From open source to acquired
01/23/25 • 108 min
Ashley Jeffs shares his journey with Benthos, an open source stream processor that was acquired by Redpanda. We talk about the evolution of data streaming technologies, the challenges he faced while growing the project, the decision to bootstrap versus seek venture capital, and what ultimately led to the acquisition. We discuss reactions to licensing changes, what it’s like to have your thing acquired, the challenging yet fulfilling nature of open source work, what’s next for Benthos, and what it takes to enjoy the journey.
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Sponsors:
- Augment Code – Developer AI that uses deep understanding of your large codebase and how you build software to deliver personalized code suggestions and insights. Augment provides relevant, contextualized code right in your IDE or Slack. It transforms scattered knowledge into code or answers, eliminating time spent searching docs or interrupting teammates.
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Featuring:
- Ashley Jeffs – Website, GitHub, X
- Adam Stacoviak – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
- Jerod Santo – GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
Show Notes:
- Data streaming and Benthos with Mihai Todor & Ashley Jeffs (Go Time #192)
- Announcing Bento, the open source fork of the project formerly known as Benthos - WarpStream - Stream More, Manage Less
- warpstreamlabs/bento: Fancy stream processing made operationally mundane. This repository is a fork of the original project before the license was changed.
- Benthos | Benthos
- Redpanda Acquires Benthos to Deliver a Complete, End-to-End Streaming Data Platform
- redpanda-data/connect: Fancy stream processing made operationally mundane
Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!
Ashley Jeffs shares his journey with Benthos, an open source stream processor that was acquired by Redpanda. We talk about the evolution of data streaming technologies, the challenges he faced while growing the project, the decision to bootstrap versus seek venture capital, and what ultimately led to the acquisition. We discuss reactions to licensing changes, what it’s like to have your thing acquired, the challenging yet fulfilling nature of open source work, what’s next for Benthos, and what it takes to enjoy the journey.
Changelog++ members get a bonus 2 minutes at the end of this episode and zero ads. Join today!
Sponsors:
- Augment Code – Developer AI that uses deep understanding of your large codebase and how you build software to deliver personalized code suggestions and insights. Augment provides relevant, contextualized code right in your IDE or Slack. It transforms scattered knowledge into code or answers, eliminating time spent searching docs or interrupting teammates.
- Fly.io – The home of Changelog.com — Deploy your apps close to your users — global Anycast load-balancing, zero-configuration private networking, hardware isolation, and instant WireGuard VPN connections. Push-button deployments that scale to thousands of instances. Check out the speedrun to get started in minutes.
Featuring:
- Ashley Jeffs – Website, GitHub, X
- Adam Stacoviak – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
- Jerod Santo – GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
Show Notes:
- Data streaming and Benthos with Mihai Todor & Ashley Jeffs (Go Time #192)
- Announcing Bento, the open source fork of the project formerly known as Benthos - WarpStream - Stream More, Manage Less
- warpstreamlabs/bento: Fancy stream processing made operationally mundane. This repository is a fork of the original project before the license was changed.
- Benthos | Benthos
- Redpanda Acquires Benthos to Deliver a Complete, End-to-End Streaming Data Platform
- redpanda-data/connect: Fancy stream processing made operationally mundane
Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!
Previous Episode
The world of embedded systems
Elecia White, host of Embedded.fm and author of Making Embedded Systems, joins us to discuss all things embedded systems. We discuss programming non-computers, open source resources for embedded, self-driving cars, embedded system like the GoPro, Traeger smokers, and even birthday cards. According to Elecia, embedded is going everywhere.
Changelog++ members get a bonus 6 minutes at the end of this episode and zero ads. Join today!
Sponsors:
- Augment Code – Developer AI that uses deep understanding of your large codebase and how you build software to deliver personalized code suggestions and insights. Augment provides relevant, contextualized code right in your IDE or Slack. It transforms scattered knowledge into code or answers, eliminating time spent searching docs or interrupting teammates.
- Fly.io – The home of Changelog.com — Deploy your apps close to your users — global Anycast load-balancing, zero-configuration private networking, hardware isolation, and instant WireGuard VPN connections. Push-button deployments that scale to thousands of instances. Check out the speedrun to get started in minutes.
- DeleteMe – Text CHANGELOG to 64000 to join DeleteMe. They make it quick, easy, and safe to remove your personal data online.
Featuring:
- Elecia White – Website, LinkedIn
- Adam Stacoviak – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
- Jerod Santo – GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
Show Notes:
- Embedded.fm
- Making Embedded Systems: Patterns for Software Development (Amazon)
- Making Embedded Systems (ClasspertX)
- Wokwi
- MicroPython on GitHub
- Nordic Thingy:91 X – Prototyping cellular IoT and Wi-Fi locationing
- FreeRTOS
- Adafruit
- Kalman filter (Wikipedia)
- Chibitronics
- CrunchLabs
- FIRST Inspires
- Hackster.io
- Hackaday
- Instructables Circuits
- A Smart Lamp That Wakes You Up at the Optimal Time (Instructables)
- Open Source Hardware Summit (2025)
- CrowdSupply Teardown (Portland 2025)
- Hackaday SuperCon (2024)
- Hardwear.io
- Electronica
Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!
Next Episode
Turso is rewriting SQLite in Rust
Glauber Costa, co-founder and CEO of Turso, joins us to discuss libSQL, Limbo, and how they’re rewriting SQLite in Rust. We discuss their efforts with libSQL, the challenge of SQLite being in the public domain but not being open for contribution, their choice to rewrite everything with Limbo, how this all plays into the future of the Turso platform, how they test Limbo with Deterministic Simulation Testing (DST), and their plan to replace SQLite.
Changelog++ members save 6 minutes on this episode because they made the ads disappear. Join today!
Sponsors:
- Retool – The low-code platform for developers to build internal tools — Some of the best teams out there trust Retool...Brex, Coinbase, Plaid, Doordash, LegalGenius, Amazon, Allbirds, Peloton, and so many more – the developers at these teams trust Retool as the platform to build their internal tools. Try it free at retool.com/changelog
- Temporal – Build invincible applications. Manage failures, network outages, flaky endpoints, long-running processes and more, ensuring your workflows never fail. Register for Replay in London, March 3-5 to break free from the status quo.
- Notion – Notion is a place where any team can write, plan, organize, and rediscover the joy of play. It’s a workspace designed not just for making progress, but getting inspired. Notion is for everyone — whether you’re a Fortune 500 company or freelance designer, starting a new startup or a student juggling classes and clubs.
- Fly.io – The home of Changelog.com — Deploy your apps close to your users — global Anycast load-balancing, zero-configuration private networking, hardware isolation, and instant WireGuard VPN connections. Push-button deployments that scale to thousands of instances. Check out the speedrun to get started in minutes.
Featuring:
- Glauber Costa – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, X
- Adam Stacoviak – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
- Jerod Santo – GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
Show Notes:
- Introducing Limbo: A Complete Rewrite of SQLite in Rust
- Limbo on GitHub
- Antithesis
- SQLite Copyright
- Upcoming Changes to the Turso Platform and Roadmap
- My Story by pthorpe92.dev
Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!
Changelog Interviews - From open source to acquired
Transcript
Well, we are here with Ash Jeffs, originally from Benthos, at least when we first heard of you, and now at Redpanda... And now on the Changelog. Welcome to the show.
Ashley Jeffs:Hey, thank you for having me.
Adam Stacoviak:You've arrived, with that awesome chair.
Ashley Jeffs:I'm here, in my commanding chair.
Jerod Santo:That is a commanding
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