This is my story of founding Octopus Deploy, from the DDD Melbourne locknote in 2015.
In 2011, while stuck in a meeting, I started hacking on an idea. The idea became a prototype, and then a product. It is now used by thousands of customers around the world, and employs 8 people.
In this presentation, I'll take you through the short history of Octopus Deploy, and where we are going. I'll also share some of the lessons we've learnt, and mistakes we've made, along our journey building software that is installed on-premises by thousands of customers in different environments. I'll discuss how building software as an ISV is fundamentally different to Enterprise software, and tools and approaches that you might use if you decide to start your own product company.
Paul Stovell is the founder of Octopus Deploy, an automated deployment tool for .NET developers. Paul started Octopus in 2011 as an attempt to help himself and other developers to more reliably and easily deploy software to production. Since then, Octopus has grown up and now helps over 2000 customers around the world to automate their deployments. Prior to Octopus, Paul worked for an investment bank in London, and in Australia for Readify, a .NET consulting firm. Paul was a Microsoft MVP from 2006 to 2014, although lately he's seen the light.
3. - You, just now
“But Paul, what is Octopus Deploy?”
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12. Paul Damian)M Dalmiro
(Argentina)
Sonia Henrik Vanessa
Shane
Damian)B
Michael)R
Michael)N
Robert Ian)Mercer
(Seattle)
Rob)Pearson
Engineering culture
No marketing
No sales
45. Lessons
1. Build a mailing list
2. Don’t fear competition
3. Obsolete yourself before someone else does
4. Good things take time
5. Work sustainably
6. Have a strong sounding board
