Lessons Learned from Turning an Open-Source Project into a Viable Business

Kestra, an open-source orchestrator, has evolved significantly since its inception as part of a consulting project for Leroy Merlin France, addressing challenges related to scalability and user accessibility in data orchestration. The decision to open-source Kestra from the beginning was pivotal, fostering a robust community that contributed diverse use cases and accelerated growth beyond what the founders could achieve alone. While the product initially focused on data orchestration, it expanded to handle a wide range of applications, from CI/CD pipelines to IoT systems, due to community feedback and enterprise adoption. Technical choices, such as using Java over Python and YAML for workflow configuration, were made to ensure scalability and accessibility. Balancing user requests with the core vision and addressing enterprise needs in security, scalability, and observability were crucial in transitioning from "shadow IT" adoption to formal enterprise deals. Despite challenges, staying true to its open-source roots has been an essential growth driver for Kestra, which continues to evolve and is now working on a fully managed cloud product.