
Ask HN: Sold any support contracts for open source? - simonw
Does anyone have any experience selling support contracts for their open source projects?<p>I&#x27;m interested in understanding the shape (and pricing models) that these take. Specifically interested in solo developers or small teams, but I&#x27;d like to understand the market for larger company-backed support contracts too.<p>Also interested in hearing from customers - people who have bought this kind of support.
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softwaredoug
A word of caution - there are big companies that always shop around for
support contracts regularly, they always need 3 bids, before they justify re-
upping with their current support contract. This is one reason we don't do
support...

Large companies also do a lot of due diligence on support models. So there's a
difference between Mongo Inc and the two freelancers .

I would suggest you think of your offering as a product, with a very clear
value proposition for the service. Good reading on productized services [1].
What _exactly_ do I get for my support contract? Why is it going to make me
awesome?

Your unfair advantage is being smaller and hungrier. Really think deeply about
whether you're able to commit to offer a high-touch level of service, and
demonstrate this at every interaction. Work really hard on building trust[2]

1 - [https://krit.com/blog/how-to-productize-your-consulting-
busi...](https://krit.com/blog/how-to-productize-your-consulting-business)

2 - [https://trustedadvisor.com/books/the-trusted-
advisor](https://trustedadvisor.com/books/the-trusted-advisor)

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diegolo
+1

