{"id":9,"date":"2019-05-09T09:51:01","date_gmt":"2019-05-09T16:51:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-2019\/?p=9"},"modified":"2021-08-10T12:03:37","modified_gmt":"2021-08-10T19:03:37","slug":"launching-a-solution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-2019\/launching-a-solution\/","title":{"rendered":"Launching a Solution"},"content":{"rendered":"

Graduating as valedictorian of her<\/strong> high school class at age 16, earning two bachelor\u2019s degrees by the time she was 20, and holding a patent at 23, LaunchDarkly CEO and co-founder Edith Harbaugh \u201999 is accustomed to being ahead of the curve. Co-founder and CTO John Kodumal \u201900 bypassed his senior year of high school to study at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York, and also holds a patent.<\/p>\n

Harbaugh and Kodumal, who met at Harvey Mudd in 1998, each had several jobs with technology startups (Kodumal as a PhD at Berkeley; Harbaugh in engineering, products and marketing) before deciding LaunchDarkly could fill a gap in the marketplace. They founded the continuous-delivery, feature flag management platform in 2014, allowing companies to efficiently roll out new software features while minimizing the risks involved. Over 500 customers, including QVC, AMC, GoPro and Meetup, use the platform.<\/p>\n

Software developers can control the rollout of new code using feature flags, which are decision points in the code, similar to a fork in the road. Instead of launching a new feature to all users simultaneously, LaunchDarkly\u2019s platform allows developers to send just a portion of users\u2014for example, 3 percent of users, or only those in a particular city\u2014down the new pathway, while leaving everyone else on the original path. That way, if there\u2019s a bug in the code, it doesn\u2019t wreak havoc for all users. Developers can also evaluate whether users enjoy the feature. If they love it, developers can roll out the feature more broadly, but if they hate it or if there\u2019s a bug, developers can quickly turn off the new code and revert to the original code. Feature flags can also divert users for other reasons, such as to comply with a law particular to one state.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Some companies have engineers in-house to manage such responsibilities, but other companies cannot afford, or just don\u2019t want, a team dedicated to this work. Without the capability of feature flags, though, the new code is binary\u2014either on or off\u2014 so there\u2019s no way for the company to mitigate any user frustration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s one thing I like best about LaunchDarkly\u2014we really help developers,\u201d Harbaugh says. \u201cInstead of suffering from a bug for hours or days, you can just turn it off without going into the office. So our customers\u2019 lives are better. We\u2019re breaking silos between product and engineering.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such trailblazing work has caught the eye of peers in the industry. Harbaugh was honored as one of the 2018 Top Women Entrepreneurs in Cloud Innovation by CloudNOW, a nonprofit focused on the professional development of women in cloud computing.<\/p>\n

\u201cEdith is part of a new wave of leaders, entrepreneurs and technologists,\u201d says Jocelyn DeGance Graham, founder of CloudNOW. \u201cWe applaud her technical accomplishments in creating a platform that reduces risk from software development, as well as her contributions to diversity and inclusion as she blazes trails supporting the next generation of tech leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kodumal is continually iterating to find the best way to scale to demand. He recognized that GoLang, a programming language that he didn\u2019t previously know, would work best for LaunchDarkly, so he learned the language as he built the company. Kodumal explains that the language is best because it optimizes reading rather than writing code, allowing all collaborators to understand what is written. Because LaunchDarkly manages tens of thousands of requests every second (over 200 billion feature flags daily), it\u2019s critical employees understand immediately what\u2019s happening and address any issues that arise.<\/p>\n

Beyond their mutual admiration, the CEO and CTO say they complement each other\u2019s strengths: Harbaugh looking at things from the product management side and Kodumal from the engineering side. While Kodumal admits he pushes for perfection and Harbaugh says she\u2019d rather get things out the door, they don\u2019t find their differences problematic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe work well together because we\u2019ve known each other 20-plus years, and we have a deep foundation of trust,\u201d Harbaugh says.<\/p>\n

Kodumal agrees. \u201cI have absolute faith she has my best interests and the best interests of the company at heart. That\u2019s enormously valuable as a cofounder.\u201d<\/p>\n

Propelled by Mudd<\/h2>\n

Harbaugh believes the CEO should be a company\u2019s No. 1 salesperson, adept at identifying customers that would benefit from LaunchDarkly\u2019s services. She credits working at Harvey Mudd\u2019s alumni phonathon with honing that ability.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe phonathon trained me to be a salesperson,\u201d she says. \u201cEvery night, we got call sheets of who to call, and I wanted to get the most donations. I sorted my sheets into the best candidates to donate, usually 20 to 30 years out of school. It also helped me learn to deal with rejection and build rapport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harbaugh and Kodumal have also fostered a strong rapport with their employees by building a positive company culture. \u201cWork is not life\u201d remains one of their core values. Having time for family and personal activities, Harbaugh says, gives their nearly 100 employees a healthier mindset. The cofounders also give employees a $2,500 yearly education stipend.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not just creating a software product; we\u2019re creating a company,\u201d says Harbaugh, who manages her own health by running marathons and ultramarathons. She has more than 30 marathons under her belt as well as three 100-mile races. (Her best finish was 29 hours.) She decided to give up the longest races in favor of spending more time on the company, but she occasionally runs 50K ultramarathons for fun. Kodumal loves rock climbing.<\/p>\n

As more of people\u2019s daily interactions are software-driven\u2014in the bank, at the grocery store, in their car\u2014Harbaugh believes LaunchDarkly will remain a tool sought after by developers.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are moving to the cloud and need new tools like LaunchDarkly,\u201d Harbaugh says. \u201cThey are demanding better software, and developers must work hard to get it right. LaunchDarkly will help them get there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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