Announcements

Company announcement

Founders may choose to publish an announcement post on their own website. Announcements authored by the company typically address the existing open source community and explain why the founder decided to start a company around the project. Please coordinate with OCV on publishing timing.

Sometimes OCV will publish a new company announcement for the company. The company's website and social media pages (LinkedIn and Twitter) must be live before OCV can share the announcement.

We ask that founders participate in a 45-minute interview with OCV to gather content for the announcement post. The interview will cover:

1. Background: The open source project origin and founder background

2. Existing market: The problem/solution space the technology operates in

3. Company vision: Thoughts on the company and product roadmap.

4. Open Charter: Why the company is an Open Charter company (if applicable)

Monthly release announcements

Commit to a regular communication schedule for release updates. A monthly blog post is recommended. The blog post may include a changelog and should highlight new features and notable improvements.

Publishing a monthly release post is a chance for you to share your product story. At a bare minimum, it’s essential to proactively communicate any changes to the product to users and customers. But a release post can also be a powerful marketing tool.

Take your release post a step further by explaining why the improvements are helpful to users and customers, how they fit into the overall product vision, and sharing prompts for getting started. Reiterating your product roadmap and vision helps generate excitement and may encourage contributions.

Release post content

1. New feature highlights describing what the feature is and how to use it

2. Roundup of all the changes and improvements made since the last release. Note anything that has been deprecated or any required upgrades

3. Pictures and gifs showcasing new features and improvements

4. Community contribution section thanking anyone who contributed to the most recent release

Release post titles

Avoid overly generic release post titles like “FakeAPP 1.0 released” and instead tell the reader about something interesting you shipped.

OK	Better	Best
FakeAPP 1.0 released	FakeAPP 1.0 released with real-time collaboration, advanced analytics, customizable dashboards	Work faster with shared insights and customizable workflows

A stronger title goes beyond simply announcing a release by highlighting what’s actually new and valuable. For example, “FakeAPP 1.0 released with real-time collaboration, advanced analytics, and customizable dashboards” immediately signals concrete improvements, helping readers quickly understand why the update matters.

An even more effective approach leads with the user benefit or problem solved by those features. A title like “Build smarter and collaborate faster with FakeAPP 1.0” frames the release around outcomes rather than mechanics, making it more compelling and relevant than a generic “FakeAPP 1.0 released,” which offers little insight into why the announcement is worth a reader’s attention.