Openclaw Founder Discusses Acquisition Offers and Open Source Commitment

Openclaw founder Peter Steinberger recently confirmed during an interview with Lex Fridman that the company has received acquisition offers from multiple firms. According to BlockBeats, Steinberger expressed disinterest in potential financing deals worth millions or billions, citing concerns over time consumption and conflicts of interest, such as prioritizing enterprise versions and altering open-source licenses, which could harm the community. He emphasized his desire for completely free open-source solutions without conditions, noting that relying on donations is unsustainable, as evidenced by popular projects like Tailwind undergoing layoffs. Steinberger also revealed that Openclaw is currently operating at a loss, with monthly revenues ranging from $10,000 to $20,000, while subsidizing personally maintained dependent projects. Although companies like OpenAI provide some support, the situation remains unsustainable. Regarding collaboration with large laboratories, Steinberger stated that the core condition is maintaining the project's open-source nature, similar to Chrome and Chromium. He stressed the importance of not entrusting the project entirely to a single company and highlighted the unique community atmosphere of ClawCon, reminiscent of the early internet enthusiasm. Steinberger aims to spread this spirit to more people, considering this year as the beginning of personal agency, with laboratory collaboration being the fastest way to achieve this. He also expressed interest in experiencing work within a large company, as he has never done so before.