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20VC: Gitlab Founder, Sid Sijbrandji on Lessons From Scaling from 400 to 1,000 People in 1 Year, Why You Have To Have A Low Level Of Shame On The Product You Release & The Secret To Making Remote Work So Effectively At Scale

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Jul 19, 2019

Sid Sijbrandij, Founder and CEO of GitLab, shares insights on scaling from 400 to 1,000 employees in just a year. He discusses the challenges of rapid growth and his approach to hiring and onboarding. Sid emphasizes the importance of transparency and trust in a fully remote workforce, exploring how to balance fast shipping with product quality. He provocatively states that a 'low level of shame' is crucial for releasing products. Tune in for an engaging conversation on effective remote work and GitLab's unique culture!

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ANECDOTE

GitLab's Origin Story

Sid Sijbrandij discovered GitLab, an open-source developer collaboration tool, in 2012.
He initiated GitLab.com, focusing on SaaS, and later hired the original creator, Dimitri, after a unique Western Union transaction.

INSIGHT

Keys to Remote Work

Asynchronous communication and iteration are crucial for remote teams working across time zones.
Transparency is key, and GitLab achieves this with a comprehensive 3,000-page handbook.

ADVICE

Reduce Failure, Prioritize Results

Reduce failure by taking smaller steps and iterating quickly.
At GitLab, results are prioritized over hours worked.

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Sid Sijbrandij is the Founder & CEO @ Gitlab, a single application for the entire software development lifecycle. From project planning and source code management to CI/CD, monitoring, and security. To date, Sid has raised over $145m in funding for Gitlab from the likes of GV, August Capital, YC, Khosla and Goldman Sachs just to name a few. What is incredible, Sid has scaled the team to over 762 team members across 55 countries and is famed for his openness and transparency on how he builds both the product and company. You can find the fantastic Gitlab handbook here.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Sid made his way into the world of startups, learned Ruby in the early days and came to found Gitlab? What was that a-ha moment?

2.) In 2019 Gitlab is growing from 400 to 1,000 people, what are the biggest challenges that come with such operational growth? How does one hire at such pace and retain quality? How does Sid think about the right way to onboard new employees? How does Sid think about KPI and goal setting in the early days?

3.) Today all 750 Gitlab employees are remote, what does Sid believe is the secret to making remote teams work at scale? How does Sid think about the balance between fast shipping cadence and perfect product releases? Why does Sid believe, "you have to have a low level of shame on the product you release"?

4.) How does Sid think about operating Gitlab as a totally transparent company? What does that mean both in reality and in process? Why does Sid believe it is optimal to have a roadmap that is open for everyone to see? What are the pros? What are the cons of such transparency? How do competitors respond?

5.) If every great business is bundling or unbundling, where does Sid believe he and Sid are in the process today? How does Sid think about being too much to too many people? How does the open-source community really come into play in the development of Gitlab?

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Sid’s Fave Book: High Output Management

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