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MongoDB founder and former CEO Dwight Merriman led the company through a pivot from a platform-as-a-service to a focused database product they’d originally built for internal purposes, setting the stage for its eventual success as an open source developer data platform. CEO and President Dev Ittycheria took the reins in 2014 and led the company from $40M revenue to almost $2B. Their journey offers many lessons for entrepreneurs: 🔹 Be willing to radically change course early. Just a year into building their original platform-as-a-service vision, MongoDB’s founders realized the scope was too broad—and Google App Engine came out, threatening to steamroll over their initial idea. Despite positive user feedback, they made the difficult decision to scrap most of their code and pivot to focus solely on the database component. Having the courage to dramatically change direction—even when things seem to be going well—can be critical to long-term success. 🔹 Technical founders are not always well-suited to hyper-scaling operations. Dwight Merriman built a product that developers loved, but the organization he led was somewhat dysfunctional and the company was badly missing plan. The decision to bring in Dev Ittycheria unlocked the operational excellence MongoDB needed to become an exceptional company. 🔹 Proactively address existential threats. MongoDB recognized an increasingly cloud-based world posed an existential threat to their business model, which was based on downloadable software. Rather than wait for this to play out, they proactively developed Atlas, their own cloud database service. Anticipating and addressing potential disruptions to your business model is crucial. 🔹 Make bold moves to protect your business. When MongoDB feared the cloud hyperscalers would “strip mine” their open-source product, they made the controversial decision to change their licensing model to SSPL. Despite some backlash from open-source purists, this move protected their ability to build a sustainable business around their technology. Sometimes protecting your company’s future requires making unpopular decisions. 🔹 Build for developer love, but don’t neglect business fundamentals. MongoDB’s success was built on creating a database developers loved to use. However, translating that popularity into a sustainable business required developing strong go-to-market capabilities and transitioning to a cloud service model. Technical excellence alone is rarely enough—you need to pair it with solid business execution. 🔹 Be willing to radically expand your vision over time. While MongoDB started by narrowing its focus from a platform to a database, its success has allowed it to expand back towards its original platform vision. As you achieve success in one focused area, seize opportunities to expand your product’s scope to capture more customer value over time.

Hear the story of MongoDB on a new episode of Crucible Moments. YouTube: https://seq.vc/na6 Apple: https://seq.vc/yla Spotify: https://seq.vc/0n4

How do you scrap your business plan, the majority of your code, and pivot to a smaller scope after your product is already in the market? Dwight Merriman and the 10gen team did just that, abruptly dropping their platform-as-a-service idea to focus on a database product, MongoDB. Hear the whole story on a new episode of Crucible Moments featuring Dwight, Dev Ittycheria, and Tom Killalea. 🔊 👇 https://seq.vc/0n4

A year after founding MongoDB – then called 10gen – and opening in beta, Google App Engine released and steamrolled over the founders’ initial idea. They scrapped their business plan, most of their code, and pivoted to a smaller scope: a novel database they’d developed internally. Tomorrow on Crucible Moments, hear the surprising story of MongoDB and its journey to global scale.

Being a pioneer isn't easy. With leading global customers like UBS, Deutsche Bank, and General Electric, ServiceNow had to create a reliable cloud network at a time when cloud infrastructure didn't really exist. Figuring out how to do that was one of Fred Luddy and Frank Slootman's biggest challenges, and ultimately, biggest successes.