Introduction
Foreword
The entire foreword is available in the press kit.
Milestones
- Creating iText
- Creating a Business Model for iText
- Growing the Business for iText
- Selling the iText Business
- Leaving the iText Business
- About This Book
- Personal Testimonial
Part I: Failing Forward
Chapter 1: High School
I was introduced to computers at the age of 12, resulting in my first business idea at the age of 14.
- Brief History of My Hometown
- My First Computer: the TI-99/4A
- My Second Computer: the TRS-80 Model 4P
- Writing Computer Games
- Writing Business Applications
- My First Business
Chapter 2: College
My greatest achievement in college was meeting my future wife and business partner. We married before graduating.
- Art or Engineering?
- A Movie Romance
- Failing My Third Year
- Ingeborg to the Rescue
- Rediscovering a Hobby
- Postponed Graduation
Chapter 3: Internship
The skills I acquired during an unpaid internship resulted in my first job and had a significant impact on my later career.
- Jack of All Trades, Master of None
- “Only Losers Don’t Find a Job”
- Geographic Information Systems
- From Trainee to Trainer
- Leading the CyberCity Project
- My First Contract with TRASYS
Chapter 4: Early Career
In hindsight, I realize that my restlessness as an employee was caused by the unidentified desire to be an entrepreneur.
- Working for TRASYS (Part 1)
- Failure #2: the Belgium Applet
- Working for The Reference
- Working for TRASYS (Part 2)
- Failure #3: Perl Server Pages
- Working for Ghent University
- Failure #4: cat@loogje.com
- Finding My Purpose
Chapter 5: My First PDF Library
I had stubbornly been looking for a personal project, but the project found me. I didn’t expect it would involve a popular document format.
- The Camelot Paper
- Adobe Acrobat
- The Portable Document Format
- In Search of a PDF Library
- The Problem with rugPdf
Chapter 6: The Birth of iText
Personal experience taught me my first PDF library was useful, but to make it developer friendly, I would have to rewrite it.
- Basic Building Blocks
- Different Writer Objects
- Creating PDF, HTML, RTF in Five Steps
- The Difference with Apache FOP
- Choosing a Name
- My Thirtieth Birthday
Chapter 7: Frustrations
I was so distracted by self-inflicted annoyances that it took me several years to realize the full potential of iText.
- No Promotion (Part 1)
- Civil Disobedience
- No Promotion (Part 2)
- Working for JCS
- A Future for iText
Part II: Building Free and Open Source Software
Chapter 8: Free Software
To understand how open source came about, it’s important to know the history of free software.
- Homebrew Computers
- An Open Letter to Hobbyists
- Copyright and Software Licenses
- The GNU Manifesto
- The GNU General Public License
- The GNU Operating System with a Linux Kernel
- Linux and the Internet
Chapter 9: Open Source Software
The birth of iText coincided with the emergence of open source as a disrupting model threatening the traditional software business.
- The Cathedral and the Bazaar
- “Let’s Call It Open Source”
- The Open Source Initiative
- Open Source versus Free Software
- iText, Free and Open Source PDF Software
- Promotion and Propagation of iText
- Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt
- Three Missions for iText
Chapter 10: iText in Action
The existence of good documentation is indispensable for every self-respecting open source project. A book is excellent marketing.
- Documentation Needed!
- A Tutorial Funded by Competitors
- Book Contract Offers
- Signing a Book Contract
- The Development Phase
- The Review Process
- Go or No Go?
- The Production Phase
- From Idea to Book
- Book Sales
- Intangible Rewards
- Mission 1: Accomplished
Chapter 11: Intellectual Property
The threshold to adopting FOSS is low, but while reviewing the intellectual property (IP) of iText, I learned about the importance of the fine print in licenses.
- Eclipse Simultaneous Release
- Research Project
- Green Code
- Yellow Code
- Code from Third-Party Developers
- Code from Third-Party Projects
- Red Code
- Example 1: JavaWorld’s Java Tips
- Example 2: Java Advanced Imaging
- Example 3: Encapsulated PostScript
- Example 4: IntHashtable
- Example 5: RC4
- Mission 2: Accomplished
Chapter 12: 1T3XT BVBA
We founded the first iText company, 1T3XT BVBA, out of necessity, but it almost failed due to circumstances beyond our control.
- First M&A Opportunity
- Social Security Contributions
- The First iText Company
- Near Failure
- Mission 3: Failed
Chapter 13: iText Software Corporation
The new company for iText had a running start in the US, but when sales dropped to zero after three-quarters, I agreed to migrate to a less permissive FOSS license: the AGPL.
- Our First Customers
- Our First Product
- Our First Salespeople
- The Problem with the (L)GPL
- The Affero General Public License
- Dual Licensing
- From Version 2 to Version 5
- iText in Action (Second Edition)
- Need for Dedicated Developers
Chapter 14: Bootstrapping
My metamorphosis from employee to entrepreneur didn’t happen overnight; it was the result of insights gathered over the years.
- Bootstrapping or Venture Capital?
- iBoot by IBBT
- First Trip to the US
- A Failed Merger Attempt
- Wil-Low BVBA (Version 1)
- Second M&A Opportunity
- First Valuation
Chapter 15: iText Software BVBA
The importance of sales is often underestimated by developers, but generates the fuel for further development and expansion.
- The Limitations of Salespeople on Commission
- Our First Employees on Payroll
- My First Visit to Adobe
- Reading the Meeting
- International Standards for PDF
- Mission 3: Accomplished
Chapter 16: Monetizing Open Source
There’s more than one way to build a business based on FOSS. Here’s how commercial open source software (COSS) can work for you.
- Four Generations of FOSS
- Making Money with FOSS
- Donations
- Using Ads
- Selling Documentation
- Selling Support and Maintenance
- Offering Professional Services
- Selling Licenses
- Using the Open Core Model
- Offering a Service Built on Top of FOSS
- What Is Success?
- Thinking of Selling the Business
Chapter 17: Lessons Learned
You don’t always need business books to learn about business. Life has its own way of reminding us what is important.
- Lesson #1: “There are as many diagnoses as there are specialists”
- Lesson #2: “Everybody lies”
- Lesson #3: “Tests take time; treatment is quicker”
- A New Challenge
Part III: From Start-up to Exit
Chapter 18: Dilemmas
In July 2012, we hired an M&A consultant to assess our business in the context of a possible exit. We became aware of some dilemmas and how these affected the decisions we had made in the past.
- Project IQ
- A Clear Deadline
- Meeting with Venture Capitalists
- Establishing a Relationship with a VC
- The Founder’s Dilemmas
- Comparing 1T3XT with Acquia
- Founders
- Hires
- Investors
- Successors
- Switching from Control Decisions to Wealth Decisions
Chapter 19: A Strategy for iText
We listed our options, chose the one that matched our ambitions, and put things in motion to change the business accordingly.
- Our Options (Part 1)
- Option 0: “We Want Out!”
- Option 1: “Milk It!”
- Option 2: “Pedal to the Metal!”
- Option 3: “Drive It!”
- Our Goals
- Patents
- A Sales Office in Boston
- Reorganization of Companies
- Board of Directors
- New Accountant and a Commissioner
- New Law Firm
- New Office and More Human Resources
- New Salespeople
- Financial Results
Chapter 20: Winning
Looking back, 2014 and 2015 were the most pleasant years for me in the history of iText. We were on a roll, winning in different fields.
- Bad Loser
- Winning Awards
- Winning in Court
- Step 1: Visit a Bailiff
- Step 2: Send a Cease and Desist
- Step 3: Go to Court
- Step 4: Execution of the Judgment
- Aftermath of the Lawsuit
- Winning an Audience
- Use of iText
- Free versus Paid Use
- The Competition
- Scores for iText
- Winning Territory
- Global Distribution of Sales
- Choosing a Location for iText Software Asia
- Incorporating in Singapore
- Success in the APAC Region
- Growth in the Rest of the World
- Winning Time
Chapter 21: A Roadmap for iText
Delegating responsibilities freed up time to develop a technological roadmap for the near and distant future.
- Project Arya
- Non-Western Writing Systems
- Ambiguities and Inconsistencies
- HTML to PDF
- Structured PDF
- PDF 2.0
- Realization of Project Arya
- Project Tyrion
- Reporting Tools
- DITO: Designing Interactive Templates Online
- Other Projects
- Our Options (Part 2)
- Option 0: “Business as Usual”
- Option 1: “Make!”
- Option 2: “Buy!”
- Option 3: “We Want In!”
- Working on Different Levels
Chapter 22: Partial Exit
In December 2015, we succeeded in selling three-quarters of our business, a full year ahead of schedule.
- Valuation
- Project Wall Street
- Two Candidates
- Candidate 1: A Self-Proclaimed Adobe Killer
- Candidate 2: Hancom
- The M&A Process
- Wil-Low BVBA (Part 2)
- Mission Accomplished
Chapter 23: Year 1—A Search for Synergies
I was eager to explore possible synergies between iText Group and Hancom in the first year after the acquisition, but I underestimated the challenge ahead.
- Hancom’s Products
- Web Office
- Hancom Document Converter Service
- Project Tyrion (DITO)
- iText Sales in Asia
- Board Meetings
- A Clash of Cultures
- A Side Project
- Mixed Feelings
Chapter 24: Year 2—A Change of Strategy
While the future for iText was looking brighter than ever, my relationship with Hancom was hitting a low.
- Back to the Roots
- iText as a Platform
- A Breach of Trust
- Our Options (Part 3)
- Task 0: “Business as Usual”
- Task 1: “Expanding Our Product Portfolio”
- Task 2: “Further Development of External Channels”
- Task 3: “Further Development of the Organization”
- An Adventurous Life
- Gearing up for Growth
- A Promising Escape Route
Chapter 25: Year 3—A Change in Management
A change in management, a new shareholder, and unresolved concerns made me a stranger in the company I founded.
- Dark Clouds and Politics
- The Budget for 2018
- Losing the COO and CEO
- The New CEO and COO
- A New Shareholder
- A #MeToo Case
- My Future Role
- Last Honorable Escape Route
Chapter 26: Exit Through the Courtroom
I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to iText. We parted ways with a legal battle that would take a year and a half.
- Preparing the Fight
- First Round: the Commercial Court
- Wisdom of the Court
- Revelation by The Bell
- Safeguarding Interests
- Valuation Reports
- Second Round: the Court of Appeal
- The First AGM Attempt
- The Court of Appeal—Forced Withdrawal
- The Court of Appeal—Provisional Administrator
- The Second AGM Attempt
- Penalties are Coming
- Final Round: a Settlement Agreement
Epilogue
New Challenges
- Writing as a Remedy
- Getting Feedback from Readers
- After iText
- Make Me Proud!
Acknowledgments
- Personal Thanks
- For those who aren’t mentioned here