Stream: boston

Topic: major transition for Zulip (Zulip Foundation)

Philip Durbin (May 23 2026 at 00:36):

I got this email on May 15th:

Philip Durbin (May 23 2026 at 00:36):

"We’re reaching out to administrators of Zulip organizations to announce a major transition for the Zulip open-source project and the Kandra Labs company behind it: I’m stepping back from full-time Zulip leadership, and donating the company to a newly created nonprofit Zulip Foundation. The new structure provides stability, a renewed commitment to our values, and new opportunities for charitable fundraising.

The new Zulip Foundation will be the formal steward of the Zulip project, with a mission of developing the best possible team chat experience, with particular focus on public-interest organizations and communities.

There are no changes to your sponsored Zulip Cloud Standard plan as part of this transition. Kandra Labs has always been a mission- and values-focused company. We have a long-running sponsorship program, and have always prioritized features primarily useful for communities alongside features for business users. The Zulip Foundation formalizes and makes permanent our values.

Please check out the announcement blog post to learn about the Zulip Foundation’s leadership, and more. If you have any questions or concerns, please join us for a live chat Q&A in the Zulip development community on Tuesday, May 19 at 4 PM UTC (9 AM US Pacific / 12 PM US Eastern / 6 PM CET), or reach out to support@zulip.com.

— Tim Abbott, on behalf of the Zulip team"

Philip Durbin (May 23 2026 at 00:36):

I missed the live chat Q&A, but it yielded a bunch of topics that may be of interest:

• https://chat.zulip.org/#narrow/channel/2-general/topic/Q.26A.3A.20Future.20involvement.20in.20Zulip.20development/near/2462751
• https://chat.zulip.org/#narrow/channel/2-general/topic/Q.26A.3A.20Will.20specific.20people.20take.20on.20the.20roles.20of.20those.20leaving/near/2462726
• https://chat.zulip.org/#narrow/channel/2-general/topic/Q.26A.3A.20How.20will.20the.20governance.20look.20going.20forward.3F/near/2462737
• https://chat.zulip.org/#narrow/channel/2-general/topic/Q.26A.3A.20How.20is.20switching.20to.20the.20board.20going.20to.20affect.20your.20role/near/2462734
• https://chat.zulip.org/#narrow/channel/2-general/topic/Q.26A.3A.20Relevant.20to.20have.20clear.20role.20markers.20now.3F/near/2462783
• https://chat.zulip.org/#narrow/channel/2-general/topic/Q.26A.3A.20Zulip.20as.20social.20platform/near/2462938
• https://chat.zulip.org/#narrow/channel/2-general/topic/Q.26A.3A.20Questions.20for.20the.20mobile.20team.3F/near/2462852
• https://chat.zulip.org/#narrow/channel/2-general/topic/Q.26A.3A.20Who.20will.20do.20product.20reviews.20moving.20forward.3F/near/2462724
• https://chat.zulip.org/#narrow/channel/2-general/topic/Q.26A.20.28idea.29.3A.20custom.20clients/near/2462772
• https://chat.zulip.org/#narrow/channel/2-general/topic/Q.26A.3A.20How.20is.20Zulip.20doing.20financially.3F/near/2462823
• https://chat.zulip.org/#narrow/channel/2-general/topic/Q.26A.3A.20Explicit.20.26.20transparent.20description.20of.20roles.20.26.20connect/near/2462767

Philip Durbin (May 23 2026 at 12:32):

The thread on Hacker News: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48152168 (thanks, @Dan, for pointing this out)

Philip Durbin (May 23 2026 at 14:06):

"The biggest risk to Zulip's ability to succeed over the next few years is not risk of spending time on side projects. It's risk of not having the financial resources even to hire remarkable people who want to take a big pay cut to work on Zulip." -- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48160413

Last updated: Oct 11 2026 at 03:59 UTC