major beta tester, receiving permanently reduced hosting prices in exchange for taking on early adopter risk. Discourse shipped version 0.8 in February 2013 which Jeff described as embarrassing but they got press and interest. They used the rule of three for beta testing - progressively seeking larger properties to validate at scale. The approach worked: by 2017 they had ~600 customers generating $120K/mo and doubling revenue every year.
Key Insights
- Open source + managed hosting business model can scale to $120K+/mo with 600 customers
- Let launch publicity self-select enthusiastic early adopters rather than convincing skeptics
- Reward bleeding-edge beta testers with permanent pricing advantages to build case studies
- Previous venture credibility (Stack Overflow) provides built-in trust and investor confidence
- Ship embarrassingly early with clear beta warnings - press and interest still come
Actionable Takeaways
- Open source your core product to attract developers who become hosting customers
- Let your launch announcement naturally attract risk-tolerant early adopters
- Use the rule of three: progressively beta test with larger properties
- Offer permanent pricing discounts to early adopters who take on beta risk
- Ship when embarrassed but set clear expectations about beta status