Episode 144: Simon Minton of Ringer on Empowering Individual Contributors

Guest Simon Minton Panelists Richard Littauer | Justin Dorfman Show Notes Hello and welcome to Sustain! The podcast where we talk about sustaining open source for the long haul. Richard and Justin are super excited to have as their guest today, Simon Minton, who’s the CEO of Ringer, which we’ll hear all about. Simon tells us how Ringer is different by the ways they provide for their maintainers, how they give back to projects, handle consultancy with projects, and he explains their recruitment process. Simon shares his long-term plan for Ringer, and a new tool they are building to help the ecosystem in the long-term. Go ahead and download this episode now to hear more! [00:01:54] Simon tells us how Ringer was born, what it is, and how many people use it. [00:05:00] Find out how Ringer is different. [00:08:59] Besides a payment gateway, we hear about some other infrastructure and services Simon is providing for the maintainers. [00:12:01] How does Ringer make sure that the money doesn’t just flow to the people on the top of the projects, but also to the projects as a whole? [00:14:16] Richard wonders how Simon teaches the next generation to become the next generation of Ringer HQ/maintainers besides the 5%. [00:15:19] Richard brings up a concern around consulting and Simon explains how they handle this with larger and smaller projects. [00:17:32] We learn about some projects where Ringer will be their consultancy platform. [00:19:19] Ringer’s recruitment process is explained. [00:21:33] Justin thinks the Ringer site is really cool and Simon shares where the inspiration came from. [00:23:30] Richard wonders if Simon has a long-term plan, and as he scales up his team if services will be provided to the consultants., and he tells us about the educational services he offers. [00:30:58] Simon informs us about a tool they are building right now to help the ecosystem in the long-term. [00:33:20] Justin brings up thanks.dev and the founder, Ali Nehzat. [00:35:58] We learn the meaning of Ringer and where you can follow Simon online. Spotlight [00:37:04] Justin’s spotlight is NextAuth.js. [00:37:30] Richard’s spotlight is Wikiquote and the works of Seneca the Younger. [00:38:13] Simon’s spotlight is Spatie and Freek Van der Herten. Links SustainOSS SustainOSS Twitter SustainOSS Discourse [email protected] Richard Littauer Twitter Justin Dorfman Twitter Simon Minton LinkedIn Simon Minton Twitter Ringer filament Sustain Podcast-Episode 142: Nicholas Zakas on Sponsoring Dependencies, All the Way Down Electron Ali Nehzat Twitter thanks.dev NextAuth.js Wikiquote-Seneca the Younger Spatie-GitHub Freek Van der Herten-GitHub Credits Produced by Richard Littauer Edited by Paul M. Bahr at Peachtree Sound Show notes by DeAnn Bahr Peachtree Sound Special Guest: Simon Minton.