Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
You’ve used Unraid. Now meet the person running the company behind it.
Ed Rawlings and Unraid CEO Tiffany Jones get into what the community actually wants to know — what the company stands for, what's coming to Unraid users soon, and what she'll protect no matter what. This isn't a product update. It's an honest look at the people, the culture, and the independence behind the OS you rely on.
Tiffany talks about growing up around Unraid, the four careers that led her to the top job, and how she and her father Tom split the business and the product. She takes the hard questions head-on: the worry that Unraid could drift the way other beloved products have, why the company stays bootstrapped with no investors, what “you own your license” actually means, and where a leaner, more accessible Unraid is headed — without taking anything away from the power users who’ve been here for years.
No VC. No private equity. No debt. A perpetual license you own outright. A team largely built from the community it serves. This is what’s behind the product.
*Want to join the Unraid beta tester list?* bit.ly/4wYv4DP
Part 2 will have *Unraid creator Tom Mortensen and Unraid Director of Product Eli Bosley* reveal what’s next for the product itself. You won't want to miss this one.
Subscribe so you don’t miss it!
*Links*
*Submit feature requests & bug reports:* product.unraid.net
*Work with us (Unraid jobs):* ats.rippling.com/lime-technology/jobs
*MSP / OEM / technology partners:* form.asana.com/?k=FQVfctv5gg7dF50cu90oQA&d=714739274360802
*Join the Unraid beta tester interest list:* bit.ly/4wYv4DP
*Chapters*
00:00 – Welcome back: meet Unraid’s CEO (Part 1 of 2)
00:44 – Seeing Unraid for the first time (Tom’s 2005 plasma TV)
02:58 – Film to CEO: the four careers that led here
07:38 – Does Tiffany run Unraid at home?
09:45 – The mission, and what “freedom” really means
12:28 – What Tom does now
15:23 – Battling against enshittification and aligning with users
17:18 – No investors, no debt: staying independent
23:50 – What the license change actually paid for
27:58 – Why Unraid stays a small, lean team
30:05 – Where your bug reports & feature requests go
32:10 – From community to staff: Larry’s story
34:05 – What makes the self-hosting community different
36:50 – Accessible ≠ dumbing it down
39:18 – What Unraid got wrong (and how they fixed it)
43:16 – Goals for the next era (team, UX, AI)
45:28 – Partnerships & the Signature Series (45HomeLab)
50:30 – How to get involved
52:36 – Coming in Part 2: Tom & Eli
#Unraid #SelfHosting #Homelab #NAS #HomeServer #DataSovereignty
What will you build with Unraid?
Get Started with Unraid in 15 minutes or less:
unraid.net/getting-started
You’ve used Unraid. Now meet the person running the company behind it.
Ed Rawlings and Unraid CEO Tiffany Jones get into what the community actually wants to know — what the company stands for, what's coming to Unraid users soon, and what she'll protect no matter what. This isn't a product update. It's an honest look at the people, the culture, and the independence behind the OS you rely on.
Tiffany talks about growing up around Unraid, the four careers that led her to the top job, and how she and her father Tom split the business and the product. She takes the hard questions head-on: the worry that Unraid could drift the way other beloved products have, why the company stays bootstrapped with no investors, what “you own your license” actually means, and where a leaner, more accessible Unraid is headed — without taking anything away from the power users who’ve been here for years.
No VC. No private equity. No debt. A perpetual license you own outright. A team largely built from the community it serves. This is what’s behind the product.
*Want to join the Unraid beta tester list?* bit.ly/4wYv4DP
Part 2 will have *Unraid creator Tom Mortensen and Unraid Director of Product Eli Bosley* reveal what’s next for the product itself. You won't want to miss this one.
Subscribe so you don’t miss it!
*Links*
*Submit feature requests & bug reports:* product.unraid.net
*Work with us (Unraid jobs):* ats.rippling.com/lime-technology/jobs
*MSP / OEM / technology partners:* form.asana.com/?k=FQVfctv5gg7dF50cu90oQA&d=714739274360802
*Join the Unraid beta tester interest list:* bit.ly/4wYv4DP
*Chapters*
00:00 – Welcome back: meet Unraid’s CEO (Part 1 of 2)
00:44 – Seeing Unraid for the first time (Tom’s 2005 plasma TV)
02:58 – Film to CEO: the four careers that led here
07:38 – Does Tiffany run Unraid at home?
09:45 – The mission, and what “freedom” really means
12:28 – What Tom does now
15:23 – Battling against enshittification and aligning with users
17:18 – No investors, no debt: staying independent
23:50 – What the license change actually paid for
27:58 – Why Unraid stays a small, lean team
30:05 – Where your bug reports & feature requests go
32:10 – From community to staff: Larry’s story
34:05 – What makes the self-hosting community different
36:50 – Accessible ≠ dumbing it down
39:18 – What Unraid got wrong (and how they fixed it)
43:16 – Goals for the next era (team, UX, AI)
45:28 – Partnerships & the Signature Series (45HomeLab)
50:30 – How to get involved
52:36 – Coming in Part 2: Tom & Eli
#Unraid #SelfHosting #Homelab #NAS #HomeServer #DataSovereignty
What will you build with Unraid?
Get Started with Unraid in 15 minutes or less:
unraid.net/getting-started
