Kubernetes for Humans #030 - Kubernetes for Humans with Ellen Chisa (Boldstart Ventures)
Aug 7, 2024
Ellen Chisa, partner at Boldstart Ventures and former founder of Dark, invests in and supports early-stage developer-focused enterprise companies. She discusses platform engineering and improving developer experience. She warns about tooling sprawl and urges focus on core user problems. She explains what Boldstart looks for in pitches and how founders should assess real business potential.
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Choose Tools By Core User Pain
- Focus platform decisions on the core user problem you aim to solve rather than chasing shiny new tools.
- Ask repeatedly what you want the end user to achieve and pick approaches that directly reduce their pain.
Pitch With A Clear Revenue Path
- When founders pitch VCs, quantify how the business scales to a large revenue outcome, e.g., who would pay $1M first.
- Also name initial design partners and the six- to twelve-month ship plan with people and hires specified.
Trends Spawn Features Not Always Companies
- Trend waves (like GenAI) spawn many superficial feature ideas that won't be standalone companies.
- The valuable opportunities are infrastructure shifts that enable killer apps and metrics to prove impact on end-customer experience.
