
As Heroku Boss Flees to Olive Farm, Where's the Platform Cloud Going? - joeyespo
http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2012/09/heroku/
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ChuckMcM
Maybe he just decided, "Ya know, I've got enough financial security to just
not worry about this any more." and executed on that insight.

Given his position and the acquisition, I would not be surprised if this move
left a lot of money on the table but for many the difference between $25M and
$50M [1] isn't $25M, its three years of not sleeping well because of the
stress.

[1] Pulled out of my hat, I have no insights into Byron's situation.

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pbiggar
AFAIK, there has been almost no exodus from Heroku since its acquisition,
which is pretty damn uncommon (see Facebook/Google IPOs for example). In fact,
there seems to have been an influx of new awesome developers, which implies
it's not just golden handcuffs.

I asked a Heroku employee about this, and he attributed it to their awesome
culture. It really seems everyone loves it there. Certainly, every Heroku
employee I know (sample size: 12ish) has an excitement that doesn't mesh with
the tone of this article.

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dlevine
It's important to understand that Byron Sebastian wasn't a founder of Heroku.
He was an executive who they brought in later to run the company (because the
founders were busy writing code and making the platform awesome). Unlike with
other companies, the emphasis was never on the CEO, but on the technically
brilliant founders (Lindenbaum, Wiggins, and Henry). It sounds like he
accomplished his goal by building the company and selling it, and now it's
time for him to move on. The developers are still busy building an awesome
service.

Echoing what other people have said, there has been no exodus. Throughout its
history, Heroku has focused on building an awesome place to work, and they
have continued to do this, even at Salesforce. I worked out of the Heroku
office for a few weeks (pre-acquisition), and it seemed like a great place to
work. Everyone was super-friendly, and seemed to be working on things they
truly loved doing (plus, they had a beautiful office that was extremely well-
run). I would predict that there are no major staff changes in the foreseeable
future.

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codesuela
This article makes it sound as if Heroku is about to be shut down but being
the leader in PaaS offerings (at least for non enterprise type environments) I
highly doubt this is going to happen. I can't imagine the stress Byron
Sebastian has been through and I think taking a break is more then legitimate

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jameskilton
The article makes a fleeting mention that Byron Sebastian had been working
more on the Salesforce side of things than on Heroku. With that knowledge, I'm
not at all surprised that he left. This leaving isn't a mark against Heroku.

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starpilot
He quit to be a farmer? Is this the story of the fisherman and the
businessman? <http://www.lifeprinciples.net/SuccessatLife.html>

~~~
thepumpkin1979
What a Delightful Story, Thank you Sir.

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seanmcdirmid
Sounds like Bill Berry, who retired from REM to become a farmer...just because
that was actually his dream. When you are young, you can't really imagine why
anyone would not want to be in the thick of it. But an idyllic life is very
much a good exit from that.

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samstave
And the lead singer from Tool who left to make wine... in Arizona.

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ironchef
Maynard didn't leave tool. He's still part of tool, a perfect circle,
puscifer, as well as caduceus vineyards (which you mention), and runs an
organic place in AZ last i knew.

source: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maynard_James_Keenan>

~~~
samstave
Sure, sorry I wasn't emphasizing the leaving of the band (which I was wrong
on) as much as the adoption of farming...

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dmix
Ugh, tech news is slowly turning into mainstream press. They try to find a
controversial angle on everything.

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bgilroy26
None of the punches here really land. The "oh so hard to explain" charge is
particularly ridiculous: however much you would be spending on Dev Ops, that's
how much it's worth to support Heroku's effort to automate the process.

