February 7-9th, I'll be participating with the Open Source Think Tank in Napa, California. It's an invitation-based event following a concept of workshops and meetups, rather than sitting back relaxed and hoping for non-boring presentations. I've been involved with Plato, a local business network based on the open exchange of experience for about a year now, so I'm already convinced of the value behind such business initiatives.
I'm pretty interested to find out if the concept translates well in an international, open source/business-based setting. I'm also keen to find out if other companies like ours opt for a below-the-radar, self-funded approach, rather than the archetypal VC-funded (hence exit-strategy-bound) business creation process. Anyway, I'm sure it'll be a good time for some out-of-band thinking and networking, with the reassurance in the back of my mind that we kind-of figured out already (our) way to monetize business/open source.