Why we invested in Reductive Labs

We are thrilled to announce our investment in Reductive Labs and its flagship product Puppet, the popular open source framework for automating IT management. At True, we are strong believers in the vision behind cloud computing as we have witnessed first hand how many of our startups have been able to seamlessly scale at tremendously low costs. We are truly witnessing the power of Moore’s law being applied not just to products, but now to the entire business formation process.

Today’s emphasis on the cloud in enterprises both large and small has led to massive growth in the use of machines that are both physical and virtual. As a result, the complexity behind managing these machines has grown exponentially and enhanced the need for technologies like Puppet. While IT management software is not as sexy as the latest consumer Internet startup (which we also love), it is the nuts and bolts that help make cloud computing a reality, and it is an incredibly exciting market.

Beyond the market opportunity, the strength of Puppet really lies in the rich community of contributors and users that continue to grow at a rapid rate. Users of the Puppet framework span several verticals across the globe and include Google, Digg, Twitter, New York Stock Exchange, Barclays Capital, Oracle, Sun, Red Hat, Harvard Law School, Stanford University (and several True portfolio companies!). As we’ve learned through our experiences with companies like Automattic, building a community does NOT take money but rather focus, talent, patience and a commitment to continually delivering outstanding product.

We are also extremely excited about the opportunity to work with Founders Luke Kanies, Andrew Shafer, and Teyo Tyree, who have known or worked together for more than a decade. Luke and Andrew actually first met as college roommates and both Luke and Teyo worked as system admins for several years. In fact, Luke decided to create Puppet almost 4 years ago when no existing solution met his needs. You could therefore say Puppet is a solution written for system admins by a system admin – very cool indeed!

At True, our first, second and third priorities are the people behind any idea, and Luke, Andrew and Teyo represent exactly the type of visionary team that we strive so hard to work with.

Congratulations Luke, Andrew, and Teyo and welcome to the True family! See you all tomorrow at Structure09.

Best,
Puneet & the True Team