Passion Is Not a Business Model
October 12, 2025
Earlier we broke down Paul Graham’s “How to Start Google” and his advice to “do what interests you”. The idea is appealing. The catch is how you pay for it. An open-source story from April makes that tension very clear.
Passion Needs A Runway
Johnson Chu, the creator of Volar.js, posted on GitHub that existing sponsorships would only keep him full time until October. To stretch the runway he offered a paid “Official Insiders” tier with early access to new features. If that failed, he would need to take a job elsewhere and maintain Volar on nights and weekends.
The post set off a wave of discussion. Without a sustainable model even the tools we love can fade. Think about Perplexity: the team famously wanted an AI search engine without ads. Operating costs forced them to add ads anyway. It was not a betrayal; it was the electricity bill.
Volar found a softer landing. Companies like StackBlitz, JetBrains, Astro, and the Vue core team stepped in with sponsorships so Johnson could stay focused. Imagine the alternative: a core tool of the Vue ecosystem losing its maintainer because the math stopped working.
Choose Sustainability On Purpose
If you have a project you care about, write down the real costs. Hosting, hardware, even the hours you could spend earning elsewhere. Then decide how to fund it. Maybe it is subscriptions, consulting, or a day job that buys you time after hours. Sometimes a small compromise, like a tasteful sponsor slot, is better than letting the project die quietly.
ExplainThis is our favorite way to spend evenings, yet the servers do not run on enthusiasm. We still have full-time jobs. Support from the readers lets us keep ads off the site and focus every spare block on useful guides. Passion is the spark. A sustainable model is the fuel that keeps the light on next year too.