We built a SaaS on Drupal and open source, believing it would be faster, cheaper, and more community-driven. Eight years later, we’ve survived mistakes, celebrated wins, and learned lessons the hard way - lessons I’m here to share.

Prerequisite
None

Outline
After eight years of building, running, and evolving a SaaS business on Drupal and open source technologies, we have experienced firsthand the highs and lows that come with it. This talk shares the most valuable lessons we've learned - from the technical debt traps we didn’t see coming, to the community-driven advantages we couldn’t have survived without. We'll cover the realities of maintaining an open source foundation at SaaS scale, economics of having a paid product built in the open, and how we balanced innovation, client expectations, and sustainability.
Whether you're building your first product or scaling an established one, you'll leave with actionable insights (and a few war stories) to guide your journey.

Learning Objectives
Understand the unique challenges and advantages of building a SaaS product on Drupal and open source technologies.

Recognize common technical debt pitfalls in long-running open source-based SaaS platforms - and how to avoid or manage them.

Learn strategies for maintaining a sustainable business model when operating a paid product built openly.

Gain practical insights into balancing innovation speed, client demands, and technical stability at SaaS scale.

Reflect on real-world lessons and mistakes to better inform your own product development and business decisions.

Experience level
Beginner