We’re on a mission to enable more people to become founders.
The OCV model enables open source contributors who otherwise would not have the resources to launch a successful startup.
How it works
Rather than founders pitching us for investments, OCV identifies open source projects with traction and recruits founders to launch new OCV companies. The companies pay founders a salary starting on day one and OCV provides operational and strategic support until the company raises a seed round.
OCV does not invest in existing companies.
OCV identifies an open source project that has traction.
OCV recruits a founding CTO and CEO. The founding team receives market-level compensation and equity.
OCV incorporates and funds the company. The founding team builds the company with operational and strategic support from OCV.
The company demonstrates commercial traction and raises an external round of funding.
$2M
in OCV funding per company
12 mo.
to raise a seed round
50%
closed follow on funding
The future is open core.
All software should be open. Our vision is that the majority of venture-funded software companies are open core OCV companies.
We believe in the power of co-creation and creating tangible value for open source communities. Open core is a business model that builds source-available commercial software around an open source core. Starting an open core company is a sustainable way to support open source and the people who make it. When more people can start open core companies it creates more open software, and more people can contribute.
Why open core?
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Open source software is actively developed and maintained.
More people can use and contribute to the software.
Open source software offers maximum transparency.
The code is easily modifiable and improvements are faster.
Meet the OCV team
Sid Sijbrandij
General Partner
Sid Sijbrandij
General Partner
Sid is the Co-Founder and Executive Chair of GitLab, the single application for the DevOps lifecycle and one of the world’s largest all-remote companies. He is a champion of the open source community and a pioneer in scaling remote organizations.
Rich Aberman
General Partner
Rich Aberman
General Partner
Rich was the founder and Chief Product Officer of WePay (YC S09), a payments API company that raised $75M, grew to 300 employees, and achieved profitability before being acquired by JPMorgan Chase in 2018 in one of Y Combinator’s largest exits. He then served as Managing Director of Chase Merchant Services before joining Y Combinator as a Visiting Partner for the W22, S22, W23, and S23 batches. At YC, Rich invested in over 150 companies, including fintech, developer tools, digital health, consumer and vertical SaaS. Rich is an active angel investor and lives in Santa Cruz, CA.
Betty Ma
Chief Operating Officer
Betty Ma
Chief Operating Officer
Betty comes from a finance background and most recently held Business Development and Strategic Partnerships roles focusing on the venture ecosystem. She’s a Wharton MBA and is passionate about advising startups on valuation topics and growth models.
Alex Smith
Associate
Alex Smith
Associate
Alex Smith is an associate at Open Core Ventures, supporting open-source startups. He has experience in venture capital, product management, and finance, with roles at Techstars, Penske, and JPMorgan. He holds a Master’s in Computer Science from Georgia Tech and a Bachelor’s in Information Management and Analytics from CU Boulder.
Erica Lindberg
Head of Content
Erica Lindberg
Head of Content
Erica is a content strategist with a background in building and scaling content for hyper-growth startups.
Susan Sutton
Chief of Staff
Susan Sutton
Chief of Staff
Susan is a strategic operator who drives decision-making, culture, and business growth. She has led high-impact initiatives, including a $2M cost-saving redesign. With a Master’s in Cultural Anthropology and leadership training from Stanford and others, she has held leadership roles in arts, fintech, and startups—balancing structure with agility to scale teams and operations effectively.