His successes and failures are relative; while he died broke and lonely, his work laid the foundation for much of our current thinking about electricity and just about anything having to do with waves. As an inventor, a thinker, and a contributing member of the scientific community he was wildly successful. He was a firm believer in gender equality, a vegetarian, and a developer of powerful weapons. Perhaps the most poignant aspect of his success were some of his ideas which later resulted in the decline of Tesla’s reputation. These ideas were grand, difficult to prove or explain, and even more difficult to monetize.

Irregardless of his definition of success, Tesla lived and worked in a world where people made discoveries about the natural forces that surrounded them at an unprecedented pace. Inventions harnessed the powers of these forces, and patents secured future income from these inventions. Tesla was only good at part of this equation. He was relatively fastidious about securing patents, but lost the part about negotiating the future incomes from these patents.

Where does this fit into the open source business model? It’s easy to get into a pity party for Tesla, complaining about greedy robber barons who stole his ideas and made huge fortunes while he toiled away in a mostly self-funded laboratory. And it’s not easy to really grasp the meaning of “open source business model.”

So what is an open source business model? How can a company give away its products for free and still make money? The answer to this question is nuanced and almost completely dependent on the individual company. For many businesses, income is based on providing a service, creating something, and customizing open source platforms for a client. For other businesses, in the words of Dirk Riehle, “Using a commercial open source approach, firms can get to market faster with a superior product at lower cost than possible for traditional competitors.”

Tesla’s self funded lab and obsession with new discoveries fall in the latter category. His operation was nimble and forward-looking, while companies like The Edison Company were stogy. Once they invested huge amounts of resources in something like direct current electricity, they were stuck, and went to great lengths to stay stuck. At one point during the development of the Niagra Falls generators, Tesla claimed that he could transmit the electric generated there without the tremendous amounts of copper, trees, and other resources that would have to be committed to the project, but the contracts were signed and this lighter, less resource-intensive implementation wouldn’t, and can’t be possible.

Some of the modern comparable situations are obvious: Unix to Apple, Google to Microsoft, and Microsoft’s sponsorship of BarCamps and open source code sprints make fascinating parallels to the early days of electricity. It seems that in the days of more democratized communication, the nimble and forward-looking may have their day.

Some further reading:

I’ve personally read and can strongly recommend the biography Wizard: The Life and Times of Nicola Tesla by Marc Seifer, an incredibly thorough look at all aspects of Tesla’s life; business, social, family and even some Freudian analysis, and also recommend the PBS documentary Tesla: Master of Lightning.

You have been told also that life is darkness, and in your weariness you echo what was said by the weary.

And I say that life is indeed darkness save when there is urge,

And all urge is blind save when there is knowledge,

And all knowledge is vain save when there is work,

And all work is empty save when there is love;

And when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself, and to one another, and to God.

And what is it to work with love?

It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.

It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.

It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy, even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.

It is to charge all things you fashion with the breath of your own spirit,

And to know that the blessed dead are standing about you and watching.

It’s important to remember to go about working joyfully and with a sense of purpose. Sometimes my work challenges me in frustrating ways. Library patrons can try my patience several times a day, but I still must treat them how I would treat loved ones. Even when people are rude or express romantic interest at work, I have to brush it off and continue to serve. And when I’m building websites, I’m working solo and run into impediments that I have to research to make my way past. I continue to learn more and push on, trying to do right by the world. These reminders are everywhere and I stumbled on this one on a particularly stressful afternoon. The older I grow, the more I notice these serendipitous things happening at strangely appropriate times.