A ten minute lightning talk I held at SSES' (Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship) Startup Day conference on 9 April 2011, at Debaser Medis, in Stockholm, Sweden. The topic of the talk was how you can be a successful company by being "good", or as I made the case, embodying the values and principles of open source. At NodeOne we do not just work with open source but also make it part of who we are and actively share what we do, embrace openness and train and educate. This has turned out to be winning recipe and we consider it a major reason to why we in November 2011 were awarded the Super Gazelle Prize of 2011, showing a whopping 3346% growth in just three years.

1. Becoming successful
by being the good guy
Jakob Persson, co-founder NodeOne
StartupDay, April 9 2011
STOCKHOLM | GÖTEBORG | KØBENHAVN www.nodeone.se

2. Sharing
Being open
+ Educating
SUCCESS!
By embodying the values of open source – openness, sharing and freedom we have become
competitive and successful.
In this session we will show you how you can do the same and gain advantage over the
competition.

3. 2008
2011
8 employees
Founded in 2008
Staff of 8

4. 2008 2011
43 employees
Grown to staff of 43
No external funding

5. 2008 2011
43 employees
500% organic growth in 32 months
Grown to staff of 43
No external funding

6. One office has grown to three
Stockholm, Gothenburg and Copenhagen.

7. One office has grown to three
Stockholm, Gothenburg and Copenhagen.

8. One office has grown to three
Stockholm, Gothenburg and Copenhagen.

9. build websites
write software
collaborate on open source
We build websites.
We write software.
Collaborate on and use open source.

10. Content management
system for the web
Let’s you build powerful
websites and intranets
Open source
Drupal specifically.
Among the first Drupal consultancies.
Key player in maturing the Drupal market.
We’re market leaders in what we do.
Drupal is open source.

11. Open source means anyone can see how the software is made.
You can distribute it freely.
Open source promotes a number of values.
Values we’ve embraced.

12. sharing what we do
being open about how we work
educating and teaching
We share freely what we make
We are open about how we work, our processes and methods
We educate and teach
How do we do this and what is the business value in doing so?

13. sharing
“There is no delight in owning anything unshared”
– Seneca
We do like the chefs, we share recipes, we talk about how we do things.
When we build a site for a client, we try to give back as much of the code as we can.
Developed a publishing platform as open source, freely available.
Dedicated half the time of one of our best developers.

14. stronger relationships with client
talent attraction, recruiting and retention
strengthens the product
outstanding marketing
Very few of the sites we build contain code only we know // We use open standardized
solutions // We share the code, publish it for anyone to use// Clients run less risk of vendor
lock-in due to licenses or unknown source code // Builds high level of trust

15. stronger relationships with client
talent attraction, recruiting and retention
strengthens the product
outstanding marketing
People outside the company see what we do // Creates appreciation for competence of our
staff // Makes employees visible/recognized // Motivates our employees // People attracted
to come work for us // Top talent makes it easier to sell to major clients // Snowball effect

16. stronger relationships with client
talent attraction, recruiting and retention
strengthens the product
outstanding marketing
People buy our competence and skills // We got nothing to lose by sharing “recipes” // Open
source – tools are freely available // We rely on those free tools // By sharing and
contributing we ensure the future of those tools // Ensures our long-term existence

17. stronger relationships with client
talent attraction, recruiting and retention
strengthens the product
outstanding marketing
Sharing your work can generate extremely positive feedback // And help market your
company // We announced that one of our best developers will dedicate 50% to open source

18. Viva NodeOne for such a contribution :)
I knew already, but this is more proof: NodeOne rocks!
Kudos to NodeOne!
Awesome news, awesome people and
incredible generosity on NodeOne's part!
outstanding marketing
Responses were overwhelming // Responses from the community // Comments on blogs //
Twitter // Facebook

19. @node_one ... Huge contribution to our
community!
big thanks to NodeOne ... I think Team Awesome
officially has a Swedish branch now. ;)
And a huge thanks to NodeOne, too. I am impressed by how
NodeOne has really jumped to the fore of the Drupal world.
And a huge thank you to NodeOne for such
an amazing contribution :)
outstanding marketing
These responses are from those who use same tools as us // But it has a ripple effect // Also
seen by clients and those outside // Builds reputation and an audience

20. being open
“The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy, but
the best weapon of a democracy should be the
weapon of openness”
– Niels Bohr
If we come up with a great idea how something can be done, we try to get it out there as soon
as possible // We blog about it and we talk at conferences // Solutions for sharing knowledge
and methods for planning projects // Experiences we make as a company // We are also
transparent about prices and terms

21. generates credibility
encourages innovation
Reveals the people behind the company // Shows the commitment we have to our work //
Adds credibility as we aim to be honest rather than censoring // Strengthens our relationship
to clients and others // Pressures ourselves to perform by being honest and open to clients

22. generates credibility
A session I held in Copenhagen about project planning filled a room // As you can see there
weren’t enough chairs to go around // Openness generates a lot of interest in your company

23. generates credibility
encourages innovation
Attracts talent that wishes to work for a company where they feel they can develop // Those
individuals helps you establish a company culture based on innovation // A company that
drives change, and isn’t following

24. educating
“Education is for improving the lives of others and
for leaving your community and world better
than you found it.”
– Marian Wright Edelman
We teach and train people and competitors // We teach clients so they don’t have to rely on
consultants or us // We arrange training at meetups and conferences // We frequently
produce web based training, videos, blog posts and tutorials // We’ve worked with
Studentlitteratur to publish a book // We engage in dialog regarding training and learning

25. talent attraction, recruiting and retention
strengthens the product
outstanding marketing
We need specialists // A large pool to recruit from // Teaching helps us with that

26. Number of Drupal users in Sweden
5600
2900
2008 2011
talent attraction, recruiting and retention
Our efforts to teach has contributed to a doubling of the number of Drupal users in
Sweden // That means more people we can potentially hire

27. talent attraction, recruiting and retention
strengthens the product
outstanding marketing
A large crowd of people who know Drupal isn’t just good for hiring // It means Drupal
becomes a better option // Less dependency on a few companies and individuals // Helps us
create a bigger // More valuable market

28. talent attraction, recruiting and retention
strengthens the product
outstanding marketing
Training shows your company has leading edge talent // Generates trust and loyalty // Builds
an audience of loyal ambassadors // People who come back to you to see what you have to
say // People who talk about us and for us // Word of mouth is extremely strong marketing

29. Visitors per week to nodeone.se
outstanding marketing
How strong you ask? // Let’s look at the traffic to our site // Once we started posting training
materials it increased // And the quality of it increased // People stayed longer // Told their
friends // Twitter and Facebook

30. After we started using our blog
Visitors per week to nodeone.se to post articles and tutorials
outstanding marketing
How strong you ask? // Let’s look at the traffic to our site // Once we started posting training
materials it increased // And the quality of it increased // People stayed longer // Told their
friends // Twitter and Facebook

31. we get 3-4 highly potential leads per week
outstanding marketing
So how does this help? // As a result we get 3-4 leads per week // Clients calling us! // We
don’t make cold calls // We sell at least one project per week as a result

32. we get 3-4 highly potential leads per week
and the clients are calling us!
outstanding marketing
So how does this help? // As a result we get 3-4 leads per week // Clients calling us! // We
don’t make cold calls // We sell at least one project per week as a result

33. we get 3-4 highly potential leads per week
and the clients are calling us!
which results in
at least one project sold
per week
outstanding marketing
So how does this help? // As a result we get 3-4 leads per week // Clients calling us! // We
don’t make cold calls // We sell at least one project per week as a result

34. We could have been a closed company // In every sense // Keeping everything on a leash //
But we believe in freedom // Freedom of knowledge // Freedom from limiting contracts or
licenses // Freedom to choose // Freedom is good // Promoting freedom is something the
good guy does

35. We could have been a closed company // In every sense // Keeping everything on a leash //
But we believe in freedom // Freedom of knowledge // Freedom from limiting contracts or
licenses // Freedom to choose // Freedom is good // Promoting freedom is something the
good guy does

36. May 6 - 7
Media – Business – Technology
CNN, Al-Jazeera and Bonnier, among others, are participating.
www.drupalcamp.se
If you want to learn more // A month from now

37. Contact me
jakob@nodeone.se
http://www.twitter.com/realsolipsist
http://se.linkedin.com/in/jakobpersson
www.nodeone.se