The Business of Open Source

Matt Yonkovit, Head of Open Source Strategy at Percona, joins me for a conversation about Percona’s work and their robust history in open source. Percona has been at it for 15 years now and Matt’s work there is both prolific and sets him up to be very well informed about open source strategy at large.In this episode, Matt discusses what exactly his job means within the context of Percona, and how he covers down to help both the higher echelons of the company, but also the community. Matt provides an excellent bird's eye view of what is going on in the world of open source. His experience highlights many of the challenges that the open source model is currently facing, and can expect to face in the near future. Highlights:Introduction to Percona and the work Matt does there (00:00)Open source strategy and Matt’s take on its role in an organization (04:20) Choosing where to place priorities and where open source is going (08:00) The ins and outs of pricing models/Percona’s contributions (12:00)Who doesn’t fit the Percona mold? (17:09)Maintaining integrity and staying malleable (21:30) “Shooting [the] sacred cows” of growth (30:45)Links:Connect with MattLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/myonkTwitter: https://twitter.com/myonkovitPercona: https://www.percona.com

Dawn Foster, Director of Open Source Community Strategy at VMware, joins me to chat about open sourcing and the potential risks to consider. With 20+ years of experience in business technology, Dawn lends great insight not only as a leader in the realm of open source, but as a champion for measuring project health.In this episode, Dawn discusses key risks to consider when open sourcing a project and what startups and small companies should think about as they embrace open source technologies. We also explore trust as a currency of open source, donating to neutral foundations, the CNCF Project Health Measurement Guide, and more.Highlights:What companies should consider when open sourcing a project. (00:24)Risks associated with open sourcing and the advantage of contributing projects to foundations. (03:59)Dawn explores the interrelation between using and contributing to an open source project. (07:26) A discussion about evaluating and prioritizing a large number of projects - and why smaller companies should be deliberate about the open source technologies they embrace. (11:49) A look at contributor risk with examples of how the risks can vary depending on the project. (17:09) The value of trust in the open source - and Kim’s final thoughts on measuring project health. (22:35) Links:Connect with Dawn:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawnfoster/Twitter: https://twitter.com/geekygirldawnFast Wonder Blog: https://fastwonderblog.com/VMware: https://www.vmware.com/

Joe Bignell, the Kubernetes recruiter at InterQuest Group, joins me for an interesting conversation about the current job market in the Kubernetes space and his role and vision as a talent seeker.In this episode, Joe and I go into the rabbit hole as we explore the global talent shortage and its impact on the Kubernetes ecosystem. Joe shares invaluable insight and perspective on recruiting for startups, what founders can do to attract talent, and why transparency from all sides (company, recruiter, and candidate) is vital. We also discuss remote work and its increased value and how companies can leverage their Kubernetes talent.Highlights:What is Joe’s responsibility as the Kubernetes recruiter? (00:19)The current hiring challenges in the Kubernetes talent space. (01:00)Joe’s perspective on recruiting best practices - and his thoughts on companies that seek Kubernetes experts. (06:30)A look at the founder/recruiter relationship, how founders can enhance their recruiting positioning, and the evolution of remote work. (12:31)The pros and cons of recruiting for a startup – and why certain hires can ruin a startup. (19:33)What companies can do to create Kubernetes experts and the role InterQuest plays in closing the talent market gap. (23:06)Links:Joe’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joebignell/?originalSubdomain=ukJoe’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/joe_bignellDevOps for Everyone: https://www.meetup.com/DevOps-For-Everyone/InterQuest Group: https://www.interquestgroup.com/

Jonathan Ellis, CTO and co-founder of DataStax, has always had a startup mindset. In this episode, Jonathan joins me to discuss his journey and entrepreneurial roadmap thus far.In our conversation, Jonathan shares how he became involved with the Apache Cassandra project and his transition to founding DataStax. He also shares insight on the importance of hiring a go to market team, why hiring executives proves to be more challenging than engineers, building a company based around an open-source project, and more.Highlights:Jonathan’s views on his identity as a founder and scratching his coding itch through art. (00:23)A look at Jonathan’s journey from Mozy to the Apache Cassandra project. (05:40)The history of DataStax - and Jonathan explores the benefits of building a company around open source. (11:33) Lessons learned: the importance of implementing a go-to-market team, DataStax Kubernetes adoption, and why hiring executives is a challenge. (15:58)Jonathan’s advice to technical founders - and his perspective and insight on remote work. (27:39)Links:JonathanLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbellis/Twitter: https://twitter.com/spycedDataSTax: https://www.datastax.com/

Guy Podjarny, co-founder and President of Snyk, has seen the world of startups through the lens of an employee and as a founder. With two companies under his belt, Guy has excelled as an entrepreneur as Snyk proves to be a leader in developer security. In this episode of Cloud Native Startup, Guy shares insight on his first startup, Blaze (acquired by Akamai), and his current company, Snyk. He lends perspective on key traits to master when building a successful company and why it’s an exciting time to be an entrepreneur. We also explore why there are major gaps in security, what it will take to fix them, and how Snyk is helping close the gap by decentralizing security. Highlights:Guy’s interesting evolution from working at startups to finally founding his own. (00:14)Exploring the differences between two worlds: security and DevOps. (05:40)Why Guy sold his first company, Blaze - and lessons learned along the way. (10:27) Guy’s perspective on embracing Snyk’s “failures” - and he reflects on the journey towards identifying their opportunities within the market. (17:27)A discussion about major gaps in security and how Snyke aims to be a solution. (27:39) Links:GuyLinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/guypo Twitter: https://twitter.com/guypod Podcast: The Secure DeveloperSnyk: https://snyk.io/

For Vidya Raman, technology has always been close to her heart. As an investor at Sorenson Ventures, Vidya is guided by this passion and plays an impactful role in helping technical founders build and grow successful businesses. Vidya serves as a leader in early-stage startup investing and thrives on optimizing companies.In this episode of Cloud Native Startup, Vidya talks about her transition from engineering to venture capital investing, important criteria to consider when evaluating companies, what founders should look for in VCs, her lessons learned, and more. Highlights:A look at Vidya’s background and the journey that lead to her leap into venture capital investing. (00:11)Exploring Vidya’s role, her passion for partnering deeply with founders, and misconceptions that founders often have about VC. (05:37)What to identify when evaluating companies - and how Viyda measures good fit. (10:41) From the lens of a founder, Vidya shares top criteria founders should consider when seeking VC. (18:58) A discussion about conflicts of interest and managing disagreements between investors and companies. (23:09)Vidya shares her top three lessons learned. (29:23) Links:VidyaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vidya-raman/Twitter: https://twitter.com/veenormous Sorenson Ventures: https://www.sorensoncapital.com/

Glasnostic is a cutting-edge observability solution that enables DevOps, SRE and security teams to effectively control emerging disruptive behaviors. In this episode of Cloud Native Startup, I chat with Glasnotic’s co-founder and CEO, Tobias Kunze.As a trailblazer in the world of cloud-native technologies and a two-time startup founder, Tobias brings a wealth of insight. Prior to Glasnostic, Tobias founded Makara, which was later acquired by Red Hat Open Shift. In our conversation, we explore his journey from Makara to Glasnostic and his shift from engineering to entrepreneurship. We also discuss why sales and people management are core skills needed to become an entrepreneur, the importance of actively stepping out of your comfort zone, and the staggering pace of technology.Highlights:A look at how Tobias shifted his focus from engineering to entrepreneurship. (00:15)Tobias’ perspective on applying lessons learned from his first startup the second time around – and the similar challenges he faced with both companies. (09:00)A discussion about the first dollar and why it is important to step outside of your comfort zone as an entrepreneur. (14:16)Why sales and people management skills are core traits of a successful entrepreneur and startup founder – and why these skills are more difficult for engineers to cultivate. (18:19)Tobias uses air traffic control to illustrate his journey towards founding Glasnostic – and shares insight on current challenges in the technology sector. (26:31)Links:TobiasLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tkunzeTwitter: https://twitter.com/tkunze Glasnostic: http://glasnostic.com/

Laurent Gil is by no means a novice when it comes to founding companies. As the Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer at CAST.AI, Laurent marks this as his fourth company. As a repeated entrepreneur, Laurent comes with valuable insight, which he brings to this conversation on Cloud Native Startup.In this episode, we discuss Laurent’s entrepreneurial journey, which has taken him across the globe and he shares his opinion on why entrepreneurs should hear the word “no.” We also discuss the importance of simplifying product features, the bond he’s built with his co-founders, product-market fit, and more.Highlights:Laurent shares his entrepreneurial resume and what led to the founding of CAST.AI. (00:12)How a conversation over coffee in France led to building a company in Ukraine – and why rejection should fuel entrepreneurs to keep going. (03:31)Challenging moments Laurent faced while building startups – and how he has been able to work with the same co-founders throughout different companies. (08:58)Laurent explains why simplicity is CAST.AI’s leading principle. (12:49)A discussion about CAST.AI’s pivot to optimizing the one single cloud. (17:16)Defining and measuring product-market fit. (23:21)Links:LaurentLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurentgilEmail: [email protected]: https://twitter.com/laurentgilCAST.AI: https://cast.ai/

As the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Kong Inc., Marco Palladino takes great pride in the company he has built from the ground up. Marco’s story begins with his move from Italy to San Francisco with no money and a 3-month visa. Today, he and his fellow Co-Founder, Augusto Marietti, have undoubtedly earned that pride.In this episode of Cloud Native Startup, we explore Marco’s life journey, and he reflects on how his obsession with building Kong led to its innovative success. We also discuss why Kong’s pivot was a risk worth taking, compare building companies around open source, dive into the importance of releasing trust as a technical founder, and more.Highlights:An overview of Marco’s role as Co-Founder and CTO, how it has evolved, and the origin of Kong. (00:10)Why Kong pivoted from an API marketplace to a technology vendor – and Marco looks back on the wins and challenges in the early days of Kong. (05:56)A discussion about building a company around open source – why Marco embraces mistakes as he reflects on Kong’s global impact. (13:20)Key pieces of advice for technical founders (22:15)Marco talks about his experience as a young entrepreneur and provides insight into why this journey has defined him as a leader. (27:49)Links:MarcoLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcopalladino/Twitter: https://twitter.com/thekonginc Kong Inc.: https://konghq.com

In this episode of Cloud Native Startup, Ihor Dvoretskyi, Developer Advocate at Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), joins me for a conversation about contributing a project to CNCF. We discuss the benefits of contributing an open source project and Ihor shares insight on the key metrics for success. Ihor also defines each of the three project stages; sandbox, incubating, and graduated, and takes a deep dive into the history of this fascinating open source foundation. Highlights:A closer look at the history of CNCF and the benefits of contributing a project for both contributors and end-users. (00:18)What it means to donate a project and the responsibilities and continuing services CNCF provides. (08:11)Exploring the different maturity levels of CNCF’S projects – sandbox, incubating and graduated. (12:41)How the CNCF Technical Oversight Committee evaluates projects in consideration for contribution – and Ihor provides insight on the stage that requires the most time and commitment. (18:23)Understanding what a successful open source project looks like and how it is measured. (22:42)Links:IhorLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/idvoretskyi/Twitter: https://twitter.com/idvoretskyiCNCF: https:// www.cncf.io/

In this episode of Cloud Native Startup, Justin Borgman, Chairman and CEO of Starburst Data, takes us through Starburst’s evolution as it speedily makes its mark in the enterprise software space. As a two-time startup founder, Justin illustrates his journey towards founding Starburst, alongside his fellow co-founders, and we explore how they built this unique company. He also shares his advice and lessons learned and we discuss what’s in store for Starburst as the company ventures into its next phase.Highlights:Exploring how Starburst came into being and what led to the realization that a business would be built around Presto. (00:14)Why Starburst has 12 co-founders and the factors that contribute to the strength of the founding team. (05:53)Starburst’s journey towards raising venture funding. (08:19)The evolution of PrestoSQL and how it became Trino – and Justin shares advice for anyone developing an open source project. (13:49)More on Starburst’s shift towards venture funding and how the founders came to that decision. (21:15)Differences between Justin’s first and second experience as a startup founder and how he applies what he’s learned. (24:53)A look at Starburst’s transition into its third phase. (28:13)Mistakes and lessons learned. (32:02)Links:JustinLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinborgman/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/justinborgmanStarburst: https://www.starburst.io/

This week on Cloud Native Startup, I’m joined by Tobi Knaup, CEO & Co-Founder of D2iQ.In this episode, Tobi provides insight on how D2iQ helps its customers change the world through open source and how it is reflected in their core mission. We also explore what led to the creation of this pioneering technology company and how the cloud native space has changed since. Highlights:Tobi provides an overview of D2iQ and how it came to be - and he walks through their pivot from Mesos to Kubernetes. (00:11) More on the core mission of D2iQ - and how solving technology challenges at Twitter and Airbnb led to the creation of D2iQ. (04:05) How DQI2 partnered with companies in its early days - and the common mistake that D2IQ and most companies make early on. (13:30) Tobi reflects on his journey from an engineer to founder and CEO - and shares his perspective on the evolution of the cloud native ecosystem. (18:44)Tobi’s advice to the younger version of himself and his fellow co-founders. (28:17) Links:TobiLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobiasknaup/Twitter: https://twitter.com/superguenterD2iQWebsite: https://d2iq.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/D2iQ

HashiCorp’s Co-Founder and CTO, Armon Dadgar, joins me for a conversation on Cloud Native Startup.In this episode, we focus on open source and how it serves as the core to HashiCorp’s identity. We also explore Armon’s journey towards founding HashiCorp with Mitchell Hashimoto and what the future holds as they both lean into their respective passions. Learn a few keys to cultivating a successful open source community, why some companies don’t rely on this success, his lessons learned, and more.Highlights:A look at Armon’s role as Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer and what sparked the decision to build HashiCorp alongside Mitchell Hashimoto. (00:13)Armon shares why HashiCorp began as open source and how that developed into a company. (4:46)How an open source community compares to a paid community - and Armon’s take on bootstraping an open source company. (11:23)Why creating an open source project directly from a closed source project is not the best strategy. (14:43)Keys to building a successful open source community and why this is vital to HashiCorp.(18:14)Armon shares lessons learned during the early days of HashiCorp - and his thoughts on the complexities of being a founder. (23:15)How Mitchell’s decision to step back as an individual contributor allows him to focus on his passion - and more on why they chose to monetize HashiCorp. (29:30)Links:ArmonTwitter: https://twitter.com/armonGitHub: https://github.com/armonLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/armon-dadgar/HashiCorpWebsite: https://www.hashicorp.com/Twitter: www.twitter.com/hashicorp

Neil Cresswell, co-founder of Portainer, joins me this week on Cloud Native Startup. In this episode, we talk about the evolution of Neil’s fascinating career, which began at age 17, and how it led to Portainer. We also discuss Portainer’s core ethos of simplicity, open source product, Neil’s predictions on Kubernetes, and more.Highlights:Neil recounts how he went from self-employed to co-founding Portainer. (00:19)A look at who Portainer was originally built for and the moment he realized it would be a commercial entity. (08:09).Neil dives into the three elements to success in open source product. (11:56)Neil’s advice for someone working on an open source - and a look back at his consulting experience. (14:54)Neil’s shares his lessons learned along his journey - and breaks down some differences in his past and present roles. (20:08)How Neil’s team ensures simplicity - and his Kubernetes predictions. (25:09)Neil shares some of the everyday challenges and advantages of working across different timezones. (29:19)Links:NeilLinkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/ncresswellTwitter: twitter.com/neilc_cloudPortainerWebsite: Portainer.io Twitter: twitter.com/portainer.io

Michael Hyatt joins me on this episode of Cloud Native Startup. Not only is Michael a leading tech investor and philanthropist, but he also ranks as one of Canada’s top entrepreneurs. In this episode, Michael provides a wealth of knowledge as he shares invaluable tips for aspiring, new, and current founders. We also discuss the early stages of founding companies with his brother Richard, the mentality behind hiring your weakness, the phenomenal impact of computing, and much more. In this episode, we cover:Michael’s take on why starting a company with his brother was a powerful and successful business move. (00:15)The power of computing - and the awful truth about technology. (4:12)The importance of being able to pivot and hire your weakness. (8:18)What Michael looks for when he is investing in a company. (17:27)The impact computing has on new companies now vs 20 years ago. (20:24)Michael reflects on the moment he knew success was on the horizon - and how his inferiority complex played a role. (26:07)The challenges of creating a company built around technology. (28:49)Why you need marque customers. (32:24)Michael’s advice to founders. (35:47)Links:Michael HyattLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhyatt1Twitter: https://twitter.com/mhyattoffice

J.J. Guy, Co-founder and CEO of Sevco Security, joins me this week on Cloud Native Startup. In this episode, J.J. breaks down Sevco Security and the IT security ecosystem. We also discuss challenges, lessons learned, building a solid team culture and more.Highlights:Introduction to Sevco and how it fits into the security product ecosystem. (:0016)What creates friction across the entire IT organization and why it is taken for granted. (5:05)J.J. shares ideas that he considered but then ultimately rejected and what he would have done differently. (10:39)The fascinating challenges around enterprise products in security. (17:44)Key lessons learned and how J.J. applies them to Sevco Security. (22:50)The challenges of developing a new product in a new market segment. (27:23)Links:J.J. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jjguy/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/jjguy Sevco SecurityWebsite: https://sevcosecurity.com/

This week on Cloud Native Startup, I am joined by William Morgan, CEO of Buoyant, Inc. In this episode, William talks about his beginnings as a software engineer at Twitter and his transition towards starting and running his own company. We also discuss how rewriting Linkerd enhanced its core value of simplicity, the blessing and curse of open source, his advice to his younger self, and more.In this episode, we cover:Who is the CEO of Buoyant? William Morgan shares his background. (00:14)The story behind Linkerd and how it came into existence. (1:40)Building a company around Linkerd - and monetizing an open source project. (3:43)William’s thoughts on the open-core model. (7:52)The evolution of Buoyant: Building the long-term future of the business. (9:08)Lessons learned and advice to William’s younger self. (13:48)Deep dive into the process of simplifying Linkerd to reach its core value. (17:34)Istio or Linkerd? William’s take on deciding what is right for you. (23:26)The blessing and curse of open source. (27:03)William reflects on his journey as an engineer to starting and running a company: (32:00)Links:William MorganLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wmorganTwitter: https://twitter.com/wmBuoyantWebsite: https://buoyant.io Twitter: https://twitter.com/BuoyantIOLinkerdWebsite: https://buoyant.io/linkerd/Linkerd Twitter: https://twitter.com/Linkerd

David Friend, co-founder and CEO of Wasabi Technologies, Inc. writes the rules of his own success. With 7 companies under his belt, David continues to be an impactful maverick entrepreneur. In this episode, David and I talk about the evolution of his journey, which started off in the music industry, and how it led him to found a cloud data storage company. Join us for more on this week’s episode of Cloud Data Startup.Highlights:The evolution of David’s companies from the very beginning of his entrepreneurial journey. (00:30)David compares running a synthesizer company to a cloud storage company. (5:42)How careful hiring allows David to focus on his strengths. (10:18)David shares why price and simplicity are the two most important ingredients in selling. (13:50)The influence of data storage and AI and how it has changed the mindset of customers over time. (16:59)David's philosophy on running a business and the joys of conducting the orchestra of his company. (20:46)Advice for first-time founders. (22:18)David’s philosophy on raising money as an entrepreneur. (24:47)Links:DavidLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-friend-3660832/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/wasabi_daveWasabi Technologies Inc.Website: https://wasabi.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/wasabi_cloud

This week, Swaroop Jagadish, co-founder of Acryl Data, takes us through his journey from quitting his day job as an engineer to founding his first startup company alongside Shirshanka Das. Swaroop also shares his insights on Acryl Data’s business model and the advantages and challenges of building an open source project-based company. Tune in for more on Swaroop and Acryl Data in this episode of Cloud Native Startup.HighlightsHow Swaroop created Acryl Data and the story behind the name. (00:42)Lessons Swaroop learned on his journey towards becoming a startup founder. (6:52)Swaroop reflects on the challenges of building an open source project-based company. (10:31)How Acryl Data’s core ethos aligns with LinkedIn (12:49)The unique advantages of Acryl Data’s business model. (14:03)The scariest part of the startup journey. (16:27)Swaroop’s thoughts on approaching the modern data ecosystem. (17:32)Acryl Data’s use-cases. (20:12)Swaroop’s insights on building an open-source company and generally, as a first-time founder (27:32)Links:Swaroop:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/swaroopjagadishAcryl DataWebsite: https://www.acryldata.io/Twitter: https://twitter.com/acryldataData Hub Project Website: https://datahubproject.io/Data Hub Slack Community: https://datahubspace.slack.com

Dhiraj Sharan, CEO and founder of Query.AI, joins me this week on Cloud Native Startup. With a career that spans over 20 years in cybersecurity, Dhiraj has seen the swift adoption of multi-cloud environments and SaaS apps. In this episode, Dhiraj discusses the importance of evolving your product as the world changes and why you should ask yourself, “How can I be innovative for the next layer?” Dhiraj also gives his younger self advice on the cybersecurity game of chess and much more. HighlightsWhat led Dhiraj to pursue Query.AI? (0:23)Dhiraj shares ideas that he ultimately didn’t pursue (3:52)The importance of evolving and the layers of innovation. (5:30)The difference between being a founder and being an early employee. (8:52)Advice Dhiraj would give himself if he could go back 20 years. (10:19)Dhiraj’s advice on building a company. (11:52)Security team budgets and creating an ROI calculator. (13:11)Query.AI’s “unique” struggle. (18:47)CSO’s general response to Query.AI. (20:03)Dhiraj reflects on lessons learned and the importance of understanding your customer. (21:48)Dhiraj on the entrepreneur in everyone. (23:32)Links:Dhiraj: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dhirajsharanTwitter: https://twitter.com/dhirajsharanQuery.AI:Website: https://query.aiTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/query_ai

Anurag Goel, Founder and CEO of Render, joins me on this episode of Cloud Native Startup. Learn about his beginnings at Stripe as employee #8, the birth of Render and how it solved a gap in the market, and his lessons learned while transitioning roles. We also discuss how open source fits into business strategy and much more.In this episode, we cover:Anurag and how he founded Render (00:27) Lessons learned while transitioning professional focus from engineering at Stripe to strategic business (05:42)Anurag’s advice for people who want to transition into larger business roles (11:11)The evolution of Render and its market and use case (13:57)The important role of open source in the developer tool ecosystem (19:46)Why Anurag chose to make Render open source (22:11)Strategies for making open source part of your platform (22:51)How open source fits into business strategy (23:55)Links:Anurag: www.twitter.com/anuraggoelRenderWebsite: https://render.com/Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/render

This week on Cloud Native Startup, I talked with Wei Dang, founder of cloud native security company StackRox which was acquired by RedHat in 2020. Highlights: How Wei met his co-founder and how the two of them saw the need for new types of security tools. Why talking to people throughout the Kubernetes ecosystem led to a series of a realizations that security in a cloud native world was going to me an increasingly important part of the conversations as more people adopted Kubernetes. Where the name StackRox came from. How even understanding if there was a market for a container security product. The moments wondering ‘are we building the right product’ was the scary. Why it’s important to focus at the beginning. How StackRox evolved from container security to Kubernetes security as the broader conversation shifted and the industry consolidated around Kubernetes. The moment Wei felt like there was product-market fit for StackRox. How Wei would define Kubernetes Security. The ways in which starting and growing a company forced Wei to learn new skills and gain knowledge. Why community is so important for companies in the Kubernetes ecosystem. How things have changed — and how they haven’t — since becoming part of Red Hat. Linkshttps://twitter.com/weiliendanghttps://www.linkedin.com/in/weiliendang/

The Business of Cloud Native is now Cloud Native Startup. Going forward, I'm moving away from talking to end users and focusing instead on what it takes to build a startup in the cloud native ecosystem. I'll be talking with startup founders, startup advisors and others in the ecosystem about making the transition from software engineer to startup founder, the stories behind companies we read about in the tech press and how to increase your odds of success in the cloud native startup world.

This week on The Business of Cloud Native, I spoke with Abby Kearns, CTO at Puppet, about the changing role of technology in the enterprise and how that changes things for software companies like Puppet. HighlightsWhatever the exact definition of cloud native, ultimately it is a way to improve scaling and resilience. The increasing importance of software for enterprises, because customers simply expect to use software to connect with companies of all sizes. Why cloud native is tied to digital transformation — because you can’t do one without the other. Picking tech and deploying it — that’s the easy part. But the people part is hard. Changing organizational structures is hard, but the companies that are succeeding in the new digital environment have to do the hard work. Why enterprises that are successfully using software to build a better relationship with your customers have top company leadership, from the CEO on down, investing in the transformation and incorporating technology into the company’s vision. How the changing role of technology in the enterprise has changed things for technology companies like Puppet. How technology decisions have now become board-level decisions, rather than decisions that made in a basement among technologists. How the changing landscape has forced Puppet to change its go to market strategy, positioning and messaging. The speed of change in the technology space seems to be accelerating and can lead to a lot of uncertainty. Why open source can be extremely rewarding, but requires companies to give up a huge amount of control that can be unnerving for enterprises. What is the role of a CTO at a technology company — is it tactical? Is it visionary? LinksAbby Kearns on LinkedInAbby Kearns on TwitterPuppet

This week on the Business of Cloud Native, I talked with Kelsey Hightower, principle engineer at Google and Kubernetes expert. We talked about how technology like Kubernetes helps engineers focus more on solving business problems instead of constantly solving the same low-level problems. Highlights: How the evolution of technology — and the evolution of customers’ expectation — have made cloud native practices table stakes. The more established a company is, the more layers it likely has in its technology stacks. Unless a company is under 10 years old, it probably isn’t 100% cloud native because it’s rarely practical to throw away everything they’ve been doing in the past.Why it’s so challenging for companies to “disrupt themselves” by adopting cloud native technology unless they have serious motivation. How successful cloud native journeys involve both grand strategic visions and boring tactical plans that can actually be implemented. Why companies need to take into account the entire ‘infrastructure’ needed to adopt cloud native. How do you collect the data you need to reach your goals? Do you have the human resources, both technical and non-technical, to achieve their goals? How cloud native transitions can quickly become an ‘onion’ problem where there is always another layer that companies need to solve. How to convince practitioners who are trying to build customer tools internally that they should use Kubernetes or other open source projects. The myth of ‘tech displacing people.’ Usually evolution of technology leads to more jobs for software engineers, not less. How Kubernetes helps engineers focus on the business — and that is a good thing. The difference between 20 years of experience and 20 years worth of 1-year experience. Why Kubernetes is a platform for building other platforms. Why Kubernetes and cloud native are not a magic bullet that will completely transform your business. Links: Kelsey Hightower on Twitter

This week on The Business of Cloud Native, I spoke with Mark Thiele of Edgevana about the definition of cloud and cloud native, where the line is between cloud and edge and situations where edge is the best option. Highlights: A discussion of situations where edge is the most appropriate option and how edge can help solve problems related to latency, data transfer costs, data sovereignty and network access. Why the right architecture depends on your business needs — there is no one size fits all way to design an edge solution. The relationship between data centers, public clouds and edge devices, including how co-location facilities fit into the equation. How IT is shifting from being a cost center in the business to being a profit center, and how this re-framing of IT is the root of fundamental change. What types of companies can successfully manage a data center and what types of companies should accept that they don’t have the skills and just go to the public cloud. Why success in the digital transformation is really a question of prioritization. Do you enjoy the podcast? Help others find it by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts and sharing on social media. LinksEdgevanaMark on LinkedInMark on Twitter

This week on The Business of Cloud Native, I spoke with Jana Boruta, Director of Global Events at HashiCorp, about building community — for startups, for big companies and for open source projects with no budget. We also touched on digital-first events and how they differ from in person events. Highlights:What is community and why does it matter for companies building commercial tools for developers. Why community building is for everyone — from Nike to volunteer organizations to enterprise software. Is it ever too early for community building? How to determine if you’re building community for the right reasons. Why community building is a long game — not something that will show immediate ROI after a single event. Community building starts with creating a community blueprint. While some tactics are common, but every company’s community is going to be different and has to be authentic to the company. Why product feedback can be an important first step for building a community. Why starting with community building too early, when the product is too buggy, can be counter productive. Why you should avoid thinking of your community as a demand gen program. How create digital events that provide value for the attendees, even if they deliver it in a very different way than an in-person event. Links:Jana’s websiteJana on LinkedInHashiConfEpicConfDigital-First Events, Jana’s book about digital events

This week on The Business of Cloud Native, I spoke with James Campbell, CEO of Cado Security, about his background in the security world and why he felt like there needed to be a better way to manage security forensics in a cloud native environment. Highlights: Why it’s important to get better information about security incidents — or potential security incidents — to make better decisions. Why security has to be relatively easy because otherwise people will ignore it — at their peril. How cloud native features like auto-scaling are great for compute but make security, especially security forensics, more complex. Without enough data collected in real time, companies can end up unable to know whether or not an anomaly actually caused data loss, which data was impacted and what the root cause of incident was. How some of the most sophisticated attackers operate and how they can cause havoc even if the impacted container has spun down. The triggers that led Campbell and his co-founder to start Cado Security. Why having better information is critical to responding effectively to breaches, large and small. Links: James Campbell on LinkedInJames Campbell on TwitterCado Security

What is edge? What is cloud? What is the difference and what are the different requirements for each use case? I talked to Samy Fodil, CEO and founder of Taubyte, about edge computing, industrial IoT and how the edge requires a dramatically different approach from the cloud. Highlights:Why edge is a truly distributed system, unlike the cloud. What inspired Fodil to start Taubyte and why he thinks the edge will be the default computing platform in the years to come.What overlap there is in skill sets between on-prem development, cloud development and developing edge-native applications.Why edge-to-edge communications can be so hard for developers to understand. What barriers prevent companies from taking advantage of the edge and why it’s worth it for those businesses in spite of the complexity. Links:Samy Fodil on LinkedInTaubyte

This week on The Business of Cloud Native I spoke with Travis Nielsen and Sebastien Han about how Rook has evolved over the years, beginning as a way to build a cloud native storage platform but before anyone was talking about cloud native or Kubernetes. Links: Travis on LinkedInSebastien on LinkedInThe Rook project page

This week on The Business of Cloud Native, I talked with former Gartner Analyst, current VP of Solutions at Securonix Augusto Barros. We talked about how Securonix’s positioning has evolved over the years as it has move between market categories as well as how to evaluate and test cloud native security solutions. Links:Augusto on TwitterAugusto on LinkedInSecuronix

In this episode with Evan Reiser, CEO of Abnormal Security, we explored how positioning and an understanding of who your ideal customers are and what their needs are can influence technology choices, including which cloud provider you build on. HighlightsHow a seemingly pure technology choice like cloud provider can have serious implications for customer experience. The difference between having a board-level discussion about cloud providers is different from gathering the engineering team to talk about cloud infrastructure Why being integrated in the Microsoft ecosystem was a strategic business decision and how technology decisions in general can be high-level business decisionsWhy technology teams should think more about what the customers need and want instead of just choosing the best tool from a technical perspectiveEvan’s hesitations about making the transition to Azure and why they did it anywayWhy they chose to re-architect at the time they didEven though the move to Azure was made to improve customer experience, customers don’t necessarily have a different experience since the moveWhy founders should keep in mind that startups rarely fail because their technology doesn’t work, but because they don’t meet the needs of their customersLinks: Evan on LinkedInAbnormal Security

This week on The Business of Cloud Native I talked with Yong Tang, one of the maintainers of CoreDNS, about how the project started, how it’s evolved over the years and how the team decided to integrate it with Kubernetes. Links: CoreDNSYong Tang on LinkedIn

This week on The Business of Cloud Native, I talked with Brian Gracely about using Kubernetes for edge workloads as well as the difference between “cloud” and “edge.” HighlightsIs edge part of the cloud, is cloud a part of edge or are they completely separate but slightly related environments? What makes something a data center vs what makes something an edge device? How enterprises think of edge vs how Telcos think about edge. How the edge has gone from being a cost center to a competitive advantage for enterprises.Why Telcos have always thought of edge as a market opportunity. Why Kubernetes can help standardize environments and make it easier to deploy software to the edge, but there are still challenges to overcome. Why edge deployments require re-thinking many basic environmental factors like bandwidth and compute capacity. Why consistency at the edge is so important. Why you can’t ignore the physical conditions that make edge environments unique. LinksBrian on TwitterThe CloudcastRedHat OpenShift

In today’s episode of The Business of Cloud Native, I talked with Julien Pivotto and Richard Hartmann, two of the maintainers of Prometheus, about how the project started, how it’s evolved over the years (and how it’s stayed the same) as well as some novel ways Prometheus is used in the real world. HighlightsWhy both Julien and Richard got started with PrometheusSome surprising ways that Prometheus is used to monitor things beyond the software engineering worldHow Prometheus has evolved in technology and usage over the yearsHow Kubernetes and its relationship with Prometheus has changed the projectWhat assumptions ‘cloud native’ creates for potential Prometheus usersLinksJulien on TwitterRichard on Twitter

In this episode of The Business of Cloud Native, Chris Holmes talks about bootstrapping Decipher Technology Studies and their core product, intelligent service mesh Greymatter.io. He also talks about why it's so important for brownfield and greenfield apps to talk to one another and the many similarities between public sector and private sector organizations. Highlights: How Greymatter combines business intelligence and security controls.The difference between working with public sector customers and private sector / enterprise customers — and why there are more similarities than differences. How segmentation is sometimes necessary for any highly security-conscious organization, including both government organizations and financial services companies in the private sector. Why we need to respect legacy applications — because they tend to be the mission-critical applications that drive revenue. Why connecting brownfield and greenfield applications is critical, because not all ‘legacy’ apps will ever be moved to the cloud.What ‘returns’ a company is looking for when evaluating ROI on cloud migrations. What we mean when we talk about an “ROI” on security tools. Why Kubernetes’ terrible networking is part of why Chris could see that service meshes would be necessary even back in 2015. Links:Chris on LinkedIngreymatter.io

This week on The Business of Cloud Native I spoke with Chris Psaltis, CEO and co-founder of mist.io. We spoke about why multicloud is necessary (and scenarios where multicloud is not necessary), where multicloud is headed in the future and the journey Chris and his co-founders have been on with Mist. HighlightsThe difference between using multicloud for legal / regulatory reasons or because of the company’s history and using multicloud strategically to improve developer velocity or improve customer experience. The complexity involved with pursuing multicloud and why many organizations are better off in just one cloud. Why being cloud agnostic from day one is not a good strategy in the vast majority of cases. Why no one seems to be able to correctly estimate how difficult it is to build a multicloud platform. Why ‘silos’ are the competitive alternative to a unified platform for companies How Mist went from working primarily with smaller teams before figuring out that they provided more value for large teams because the pain from multicloud management increases exponentially as the number of engineers, applications and environments increases. When the founding team decided to stop being consultants and start an open source technology startup. LinksMistChris on LinkedInChris on Twitter

This week on The Business of Cloud Native, I talked to Tzury Bar Yochay, founder and CTO of Reblaze, about building a cloud native security company before twelve thousand people were going to KubeCon. Highlights:Why your security measures have to keep up with hackers’ sophistication.The moment when Tzury decided to go from being a contractor for the defense industry to founding a company.Why the default path for startups is failure. Why open source is key to securing your cloud environment.How selling a security product to developers has evolved over time. Why lazy developers are good developers. Why selling software to developers is different from selling software to other types of professionals. Why he thinks the most brilliant developers tend to gravitate towards open source. Why security based on obscurity is a terrible, perhaps even evil, strategy. Links:ReblazeTzury on LinkedIn@tzury on TwitterTzury on GitHubCuriefense

This week, I talked with Karthik Ranganathan about the challenges going from employee of a large company to startup frounder and why he founded Yugabyte because he wanted a database that both was transactional and still could be highly available.Highlights: Why the ability to scale is important for any cloud native application, including for a cloud native database.Why Yugabyte is still open source and why being open source is important to the company. Why enterprises wanted an open source database to house their mission-critical data. Why the company went from an open core model to open source / managed service model. Why end customers care about open source. Why early-stage, small companies have trouble establishing trust and how being open source helps build trust. Why building around open source helps nudge customers to ‘buy’ instead of built it themselves. Why finding the right position and the right message is a major challenge at the beginning of the company. Links: Karthik on LinkedInKarthik on Twitter YugabyteYugabyte Slack

This week, I talked to Natalie Ledbetter, Head of People and Platform at Boldstart Ventures. We talked about how startups can approach team and culture building, including:How to prioritize your hiresCommon mistakes founders make when building a teamWhy you should always avoid brilliant jerks, even if they are very brilliantHow to divide responsibilities between foundersAnticipating growth and setting your team up so that it can scale as easily as possibleThe difference in skills sets between 'startup people' and employees you would want to hire later onLinks: Natalie on LinkedInNatalie on TwitterBoldstart Ventures

In this episode of The Business of Cloud Native, we talk about the hard business goals behind words like "freedom" as well as what it's like to go from engineer to CEO. My guest, Sirish Raghuram, is the CEO and co-founder of Platform9.Links: https://platform9.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/sirishraghuram/

In this episode of The Business of Cloud Native, Shawn Lankton talks about how Microsoft 365 and related applications fit into an organization's move to the cloud and why organizations need to pay attention to security for all their SaaS applications. Links: https://www.coreview.comShawn on Twitter

Thomas Markey talks about how to remove some of the barriers to running an open source project with free hosting services. Links: https://fosshost.orgThomas on LinkedInFOSSHOST on TwitterDiscord

Ranjan Parthasarathy talks about why separating compute and storage makes it easier to operate at hyper scale and why he decided to found Logiq.ai to make it easier for companies to do so. Links: LinkedInLogiq.ai

Have you thought about how your OSS license could impact your ability to grow your community and monetize your OSS in the future? Attorney McCoy Smith talks about what to be aware of at the beginning to avoid messy legal issues down the road. Links: McCoy on LinkedIn Lex Pan LawOpsequ.io

As an analyst at CCS insight, Bola Rotibi gets a birds-eye view of trends in how industries use software to advance their business goals. We had an incredible conversation about how companies use cloud native technology to meet business goals and how vendors in the cloud native space should pay more attention to the needs of specific industries. Links: https://www.ccsinsight.com/blog/author/bolarotibi/https://www.linkedin.com/in/bolarotibi/https://twitter.com/bolarotibi

SaaS companies that handle customers' sensitive data need to worry about how they manage data locality. In this podcast, Canopy CTO and founder talks about how their business would not be possible without the flexibility and ability to easily spin up resources in regions across the world that a cloud native architecture offers. Links: https://www.canopyco.iohttps://www.linkedin.com/in/oransears

Here's what I covered in this episode: What positioning and market segmentation is and is notThe specific positioning challenges facing companies in the cloud native ecosystemWhy it's important to identify and talk about the types of application your product benefits the mostThanks for listening, and happy new year!

Jim Bugwadia, CEO and co-founder of Nirmata, talks about what has changed (and what has stayed the same) since the company started in 2013. Links:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimbugwadia/https://nirmata.comhttps://kyverno.io

In episode 29 of The Business of Cloud Native, I talked to Krishnan Subramanian of Rishidot Research about trends he sees in how end users use cloud native technologies and how startups in the space can meet end users where they are. Links: https://rishidot.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/krishnansubramanian/https://twitter.com/krishnan