In this episode, we talk with Jimmy Zelinskie, co-founder and CPO of AuthZed, about his journey in building a global scale OSS authorization startup. Jimmy shares insights into the creation and evolution of SpiceDB, an open-source database optimized for authorization decisions. We chat about Jimmy’s story of transitioning from an engineer to a product manager, the importance of open-source in building the business, and the strategies that helped AuthZed find its first customers. Jimmy also discusses the inspiration behind AuthZed, Google’s Zanzibar paper, and the unique challenges of building a startup grounded in cutting-edge research. Where to find more about Jimmy and AuthZed: - LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jzelinskie/ - X - https://x.com/jimmyzelinskie - Jimmy’s Github - https://github.com/jzelinskie - AuthZed - https://authzed.com/ - SpiceDB on Github - https://github.com/authzed/spicedb - The Zanzibar Paper annotated by AuthZed - https://authzed.com/zanzibar - Discord - https://authzed.com/discord Where to find Bartek: - LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/bwplotka/ - X - https://x.com/bwplotka Where to find Ivan: - LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivan-valkov/ - X - https://x.com/ivvalkov As always, feedback and questions are welcome! You can use this form - https://forms.gle/NmUGeqMtyP6H6mMP9 Episode breakdown: 0:00 Episode intro 2:05 Jimmy’s introduction 3:53 Jimmy’s software engineering background 9:06 On becoming a founder 14:47 Experimenting with different startup ideas 20:41 The Zanzibar paper and using research in startups 26:44 Finding your first customers 31:56 Building SpiceDB 38:11 Monetization in an OSS startup 42:34 Authorization deep-dive 52:19 Product management in a startup 1:01:47 Where to find out more