Heptio
Heptio, founded by former Google product manager Craig McLuckie, aims to make Kubernetes accessible to enterprises through support, training, professional services, and future licensed enterprise extensions. At the time of the interview the company was pre-product-revenue with only a handful of customers, but it had raised $8.5 million from Axel and Madrona. McLuckie said that at least two-thirds of the Fortune 2000 were using Kubernetes in a material way, mostly through grassroots adoption.
Heptio was built to make Kubernetes accessible to enterprises and developers who are not deep systems engineers, through documentation, training, higher-level concepts, and enterprise features that connect Kubernetes to existing business systems. McLuckie saw strong demand from large banks, manufacturers, healthcare organizations, and retailers for an open, community-friendly version of Kubernetes.
- •Founders with credible prior success at Google, including Kubernetes and Google Compute Engine, made investors willing to fund a pre-revenue company.
- •Grassroots open-source adoption across the Fortune 2000 signals real demand that a commercial company can monetize.
- •Positioning around the gap between open-source Kubernetes and the needs of non-expert developers gives Heptio a clear role in the ecosystem.
- •Starting with support and professional services lets the company earn early revenue while learning which enterprise gaps to productize.
- 1.Identify an open-source technology with organic adoption and map the specific segments (banks, manufacturers, healthcare, retailers) asking for support.
- 2.Start with paid support, training, and consulting engagements to learn where customers struggle before building product.
- 3.Use those engagements to identify recurring gaps and then build licensed enterprise extensions around them.
- 4.Leverage your professional background and network to raise capital before revenue is proven when demand signals are strong.
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