Yes 100%, I think our biggest challenges are OSS alternatives to what we've historically charged for and people using AI to generate UI instead of components like we sell. I totally accept that but struggling to figure out what to pivot to.

it's likely you already know all of what i'm about to say but just in case it helps i'll say it anyway our team actually has talked a bunch about you guys before when thinking about the type of company we aspire to be we saw you similar to musicians - go into a hole and work on an album and do a drop and go on tour for a bit and that's where you make the money rinse repeat your audience grows each time but you kinda lose all the advantages of building an internet business. you have to fight for every single sale every single iteration, it doesn't get easier put another way you miss out on all the advantages of compounding - a customer that you grabbed 5 years ago should still be paying you it's not that you can't build any other type of business, it's just compounding is such a powerful force that is so easily underestimated and it's not too late! you have a huge following of people who trust you and will give anything you build a serious shot just have to build a product that compounds

Adam, I found this super compelling and am glad you shared it. Really sorry you're going through this. One thing I just want to respond to is you keep saying you "feel like an idiot" for not being able to figure out a business model. Two things: 1) Building a successful OSS-based business requires doing two near-impossible things: building a successful OSS project AND building a sustainable business. I've heard people call them "double miracle" companies. Building even TailwindCSS alone is an astounding contribution to software and the world, and you should feel proud of that. You are in the top 0.00x of people in tech just from that. I know that probably feels like cold comfort right now, but I still wanted to say it. 2) You DID build a successful business model. It worked. You hired a team and were profitable. You achieved the double miracle. Again, 0.00x of software founders ever do this. Then things changed in the marketplace. That is awful, and the timing sucks because it lasted much less time that you hoped. But it doesn't change the fact of the prior success. Hope I'm not overstepping here, but I just wanted to say this. Been an admirer of yours for a really long time and it hurt to hear you going through this.

@Lovable and @Replit should definitely sponsor tailwind

Adam, build a vibe coding tool that stands out for its beautiful frontends. You’ll be making $10m ARR overnight. I’ll help you promote it if you build it

Hey Adam, book a free SEO call, I use Tailwind, bought all your UI kits, books, and it helped me a lot, won't sell you anything cal.com/illyism/audit

Sorry, Adam, and thank you for posting this. Most ambitious OSS projects aren't built by hobbyists on Friday afternoons. They're built by full-time engineers who need salaries. I wish everyone who has an idealistic view of OSS could listen to this.

the creator of tailwindcss is not rich the creator of react is not rich the creator of vscode is not rich the creator of npm is not rich the creator of linux is not a billionare! this is a bug @tailwindcss usage is at its maximum, but revenue at minimum? open source projects must have a way to monetize directly, not by doing tricks idk how, but the one who figures it out will blow it up

From one founder to another, thank you for sharing this 🙏 FWIW I think I would be saying and doing the same things as you in this scenario. Same self-doubts, same frustrations. Good on you for calling out your ex team one by one to get them new roles 👍

So real and raw. Really awesome how you ended it by singing the praises of the devs you had to let go. I hope you can figure things out dude 🙏

Off that was brutal to listen to, Adam. I know it's easy to say, but there is absolutely no reason for you to feel like a moron. You're one of the most inspirational people I know - way before Tailwind was a thing. I am sure you'll all figure this out ❤️

i've used tailwind so much throughout my career and am incredibly grateful for your work and that of the entire tailwind labs team you're a huge inspiration! i'm confident that you'll get through this and figure out a sustainable model 💚

Showing love and support is nice. But if you have the means like I do actually support them by subscribing. Just did it myself. Good luck Adam. I hope this helps. Appreciate what you’ve built. tailwindcss.com/sponsor#insi…

Tough times, hope you're ok 🖤 You've given the web so so so much man. Hope you can right the ship and give us tons more.

So sorry about this Adam. you're a good leader making the hard choices. best of luck figuring out the financial side ❤️

I finally listened to this. Tell me how I can give more money, I'm down. Tailwind has had too big of an impact on my career to see the biz like this.

@adamwathan can I make a YT video about this

Brutal honesty and no easy decisions that have been made. Thanks for sharing not only the "good parts" but also the struggles, and hopefully you'll find a way. A great example how sustainability in open source is difficult no matter how small or big your project is.

i know this feeling/position WAY too well. absolutely brutal position to be in, but good on you for addressing now. 🙌

I’ve had to do this. Specifically on an open source project with a business attached, and it’s a horrible feeling. I’ve sort of given up on open source ever being sustainable unless it’s directly corporate backed. Anyway, I feel for you, the pain and self doubt is real. 💔

Mad respect for the transparency and openness. It is hard. I hope you will find the path what to re-focus on to make the company grow again, or pivot to something adjacent. For the record, I think you will enjoy being back to the dev/creator role, it's still in your DNA.

You've set a standard and inspired millions. Running a business has never been harder, in so many ways. You're a real one for even trying, let alone all that y'all have accomplished. I've no doubt you'll find the way through.

Very powerful podcast episode.

❤️

Hey Adam. I really appreciate this. When you said how hard it is to reconcile that youve made a CSS framework that had created so much value for others and you are struggling to capture any of it, that really resonated. I struggle with that, and maybe its ego, but i see the value flatiron grads have captured from what i gave a decade of my life too. And im so proud to count billionaires as alumni, founders, seriously awesome programmers working at jobs id kill to have, and the just thousands i taught flurish. I changed the career and life of a super model to create a non profit with her to teach young women to code for free. I averaged sleeping at the office for 1 night a week for 8 months building Kode with Klossy while als building Learn.co. And ya i sold flatiron and did ok and id never complain and this isn’t a complaint, its a feeling but i look at the value I created and the value i derivied and it seems asymmetric. And then i think of one of my mantras. Make more than you take. It’s what i always wanted to do. I’ll keep making more and I hope i can keep taking some of what i make. You built something like genre defying ground breaking amazing sauce. It totally sucks you had to do a RIF. The world is changing and I imagine anyone you employed is gonna land on their feet soon rather than later. You thought Adam, are not tailwind. You’re an artist. Make more. You’ll take more. You’re an amazing value creator and that will come back to the communities and code you’re passionate about and make value for them and you’ll never be in a place where you can’t give to the world. And as long as you do that, there’ll be something for you and the people you work with and love. class=“rockstar-2xl”

Sending a hug to you and the team. We all love Tailwind

@grok are you able to convert this into text yet?

💜 Thank you for being so open, I'm sorry you had to make that decision. All the best - always here to support!

Adam, brutal to listen to. I want to offer some ideas coming to mind in hopes that they can help. - You have the framework, templates, UI kit and react components, but you offer nothing to help me rapidly generate in the world of AI gen. Might be an avenue to go down otherwise I am left to what the market has. - People are generating so much now but dialing in still takes the human touch. Maybe there is an IDE or Chrome extension that allows users to quickly find and select alternative classes and edit visually - These app gen tools are spitting out a lot of code but the gap from dev to designer is still broad aside from prompting. But maybe a tool can bridge this gap. Regardless if these are helpful or not, wishing you the best on this journey!

We are happy to be a proud user and supporter of Tailwind. Thank you for creating it. Let us know what else we could do to help continue the project and the mission.

You're on the cusp of a break out that will grow the biz tenfold. Keep going. You go this.

Hopefully you figure out a way to turn things around and I'm sure the team members will find new homes in no time 🙏

Mad respect for what Tailwind has done and all your contributions 🫡

Thanks for sharing, Adam. I hope things turn out better than ever for Tailwind and everyone involved.