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Playbooks

Surface Open Source Qualified Leads (OQLs)

Playbooks

Surface Open Source Qualified Leads (OQLs)

Analytics for open source
Try for Free

Overview

Open Source Qualified Leads (OQLs) are individuals or organizations that show a measurable level of engagement within your open-source community or project. OQLs tend to convert faster and more frequently than other types of leads, because they are already getting value from your open-source project.

In this playbook, we’ll show you how to combine different types of actions within your open-source community or project to easily identify commercial intent and build your open source funnel.

What you’ll need:

Scarf (sign up for free)

Step 0: Create an Organization

To create an organization, in the header menu, click on Organization.

Alternatively, you can access it via the + icon and selecting New Organization.

If you haven't already set up an organization, you will be presented with the following screen:

As you can see, you are presented with two options:

  • Create Organization: Select this option if you are happy to keep your user and create a freestanding organization.
  • Convert Account to Organization: If it happens that you've added lots of new packages and found that you'd like to put these under an organization umbrella, this is the perfect way to achieve that. By doing this, you will be able to share data from Scarf Packages and Pixels you’ve created with others within your organization.

For now, we will only cover how to create a new organization. You can learn more about converting your account to an organization.

After clicking on Create Organization, the next screen will prompt you to add your new organization name and other details, click Save.

Having done this, you now have an organization you can edit by clicking Organizations, and then selecting the pencil icon.

Pro Tip: Opt for an organization name familiar to you and potential members. Your company or project name is often the most recognizable choice.

To access your new organization from the Scarf App Home Page, click the dropdown menu in the upper right corner and select your organization. 

You will now be able to create Scarf Packages and Pixels within your organization and access it whenever you want. 

Pro Tip: When looking at the menu in the upper right corner, you will now see two circles. The larger being what organization you are accessing and the smaller one being the user you are doing it with.

Step 1: Define what you’ll track

First, you need to have decided what actions you want to track within your open source ecosystem. With Scarf, you can track:

  • Downloads of your software at the point of distribution, regardless of how they are distributed (Docker containers, binaries, Python packages, npm packages, and more).
  • User interactions with your web artifacts (marketing site, documentation, and READMEs).
  • Clicks on any links and social monitoring.
  • Custom telemetry from within your application.
  • Enriching any existing data you're already collecting on software usage.

If you need help setting these up, please refer to our documentation.

Step 2: Choose the level of importance of an action when you set up Scarf Packages or Pixels

Event Importance allows you to determine the weight that certain events carry over others. For instance, a download should carry more weight than a page view on your public website, as it shows higher interest. This importance can be defined when setting up a new pixel or package and can be edited at any time. The importance will default to medium.

Event Importance will also define the points Scarf assigns to each action. Knowing which actions are more important for your particular use case will allow us to define how far down the open source funnel is an OQL. The pre-set funnel stages in Scarf are the following:

  1. Interest:

A company enters this stage following initial events. For example, viewing your documentation, README, or site (pixel activity only - a download would trigger the investigation stage).

  1. Investigation:

Enough activity has occurred for us to suspect the user/organization is actively investigating your project. This stage includes the occurrence of multiple events such as at least one package download with multiple docs views or at least two weeks of consecutive pixel view activity, and the company has been active in the last 30 days. 

  1. Experimentation:

Sufficient activity has occurred for us to suspect the company is actively using your OSS for one or more production systems. Events such as multiple downloads and page views will have occurred over 30 days or a single download and multiple page views over 60 days, and the company has had activity in the last 90 days. 

  1. Ongoing Usage:

Companies in this stage may be ready to become paying customers and should be moved into your sales/marketing pipeline where available. For non-commercial open-source projects, companies in this stage may be good sponsorship targets or valuable advocates in the community. These companies will have event activity over the course of the past 90 days, such as continued downloads or views.

  1. Inactive:

Companies may move into an inactive stage when activity drops off and does not resume over 60 or more days. If activity resumes, the company will return to the last active stage. 

You can learn more about Scarf OQL Point System or Funnel Stages.

Step 3: Identify your OQLs

In the Scarf App, click Tools to open the dropdown, then click Company Insights.

Learn more about the Company Insights page:

Step 4: Sort Companies with our Recommended Sort

This sort option lets you view the companies most worthy of your attention first. 

The Recommended Sort reorders the list of companies in the activity table in descending order, first by their point value, then by number of events, and finally by most recent to oldest action. 

Step 5: Investigate each OQL’s journey and utilize the data

We can drill down further from here if we want to. Click any company name to view their journey in greater detail. We suggest you start with the companies that appear first in the Recommended Sort. 

The company’s current funnel stage will be displayed in the top left, next to STATUS. Hover over the graphical calendar in the Company Journey to see details of the views and downloads that occurred over time. Below the graphical calendar are aggregated views of the total activity within each stage, including the current stage. 

Utilize the data to track trends in usage over time to indicate your ideal customer profile, highlight opportunities and risks, such as early indicators of potential churn, or documentation that needs more frequent updating.

Using the OQL methodology can be a game-changer for both open-source projects and businesses. It helps you get a full picture of user engagement, needs, and behaviors, paving the way for growth, community involvement, and even sales opportunities.

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Surface Open Source Qualified Leads (OQLs)

Published

June 7, 2024

This article was originally posted on

Hackernoon

Overview

Open Source Qualified Leads (OQLs) are individuals or organizations that show a measurable level of engagement within your open-source community or project. OQLs tend to convert faster and more frequently than other types of leads, because they are already getting value from your open-source project.

In this playbook, we’ll show you how to combine different types of actions within your open-source community or project to easily identify commercial intent and build your open source funnel.

What you’ll need:

Scarf (sign up for free)

Step 0: Create an Organization

To create an organization, in the header menu, click on Organization.

Alternatively, you can access it via the + icon and selecting New Organization.

If you haven't already set up an organization, you will be presented with the following screen:

As you can see, you are presented with two options:

  • Create Organization: Select this option if you are happy to keep your user and create a freestanding organization.
  • Convert Account to Organization: If it happens that you've added lots of new packages and found that you'd like to put these under an organization umbrella, this is the perfect way to achieve that. By doing this, you will be able to share data from Scarf Packages and Pixels you’ve created with others within your organization.

For now, we will only cover how to create a new organization. You can learn more about converting your account to an organization.

After clicking on Create Organization, the next screen will prompt you to add your new organization name and other details, click Save.

Having done this, you now have an organization you can edit by clicking Organizations, and then selecting the pencil icon.

Pro Tip: Opt for an organization name familiar to you and potential members. Your company or project name is often the most recognizable choice.

To access your new organization from the Scarf App Home Page, click the dropdown menu in the upper right corner and select your organization. 

You will now be able to create Scarf Packages and Pixels within your organization and access it whenever you want. 

Pro Tip: When looking at the menu in the upper right corner, you will now see two circles. The larger being what organization you are accessing and the smaller one being the user you are doing it with.

Step 1: Define what you’ll track

First, you need to have decided what actions you want to track within your open source ecosystem. With Scarf, you can track:

  • Downloads of your software at the point of distribution, regardless of how they are distributed (Docker containers, binaries, Python packages, npm packages, and more).
  • User interactions with your web artifacts (marketing site, documentation, and READMEs).
  • Clicks on any links and social monitoring.
  • Custom telemetry from within your application.
  • Enriching any existing data you're already collecting on software usage.

If you need help setting these up, please refer to our documentation.

Step 2: Choose the level of importance of an action when you set up Scarf Packages or Pixels

Event Importance allows you to determine the weight that certain events carry over others. For instance, a download should carry more weight than a page view on your public website, as it shows higher interest. This importance can be defined when setting up a new pixel or package and can be edited at any time. The importance will default to medium.

Event Importance will also define the points Scarf assigns to each action. Knowing which actions are more important for your particular use case will allow us to define how far down the open source funnel is an OQL. The pre-set funnel stages in Scarf are the following:

  1. Interest:

A company enters this stage following initial events. For example, viewing your documentation, README, or site (pixel activity only - a download would trigger the investigation stage).

  1. Investigation:

Enough activity has occurred for us to suspect the user/organization is actively investigating your project. This stage includes the occurrence of multiple events such as at least one package download with multiple docs views or at least two weeks of consecutive pixel view activity, and the company has been active in the last 30 days. 

  1. Experimentation:

Sufficient activity has occurred for us to suspect the company is actively using your OSS for one or more production systems. Events such as multiple downloads and page views will have occurred over 30 days or a single download and multiple page views over 60 days, and the company has had activity in the last 90 days. 

  1. Ongoing Usage:

Companies in this stage may be ready to become paying customers and should be moved into your sales/marketing pipeline where available. For non-commercial open-source projects, companies in this stage may be good sponsorship targets or valuable advocates in the community. These companies will have event activity over the course of the past 90 days, such as continued downloads or views.

  1. Inactive:

Companies may move into an inactive stage when activity drops off and does not resume over 60 or more days. If activity resumes, the company will return to the last active stage. 

You can learn more about Scarf OQL Point System or Funnel Stages.

Step 3: Identify your OQLs

In the Scarf App, click Tools to open the dropdown, then click Company Insights.

Learn more about the Company Insights page:

Step 4: Sort Companies with our Recommended Sort

This sort option lets you view the companies most worthy of your attention first. 

The Recommended Sort reorders the list of companies in the activity table in descending order, first by their point value, then by number of events, and finally by most recent to oldest action. 

Step 5: Investigate each OQL’s journey and utilize the data

We can drill down further from here if we want to. Click any company name to view their journey in greater detail. We suggest you start with the companies that appear first in the Recommended Sort. 

The company’s current funnel stage will be displayed in the top left, next to STATUS. Hover over the graphical calendar in the Company Journey to see details of the views and downloads that occurred over time. Below the graphical calendar are aggregated views of the total activity within each stage, including the current stage. 

Utilize the data to track trends in usage over time to indicate your ideal customer profile, highlight opportunities and risks, such as early indicators of potential churn, or documentation that needs more frequent updating.

Using the OQL methodology can be a game-changer for both open-source projects and businesses. It helps you get a full picture of user engagement, needs, and behaviors, paving the way for growth, community involvement, and even sales opportunities.

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DevRel is a vital function for any organization that wants to engage with the developer community and grow its user base. However, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for where to place DevRel within the organizational structure. In this blog post, we explore three common strategies for DevRel placement: marketing, product, and hybrid. We discuss the advantages and challenges of each strategy, and provide some tips on how to decide which one is best for your organization and goals.
The Gating Debate: Striking a Balance Between Open Source and Marketing Insights

The Gating Debate: Striking a Balance Between Open Source and Marketing Insights

In the open source industry, identifying and engaging users is a major challenge. Many users download software from third-party platforms that do not share user data with the software company. Gating content behind a login or an email form can help, but it can also alienate potential users who value their privacy and convenience. In this blog post, we explore the pros and cons of gating content in the open source industry, and we offer an alternative solution that can help you identify and connect with your users without compromising your content.
How to Use Metrics to Track and Evaluate Your Open Source Community’s Success

How to Use Metrics to Track and Evaluate Your Open Source Community’s Success

Open source software depends on the power of its community. But how do you know if your community is healthy and thriving? In this blog, you will learn how to use metrics to track and evaluate your community’s activity, engagement, growth, diversity, quality, and impact. You will hear from founders, DevRel experts, and investors who share their best practices and tips on how to measure and improve your community’s performance and value.
How to: Using anonymous downloads, website traffic, and documentation views to generate leads

How to: Using anonymous downloads, website traffic, and documentation views to generate leads

Learn how to overcome the challenges of open source software marketing and turn anonymous data into qualified leads. In this blog post, we’ll show you how to use download data, web traffic, and documentation views to identify potential customers and grow your sales pipeline. Discover how to track downloads, website traffic and documentation views with Scarf Gateway and the Scarf Tracking Pixel.
Why Your Open Source Startup Is Going To Fail (And What You Can Do About It)

Why Your Open Source Startup Is Going To Fail (And What You Can Do About It)

This blog post outlines ten common mistakes made by founders of open source startups, from failing to ask the right questions to neglecting the standardization of key metrics. By offering guidance on how to avoid these pitfalls, it provides a roadmap to successfully commercializing open source projects.
Open Source Monetization 101: A Step-by-Step Guide

Open Source Monetization 101: A Step-by-Step Guide

Many people believe that making money from open source projects is an arduous or even impossible task. However, with the right strategies it is possible to build a sustainable business while keeping the spirit of open source intact. By evaluating the market fit and commercial viability of an open source project before considering funding and monetization, one can realistically begin to explore the financial potential of an open source project. Here's how to do it.
The Open Source Sales & Marketing Funnel: Navigating the Challenges of Anonymous Downloads and Activity Tracking

The Open Source Sales & Marketing Funnel: Navigating the Challenges of Anonymous Downloads and Activity Tracking

This blog emphasizes the importance of a comprehensive approach to lead generation in the open source software space. Amid the challenges of anonymous usage and privacy regulations, strategies focusing on download activity, community engagement, and web traffic can maximize lead identification. Employing lead scoring and maintaining a list of active software users can further enhance sales outcomes in this unique market.
Scarf Newsletter - May 2023

Scarf Newsletter - May 2023

Stay up to date with the latest updates from Scarf. Discover upcoming features, industry news, partnerships, and events. May 2023 Newsletter.
Harnessing Software Download Patterns: Using Open Source Download Metrics to Uncover New Users and Potential Customers

Harnessing Software Download Patterns: Using Open Source Download Metrics to Uncover New Users and Potential Customers

Here at Scarf, we've developed a solution to help open source projects and businesses gain more insight into their users and their download traffic - Scarf Gateway. Here's how it works.
Unlocking Growth Potential: Scarf Users Benefit from Clearbit Integration for Improved User Intelligence

Unlocking Growth Potential: Scarf Users Benefit from Clearbit Integration for Improved User Intelligence

We are thrilled to announce our latest partnership with Clearbit (https://clearbit.com/). This collaboration will offer Scarf users and customers an enriched array of data about their user base, significantly enhancing the quality of information you already value from Scarf.
State of Open Source Usage Q1 2023: The Scarf Report

State of Open Source Usage Q1 2023: The Scarf Report

The popularity of open source software is not in doubt, but little concrete public data exists beyond human-generated surveys on adoption usage. In this blog post, we will explore the state of open source usage in Q1 2023 and the data illustrating how open source is becoming an increasingly important part of enterprise operations.
Connecting Community Efforts in Open Source to Business Success

Connecting Community Efforts in Open Source to Business Success

The success of DevRel (Developer Relations) and community efforts in open source can be challenging to measure, as there is often a disconnect between the goals and expectations of the community and the business. This blog post discusses the challenges of measuring the success of DevRel and community efforts in open source.
3 Keys to Growing the Adoption of an Open Source Project

3 Keys to Growing the Adoption of an Open Source Project

Successful open source projects don't always translate into successful open source businesses. However, by focusing on building a kick-ass product, raising awareness, making the product easier to use, and fostering a strong open source community, you can set the stage for converting users into paying customers.
The Most Neglected and Overlooked Open Source Metric: Production Users

The Most Neglected and Overlooked Open Source Metric: Production Users

Everyone wants a larger open source user base, but very few people effectively measure its growth. Let’s discuss why.
Switching Container Registries With Zero Downtime

Switching Container Registries With Zero Downtime

You can use the open source Scarf Gateway to switch hosting providers, container registries, or repositories without impacting end users in the future.
Understanding Tech Layoffs and the Economy’s Impact on Open Source

Understanding Tech Layoffs and the Economy’s Impact on Open Source

What is driving all this tech layoffs? , What is their impact on the open source software industry? We will walk through all the potential reasons from an economic downturn, herd mentality, excessive borrowing and spending due to low interest rates, and growth at all costs as the main reasons behind the layoffs. Companies can continue to grow in this tight economic market if they are focused on optimizing efficiency and sustaining the right growth.
Why Downloads are an Essential Metric for Open Source Software Projects

Why Downloads are an Essential Metric for Open Source Software Projects

If you're only going to track one thing for your OSS project, track your downloads.
The Open Source Business Metrics Guide

The Open Source Business Metrics Guide

How to Build, Grow, and Measure the Success of an Open Source Business
Messaging and Positioning Considerations for Introducing an Open Source Product

Messaging and Positioning Considerations for Introducing an Open Source Product

At the All Things Open conference, Emily Omier, a seasoned positioning consultant, sat down with Avi Press (Founder and CEO, Scarf) and Matt Yonkovit (The HOSS, Scarf) to discuss how to message, position, and validate your open source product on The Hacking Open Source Business Podcast. You can watch the full episode below or continue reading for a recap.
How to Get the Attention of an Open Source Software Investor

How to Get the Attention of an Open Source Software Investor

On the Hacking Open Source Business podcast, Joseph Jacks aka JJ (Founder, OSS Capital) joins Avi Press (Founder and CEO, Scarf) and Matt Yonkovit (The HOSS, Scarf) to share what you need to know before starting a commercial open source software (COSS) company and how you can set yourself and your project apart in a way that attracts investor funding. As an investor who exclusively focuses on open source startups, JJ provides a VC perspective on what he looks for when evaluating investment opportunities.
Heroic Labs' Journey to Open Source and 5.3M Docker Downloads

Heroic Labs' Journey to Open Source and 5.3M Docker Downloads

On The Hacking Open Source Business podcast, CEO Chris Molozian and Head of Developer Relations Gabriel Pene at Heroic Labs elaborate on their usage and shift to open source and how it accelerated their adoption.
How to Keep Open Source Projects Open Source

How to Keep Open Source Projects Open Source

In this recap of the first episode of the Hacking Open Source Business Podcast, co-hosts Matt Yonkovit and Avi Press, Scarf Founder and CEO, dig into a recent controversy that highlights the challenges open source projects face trying to create sustainable revenue streams to support a business or a non-profit that funds the project’s growth.
How Buoyant Drives Open-Source-Led Growth with Linkerd

How Buoyant Drives Open-Source-Led Growth with Linkerd

Building a business around an open-source project is hard. Learn more about how Buoyant drives product-led growth with Linkerd.
Alex Biehl: Open Sourcing a Tool to Generate Haskell Server Stubs

Alex Biehl: Open Sourcing a Tool to Generate Haskell Server Stubs

Alex is a software engineer at Scarf who recently open sourced a tool to generate Haskell server stubs called Tie.
Tanner Linsley: Building Sustainable Open Source Projects

Tanner Linsley: Building Sustainable Open Source Projects

Tanner Linsley joined us to explain how he got started in open source and how he has made working in open source sustainable.
Stefano Maffulli: An Exploration on Standards for Open Source Packaging and Distribution

Stefano Maffulli: An Exploration on Standards for Open Source Packaging and Distribution

Scarf Sessions is a new stream where we have conversations with people shaping the landscape in open source and open source sustainability. This post will give a recap of the conversation Scarf CEO, Avi Press and I had with our guest Stefano Maffulli.
Using OSS Usage Data to Sell your Company

Using OSS Usage Data to Sell your Company

Learn how Nestybox used Scarf to gather better project insights and provide accurate data during their recent acquisition.
A Different Approach to Measuring Open Source Community Health

A Different Approach to Measuring Open Source Community Health

Community is important to the success of open source software. To understand and grow a community, project founders and maintainers need visibility into various technical, social, and even financial metrics. But what metrics should we be using?
Scarf Tech Stack: Relude

Scarf Tech Stack: Relude

This blog post will talk about Relude, a project we use in the majority of our Scarf tech stack
Python Wheels vs Eggs (And How Data-Driven Decisions Must Become The Norm in Open-Source)

Python Wheels vs Eggs (And How Data-Driven Decisions Must Become The Norm in Open-Source)

Should Python eggs be deprecated in favor of wheels? What does the data show? This post explores how the right data can make decisions like this easier for maintainers and Open Source organizations.
Changelog: Company Identification Change

Changelog: Company Identification Change

Announcing a new change to the way we identify companies.
Announcing Python Support

Announcing Python Support

Advanced registry analytics are now available for Python package maintainers
Project Spotlight: Scarf Gateway Stats

Project Spotlight: Scarf Gateway Stats

This Project Spotlight will focus on another exciting open source project, Scarf Gateway Stats.
Scarf Will Block Package Downloads from the Russian Government

Scarf Will Block Package Downloads from the Russian Government

In solidarity with Ukraine, Scarf Gateway will no longer service package downloads from Russian Government sources.
Changelog: New Pixel Snippet

Changelog: New Pixel Snippet

A notice to our Documentation Insights users.
Community Spotlight: nix-community

Community Spotlight: nix-community

This is the second post in a new series from Scarf: Spotlights where we highlight awesome projects and communities.
Changelog: Registry Validation for Auto-package Creation

Changelog: Registry Validation for Auto-package Creation

A summary of the new registry validation feature for auto-package creation.
Three Ways to Build Better Products Through Analytics

Three Ways to Build Better Products Through Analytics

A special guest post from open-source analytics company PostHog
New Year, New Scarf Features

New Year, New Scarf Features

Today, we're launching some of the most frequently asked for features since we launched Scarf Gateway back in March.
The Scarf Tech Stack

The Scarf Tech Stack

How Scarf is built
OSS Project Spotlight: IHP

OSS Project Spotlight: IHP

In a new blog post series, we'll highlight great OSS projects that are using Scarf. Today, we are featuring IHP, a modern batteries-included Haskell web framework
Measuring Downloads of Anything You Distribute

Measuring Downloads of Anything You Distribute

Scarf's core registry infrastructure has leveled up to support any kind of direct file download
Announcing Nomia and the Scarf Environment Manager

Announcing Nomia and the Scarf Environment Manager

Our mission here at Scarf centers around enhancing the connections between open source software maintainers and end users. Learn how Scarf + Nomia can reduce the complexity and increase the efficiency of the end-user open source integration experience.
Announcing The Scarf Gateway

Announcing The Scarf Gateway

Understand how your containers are downloaded and decouple your project from your registry
Composition with Semantically Rich Names

Composition with Semantically Rich Names

Insights from recent developments in name-based composition
Shea Levy, Composition Fanatic

Shea Levy, Composition Fanatic

Introducing Shea, Scarf's new VP of Engineering
ARMO leverages Scarf to find high intent signals: Download + Pricing page = INTENT
October 31, 2024

ARMO leverages Scarf to find high intent signals: Download + Pricing page = INTENT

Scarf, a platform designed to provide open-source projects with deeper insights into their users and usage patterns, was the answer ARMO needed. By integrating Scarf into Kubescape, ARMO was able to regain visibility into which company has been using Kubescape, filling the gap left after their CNCF contribution.
Sara Dornsife
Sara Dornsife
Introducing Match Feedback: Take Control of Your Data
October 22, 2024

Introducing Match Feedback: Take Control of Your Data

The foundation of Scarf company tracking is IP Address attribution. Our Company Tracking algorithm considers confidence and reputation scores from multiple sources to provide what we believe to be the best matching data in the industry. In a nutshell, Match Feedback allows you to fix and fine-tune your company matches.
Scarf
Scarf
Scarf Completes SOC 2 Type 2 Examination: What It Means for Our Community
October 2, 2024

Scarf Completes SOC 2 Type 2 Examination: What It Means for Our Community

We're thrilled to announce that Scarf has successfully completed the SOC 2 Type 2 examination! This might sound like legal jargon at first glance, but let’s break down what this means for us, our users, and the open-source community as a whole.
Scarf
Scarf

Surface Open Source Qualified Leads (OQLs)

Overview

Open Source Qualified Leads (OQLs) are individuals or organizations that show a measurable level of engagement within your open-source community or project. OQLs tend to convert faster and more frequently than other types of leads, because they are already getting value from your open-source project.

In this playbook, we’ll show you how to combine different types of actions within your open-source community or project to easily identify commercial intent and build your open source funnel.

What you’ll need:

Scarf (sign up for free)

Step 0: Create an Organization

To create an organization, in the header menu, click on Organization.

Alternatively, you can access it via the + icon and selecting New Organization.

If you haven't already set up an organization, you will be presented with the following screen:

As you can see, you are presented with two options:

  • Create Organization: Select this option if you are happy to keep your user and create a freestanding organization.
  • Convert Account to Organization: If it happens that you've added lots of new packages and found that you'd like to put these under an organization umbrella, this is the perfect way to achieve that. By doing this, you will be able to share data from Scarf Packages and Pixels you’ve created with others within your organization.

For now, we will only cover how to create a new organization. You can learn more about converting your account to an organization.

After clicking on Create Organization, the next screen will prompt you to add your new organization name and other details, click Save.

Having done this, you now have an organization you can edit by clicking Organizations, and then selecting the pencil icon.

Pro Tip: Opt for an organization name familiar to you and potential members. Your company or project name is often the most recognizable choice.

To access your new organization from the Scarf App Home Page, click the dropdown menu in the upper right corner and select your organization. 

You will now be able to create Scarf Packages and Pixels within your organization and access it whenever you want. 

Pro Tip: When looking at the menu in the upper right corner, you will now see two circles. The larger being what organization you are accessing and the smaller one being the user you are doing it with.

Step 1: Define what you’ll track

First, you need to have decided what actions you want to track within your open source ecosystem. With Scarf, you can track:

  • Downloads of your software at the point of distribution, regardless of how they are distributed (Docker containers, binaries, Python packages, npm packages, and more).
  • User interactions with your web artifacts (marketing site, documentation, and READMEs).
  • Clicks on any links and social monitoring.
  • Custom telemetry from within your application.
  • Enriching any existing data you're already collecting on software usage.

If you need help setting these up, please refer to our documentation.

Step 2: Choose the level of importance of an action when you set up Scarf Packages or Pixels

Event Importance allows you to determine the weight that certain events carry over others. For instance, a download should carry more weight than a page view on your public website, as it shows higher interest. This importance can be defined when setting up a new pixel or package and can be edited at any time. The importance will default to medium.

Event Importance will also define the points Scarf assigns to each action. Knowing which actions are more important for your particular use case will allow us to define how far down the open source funnel is an OQL. The pre-set funnel stages in Scarf are the following:

  1. Interest:

A company enters this stage following initial events. For example, viewing your documentation, README, or site (pixel activity only - a download would trigger the investigation stage).

  1. Investigation:

Enough activity has occurred for us to suspect the user/organization is actively investigating your project. This stage includes the occurrence of multiple events such as at least one package download with multiple docs views or at least two weeks of consecutive pixel view activity, and the company has been active in the last 30 days. 

  1. Experimentation:

Sufficient activity has occurred for us to suspect the company is actively using your OSS for one or more production systems. Events such as multiple downloads and page views will have occurred over 30 days or a single download and multiple page views over 60 days, and the company has had activity in the last 90 days. 

  1. Ongoing Usage:

Companies in this stage may be ready to become paying customers and should be moved into your sales/marketing pipeline where available. For non-commercial open-source projects, companies in this stage may be good sponsorship targets or valuable advocates in the community. These companies will have event activity over the course of the past 90 days, such as continued downloads or views.

  1. Inactive:

Companies may move into an inactive stage when activity drops off and does not resume over 60 or more days. If activity resumes, the company will return to the last active stage. 

You can learn more about Scarf OQL Point System or Funnel Stages.

Step 3: Identify your OQLs

In the Scarf App, click Tools to open the dropdown, then click Company Insights.

Learn more about the Company Insights page:

Step 4: Sort Companies with our Recommended Sort

This sort option lets you view the companies most worthy of your attention first. 

The Recommended Sort reorders the list of companies in the activity table in descending order, first by their point value, then by number of events, and finally by most recent to oldest action. 

Step 5: Investigate each OQL’s journey and utilize the data

We can drill down further from here if we want to. Click any company name to view their journey in greater detail. We suggest you start with the companies that appear first in the Recommended Sort. 

The company’s current funnel stage will be displayed in the top left, next to STATUS. Hover over the graphical calendar in the Company Journey to see details of the views and downloads that occurred over time. Below the graphical calendar are aggregated views of the total activity within each stage, including the current stage. 

Utilize the data to track trends in usage over time to indicate your ideal customer profile, highlight opportunities and risks, such as early indicators of potential churn, or documentation that needs more frequent updating.

Using the OQL methodology can be a game-changer for both open-source projects and businesses. It helps you get a full picture of user engagement, needs, and behaviors, paving the way for growth, community involvement, and even sales opportunities.