Nearly a decade after founding the open-core software company GitLab, Chief Executive Officer Sytse “Sid” Sijbrandij has successfully led his idiosyncratic enterprise onto the NYSE, making himself a billionaire in the process. Founded in 2012, GitLab provides a namesake DevOps platform that combines the ability to develop, secure, and operate software in a single application, but the company has been a tech trendsetter in other ways as well. While remote and hybrid work has seen a huge increase due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sijbrandij has been preparing for the work-from-home phenomenon for years. Now, his gamble on open-source software and the future of remote work has paid off to the tune of more than $2.5 billion.
The 42-year-old Dutch national joined two Ukrainian developers to launch GitLab almost 10 years ago and now, thanks to its IPO, the company boasts a market cap of over $17 billion. Developers love the comprehensive platform for its collaboration capabilities that let teams contribute throughout every stage of development, as well as its tools that easily automate the entire DevOps lifecycle and achieve the best possible results. Since its inception, GitLab has operated with a fully remote workforce, which has helped propel its success through the pandemic and will likely keep the company competitive in a packed DevOps sector.
