How GitLab CEO Sid Sijbrandij built a $1 billion business by taking an idea from another programmer, then hiring the guy

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Sid Sijbrandij had a big idea for GitLab, a company now valued at $1 billion. The only thing is: The idea wasn't originally his.

But back when Zaporozhets was creating GitLab, Sijbrandij was a full-time software developer in the Netherlands, his home country. He loved the idea behind GitLab: a tool to track the development of open source software that was, itself, open source, so its users could add features and plug security holes, sharing them with the world.

That's how he discovered that the Fortune 500 and other giant companies were willing to pay to get additional features in GitLab, he said. Sijbrandij had to vouch that while Zaporozhets was, indeed, someone he met online, the money was going to a person he really"knew," he laughs. Although Sijbrandij now lives in San Francisco, GitLab's headquarters, the company still has an entirely remote workforce. Its 500-plus employees work in more than 50 countries withIn addition to Zaporozhets, Sijbrandij also hired another employee. Still, GitLab wasn't making enough money to support the trio, meaning that Sijbrandij couldn't afford to quit his job and work full-time at his own company. He ended pouring his life savings into GitLab.

"I gave a company with more than 100,000 people of potential users a year-long subscription for $1,500, and we spent two engineering years to make all the features they wanted," he laughs now.

 

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Zaporozhets' home soon to become an iconic landmark in the IT industry haha only comparable to the Hewlett-Packard garage :-) By the way, lovely product and insightful story... congratulations! You all have to be glad.

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