Free software is not antithetical to commercial success
A common misunderstanding regarding the concept of free software, or a question you might see tossed around by people on the internet in different chat rooms, forums, and whatnot, comes from the misconception that the "free" in "free software" means free as in "free beer," i.e. gratis. When we, free software enthusiasts, refer to "free software", we are talking about software that respects the four essential freedoms to run, modify, copy, and share the software. As such free software can be a product you must pay for. To avoid confusion, free as in freedom software is often also called "libre software" to distinguish it from gratis software.
Companies and investors get easily scared away by the term "free software." I experienced this many times, from business incubators to working with corporate clients. The ideals of freedom and community often go together poorly with greed and selfishness. Telling a bunch of businesspeople that you intend on giving everything about your product to the user of said product, and that they can modify it how they see fit, doesn't usually sit well with them. Usually, you are expected by for-profit companies to give the least control possible to the users so that they depend on you. But as you may know, there are many free software projects out there with lots of people working on them full-time and earning money from doing just that; in the following paragraphs I seek to explain how this is possible.