What they do. “GitLab is The DevOps Platform, a single application that brings together development, operations, IT, security, and business teams to deliver desired business outcomes. Having all teams on a single application with a single interface represents a step change in how organizations plan, build, secure, and deliver software.”
Shoutout to YC. “We incorporated GitLab in 2014 and applied to Y Combinator, a technology accelerator in Silicon Valley. In 2015, we participated in their program, and this greatly accelerated our business.”
Enterprise is the focus. “As a result, our Base Customers increased from 1,662 as of January 31, 2020 to 2,745 as of January 31, 2021, an increase of 65%, our $100,000 ARR customers increased from 173 as of January 31, 2020 to 283 as of January 31, 2021, an increase of 64%, and our $1.0 million ARR customers increased from 11 as of January 31, 2020 to 20 as of January 31, 2021, an increase of 82%.”
Freemium and easy to understand pricing. “We have a simple and easy to understand open core business model. We offer a free tier that includes a large number of our features to encourage initial use of The DevOps Platform, solicit wider community contributions, and create lead generation. We offer two paid subscription tiers, Premium and Ultimate, which are based on features available and priced on a per user basis. Our Premium tier includes features relevant for managers and directors, while our Ultimate tier includes additional features relevant for executives. Each of our plans provide feature access across every stage of the DevOps lifecycle, making it easier for customers to adopt additional stages on The DevOps Platform and add more users.”
Land-and-expand sales model. “Our customer journey typically begins with developers and then expands into senior executive buyers. We believe serving as this system of record for code and our high engagement with developers is a competitive advantage in realizing our single application vision as it creates interdependence and adoption across more stages of the DevOps lifecycle, such as Package, Secure, and Release. The strength of our land-and-expand strategy is evidenced by our Dollar-Based Net Retention Rate. For fiscal 2020 and 2021, our Dollar-Based Net Retention Rate was 179% and 148%, respectively. As of July 31, 2020 and 2021, our Dollar-Based Net Retention Rate was 153% and 152%, respectively. We believe that this expansion will provide us with substantial operating leverage because the costs to expand sales within existing customers are significantly less than the costs to acquire new customers.”
Which reduces risk. “By reducing the scope of deliverables, we are able to complete them earlier and get faster feedback. Faster feedback gives us valuable information that guides what we do next. We measure and set targets for how many changes are expected from each engineering team. This encourages teams to reduce the scope of what they build and ship changes in smaller increments. We know that smaller changes are easier to review and less risky. The end result is that we are able to get more done as the higher frequency of changes more than compensates for the smaller size of them. We release features and categories even when they are minimally viable. We do not wait for perfection when we can offer something of value, get feedback, and allow others to contribute to features by refining and expanding upon them”
Question decisions. “Kamil’s advocacy inspired GitLab’s “disagree, commit, and disagree’’ sub-value. We allow GitLab team members to question decisions even after they are made. However, team members are required to achieve results on every decision while it stands, even while they are trying to have it changed.”
Results, not hours worked. “We care about what is achieved, not the hours worked. Since you get what you measure and reward, we do not encourage long hours and instead focus on results. For example, to discourage team members from focusing on hours worked, team members are discouraged from publicly thanking others for working long hours or late nights. This is intended to prevent pressure to work longer hours or highlighting longer hours as something that is rewarded.”
Mistakes are ok. “Decisions should be thoughtful, but delivering fast results requires the fearless acceptance of occasionally making mistakes. Our bias for action may result in the occasional mistake, but it also allows us to course correct quickly. We keep the stakes low for mistakes for the sake of transparency. When people are comfortable communicating missteps, risk aversion and secrecy don’t become the norm.”
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