Dr. Steve HerrodSeptember 1, 2015

A VC’S VIEW OF DEVOPS STARTUPS

DevOps @ VMworld

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ABOUT MEMANAGING DIRECTOR, GENERAL CATALYSTFORMER CTO + SVP OF R&D AT VMWAREBAD DRUMMER

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What is the goal of any software effort?

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Deliver new, working capabilities to customers as quickly as possible

Anything that slows this down is a problem

WHAT IS THE GOAL OF ANY SOFTWARE EFFORT?

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CHALLENGES: DEVELOPMENT

Enable creation and modification of compelling apps

SLOWNESS FACTORS:

› Communication gaps › Fragile interfaces› Changing requirements over time› Broken builds› Gaps in production-time testing

Requirements

Design  &  Architecture

Development   &  Coding

Quality   Assurance  &  SW  Testing

Implementation

Maintenance   &  Support

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CHALLENGES: OPERATIONS

Ensure  deployed   apps  have  security,   reliability,   scalability,   availability,  and  auditability

SLOWNESS FACTORS:

› Humans› Deploying to different environments› Inserting agents and probes› Iteration with developers – “It works for me!”

New  code  installationDifferent  hardware

Insert  full  security,  monitoring,  DR  

First  time  w/real  DBAdd  agents

Run  real  performance  and  scalability  tests

ProductionTraining  &  Education

User  Acceptance  Testing

IntegrationTesting

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CHANGES: TECHNOLOGY & APPROACHES

DEVELOPMENT› Agile Design process› Micro-services (“Code small. Code local!”)› Open source replaces standards process for interop

CONTINUOUS DEPLOYMENT

› Modern code repositories› Automated (and fast) build + test› Lower risk with hidden features and controlled rollout

HOMOGENIZE & AUTOMATE ENVIRONMENTS

› Virtualization and Containers› Modern Configuration Management

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CHANGES: ORGANIZATIONAL POWER

OPS-CENTRIC ERA

› We’re accountable. Devs don’t get this stuff so we’ll dictate.

DEV-DRIVEN ERA

› Stop slowing me down. Or I’ll leave.

DEVOPS ERA

› Both sides happy?

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CHANGES: BIGGER COMPANIES CARE

ON THE MIND OF THE MAINSTREAM COMPANIES

› 94% of BU execs facing pressure to release apps more quickly1

› 66% of orgs “actively developing” DevOps strategies2

› 26% year-over-year increase in DevOps adoption rate3

[1] CA 2015 DevOps Survey[2] ZDnet 9/17/2013[3] Puppet Labs 2014 survey

Early  experiences  are  reinforcing  this  priority

“While the promise of DevOps is often seen as greater efficiency and faster time to market, surveyed businesses that are already using it cite increased customer satisfaction, greater application uptime and lower costs among their primary motivations.”

Chris Jackson, Rackspace

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CHANGES: INVESTOR MENTALITY

CW: DEV TOOLS ARE POOR INVESTMENTS

› No budget› Fickle and fad-oriented› Always look for open source and free› Very few great investment returns

CW: OPS TOOLS ARE GOOD INVESTMENTS

› Budget to keep the lights on› Sticky due to training and processes› Great historic investments: VMW, PAN, SPLK, SWI, …

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CHANGES: INVESTOR MENTALITY

TODAY: A GREAT TIME FOR DEVOPS INVESTMENTS

› Combines budget from ops and app-owning BU’s› Sticky once deployed› Mature, accepted Open Source business models› Available metrics (github stars, Hacker News, Stack Overflow, …)› Several recent examples (aka “positive signaling”)

› DevOps @ VMworld presenters!› GitHub: 10m developers, $2b valuation› New Relic: $110m in 2015 revenue› AppDynamics: $150m bookings last year› Docker: $1b valuation

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RECIPE FOR SUCCESS?

TRAITS I LOOK FOR

› Founders that have lived the pain!› Devs love you. Ops needs you.› Embrace multiple homogenized software environments› Any agents or special code on at all times› Leverage the cloud, but consider on-prem› Open Source-friendly business model from the get-go

› Complementary commercial software› Deployed as a service› Support and subscriptions

› Extra excited about DevOps security

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DEVOPS AND SECURITY

• VM ½ life 1/10th that of physical. • Container ½ life 1/10th that of VMs! • Security imperatives:

– Move at the speed of everything else– Must be abstracted from any infrastructure– The most cross-group of issues

• How do we get security incorporated early in the lifecycle?

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THANK YOU