FiveRuns Blog

This week, we’re happy to introduce Todd Barr, FiveRuns’ new Vice President of Business Development, and get his thoughts on open source, Rails, and why he came to FiveRuns. As you may have seen, Todd joins us after spending the last six years at Red Hat, where among other things, he was responsible for launching and growing their Enterprise Linux ISV ecosystem.

FiveRuns: First of all Todd, welcome to FiveRuns and congratulations! You have a deep background in open source, starting with Linux, JBoss and now with Rails. What parallels do you see between them today, and/or between Rails today and Linux 6-7 years ago?

Todd Barr: Just to set some context here – I’m not a developer (although I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night). So my perspective on open source tends to be a bit more theoretical than technical. From what I’ve seen, successful open source movements tend to have three things in common: 1) an overwhelming user advantage, 2) strong leadership, and 3) a vibrant commercial ecosystem. Some examples are useful here: Linux allowed users to get off of Solaris and save a ton of money moving to Intel servers, has Linus Torvalds (and a bunch of other strong technical leaders), and has attracted an amazing commercial ecosystem with the likes of Red Hat, IBM, Oracle, Dell, etc. JBoss allowed developers to download a full J2EE app server for free and save a ton of money over BEA in production, was led by Marc Fleury, and has developed a growing ecosystem of tools, SIs, and SOA partners. The list could go on and on.

So, let’s apply the formula to Rails: 1) an overwhelming user advantage – CHECK… developers can develop code in a fraction of the time, and they actually enjoy it. 2) leadership – CHECK… DHH, along with a growing group of community leaders, and 3) commercial ecosystem – EARLY… and there-in lies the opportunity for a company like FiveRuns, and the answer to why I’m here.

FiveRuns: What was your first experience in Rails, and what led you to make the jump here and now? What do you think are Ruby and Rails’ biggest assets? Biggest challenges?

Todd Barr: My defining experience with Rails was when I discovered this presentation. DHH had me at “First they ignore you…” (that particular Gandhi quote adorns the lobby of Red Hat’s HQ, and is in this awesome video. As I said, I’m not a developer – but even I understand Ruby on Rails. It’s beautiful in its simplicity. Convention over configuration makes sense to me – in this day and age, I think we are all looking for a few less things to worry about. A language that a mere mortal can understand makes sense, from the perspective of future supportability of an app. It has a real design sense (that is user-centric). And I think it is at the cusp of much broader adoption. But there are challenges – not unlike the challenges Java faced years ago – some real (like the lack of enough Rails development talent), and some perceived (does it scale? does it perform? is it appropriate for mission-critical workloads?). Everyone’s now asking that unanswerable question – is it ready for the enterprise?

FiveRuns: So, is Ruby on Rails ready for the enterprise? Hey, you tee-d this up…

Todd Barr: Who cares? Seriously, I think it’s the wrong question, and always has been. A better question is this: can enterprise development organizations be nimble enough to adopt Ruby on Rails? Can developers learn to take advantage of Rails development velocity, by embracing rapid prototyping alongside their business customers? Can we, as the extended Rails community, tell our story in such a compelling way that companies can’t resist it? Can we prove out IT-ism’s like scalability, reliability, performance, etc. but with real world, contextual examples where Ruby on Rails really makes sense? Our challenge is not to change Ruby on Rails to get it ready for the enterprise – our challenge is to make it valuable and easy for companies to adopt Rails.

FiveRuns: So in return, are you going to make Matt Asay an offer he can’t refuse, or what? In all seriousness, though, does your hiring signal that open source is going to play more formally into the overall strategy for FiveRuns?

Todd Barr: Hey Matt – check’s in the mail (kidding). Open source is a big part of why I’m here. And it’s not because FiveRuns didn’t “get” open source before I arrived – they absolutely do. Bruce, Adam, everyone – they get it. They get the fact that you can’t exploit an open source community and hope to succeed. You have to make meaningful contributions that help rise the tide and float all Rails boats. So, to answer your question a bit more directly: yes, at FiveRuns we will both make and influence meaningful contributions to the Ruby and Rails communities, and we will be working to grow the commercial ecosystem around Rails – all while building products that help customers succeed and that don’t exploit the community.

FiveRuns: You have a strong track record in building out partner programs, for example, growing the partnership and certification programs for ISVs at Red Hat to more than 1000 certified applications in the first two years. As the new VP of Business Development at FiveRuns, what are your immediate priorities in the first 100 days? How is the Ruby on Rails ecosystem different than the Linux and JBoss ecosystems you are used to?

Todd Barr: The Rails ecosystem is much different. In my short experience, I find it to be much more modern and decentralized because it is growing-up in a different time, alongside three other emerging industries: hosting (specifically, virtual hosting), SaaS, and freelance development shops. Taken to the extreme, apps of the future are going to be in-the-cloud, on-demand and outsourced, or “in-on-out” (I made that up… can you tell?). So at FiveRuns, we will develop partner programs that build toward that future. Hosters, development shops, and SaaS providers will certainly be a priority, along with ISVs that are embracing Rails. And I think there will be interesting relationships to be had with those who are trying to integrate Rails into existing paradigms (like JRuby, IronRuby, etc.). As a company focused on Ruby and Rails application performance, I think we will also want to play nice with existing systems management and infrastructure players, so I’m sure we’ll spend some time there. Finally, an immediate priority is selling my house so that I can move my family to Austin. Know anyone who needs a great house in Raleigh?

Todd Barr joined FiveRuns as VP of Business Development in February 2008 from Red Hat, where he spent six years in various senior marketing and business development roles. At Red Hat, Todd built and grew the partnership and certification programs for independent software vendors (ISVs), achieving over 1000 certified applications for Red Hat Enterprise Linux in the first two years. In his most recent role, Todd’s team was responsible for building Red Hat’s global go-to-market campaigns, along with channel and partner marketing. Previously, Todd was with the corporate venture capital group at Dell and was an early sales and marketing employee at CitySearch.com (now part of IAC). Todd blogs about open source, marketing strategy and closed-loop marketing at marketingfree.typepad.com.