Meet Christian Taylor “The Open Source Cowboy”
Christian Taylor is an open-source governance executive focused on building the systems that make ecosystems sustainable. He designs governance, funding, and accountability structures that allow open source to scale without collapsing under its own weight.
As Head of the Open Source Office and Incubation Program at Intersect MBO, he built the operational backbone for Cardano’s transition to a fully open-source blockchain. This includes the Paid Open Source Model (POSM), the Maintainer Retainer Program, and the Tooling Sustainability Program, which now underpin Cardano’s contributor economy.
He is also Cofounder and Chief Open Source Strategist at Open Source Cowboy Consulting, advising foundations, DAOs, and enterprises on how to operationalize open source across governance, compliance, and community systems.
Known as the Open Source Cowboy, his work combines independence with institutional discipline, enabling innovation without sacrificing accountability.
Expertise
Open-source strategy and governance (OSPO and dOSPO)
Ecosystem architecture and contributor system design
Sustainability and incentive modeling for maintainers
Governance maturity, metrics, and auditability
Community health, contributor ladders, and incubation
Cross-foundation and cross-ecosystem governance alignment
Frameworks and Programs
Paid Open Source Model (POSM): governance-linked funding for sustainable open source
Maintainer Retainer Program: decentralized maintainer funding with accountability
Lifecycle and Health Frameworks: quantitative assessment across governance, documentation, and security
Decentralized OSPO (dOSPO): distributed authority with enforceable accountability
Tooling Sustainability Program: long-term support for ecosystem-critical tools
Impact
Led Cardano’s open-source transition through Intersect MBO
Built metrics-driven governance systems with Bitergia and the TODO Group
Aligned governance standards across Cardano, LF Decentralized Trust, and partners
Linked funding decisions to technical maturity and contributor readiness
Spoken at Linux Foundation events, Rare Evo, and academic institutions on decentralized governance
Philosophy
Open source is a frontier.
Frontiers fail without stewardship.
Freedom without structure decays.
Structure without purpose collapses.
Balance is what allows open source to endure.
Advisory Work
Through Open Source Cowboy Consulting, Christian provides:
OSPO and COSO design from zero to operational maturity
Contributor and incentive program architecture
Governance playbooks, lifecycle frameworks, and funding policies
Fractional COSO and executive advisory services for scaling ecosystems
Open Source Cowboy Consulting 