20 Things You Didn’t Know About Octopus Deploy
Octopus Deploy is an innovative tech startup that provides its clients with a streamlined platform for simplifying complicated deployments. The products provide automation of runbooks with multiple deployment targets that save companies time and money. It is an automated deployment and releases management server for use with ASP.NET applications, Windows Services, and databases. There is a rich history attached to this company and its interesting founder. To bring you up to speed, here are 20 things you didn’t know about Octopus Deploy.
1. Octopus Deploy was a bootstrapped organization at the beginning
According to Techcrunch, Octopus Deploy is a company that struggled to establish itself as sustainable. Things were lean when the company first launched. The business started in 2011 as a project that the founders worked on evenings and weekends. It didn’t take off with a bang but rather took nearly a decade to become the giant that it is today.
2. The founder is Paul Stovell
Paul Stovell established Octopus Deploy in 2011. He is also the chief executive officer of the company. One of his greatest challenges was achieving full continuous deployment. In its early stages, they eventually worked out the kinks and attracted a large client base for the startup.
3. Octopus Deploy initially refused all venture capital support
Stovell was resistant to the requests for venture capital assistance to fund his new startup. He preferred to take the bootstrapping approach to maintain full control of the operation. Although many offers for funding were made, he declined them for several years, until he realized that the company would benefit from bringing an investor on board. It made sense with the level of growth that Octopus Deploy was achieving to take it further. This would have not been possible without another source of funding as he made a long-term strategic plan that would take the company 5 to 10 years in the future.
4. Octopus Deploy is a multinational company
The company was launched in Australia, which is where the headquarters exists. It has expanded operations to include offices in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It currently employs a workforce of over 100 employees. The solutions have been particularly well received in the United States as a too to help increase its enterprise market share in this region, thanks to the boost it received from venture capital investments.
5. Octopus Deploy offers cloud or on-premises services
In an age when many are transitioning to cloud-first solutions, Octopus is designed to provide both services. The platform is configured to deploy applications securely to servers of both kinds. It is used for cloud solutions and on-premises installations. The platform has a web-based interface for the modification and execution of deployments. It provides a helpful dashboard for teams to view the status of deployments, according to Everipedia.
6. Octopus Deploy is the leading deployment automation tool
According to LinkedIn, Octopus Deploy is used by 20,000 customers throughout the world. It has become one of the most popular tools of its kind. The software company was named as number three in the BRW Fast 100 for three consecutive years running. Some of the more notable companies that are using Octopus Deploy include 25 of the Fortune 100 companies, CISCO, Commonwealth Bank, NASA, and many others.
7. The Stovell’s are a good leadership team
At the head of the Octopus, Deploy company is the founder Paul Stovell as chief executive officer. The chief financial officer of the company is his wife Sonia Stovell. They make a good husband and wife team. Proof of this winning combination is the amazing track record of success that we see in the growth of the company. Octopus Deploy became profitable after just a year in its development, which is almost unheard of for new startups. Most of them hemorrhage money in overhead and startup costs for between 3 to 5 years. It’s obvious that this team knows what they’re doing and their combined leadership skills have helped contribute to the huge success of Octopus Deploy.
8. Octopus Deploy has a small workforce
For such a successful business, there aren’t that many people employed at Octopus Deploy. It has an international reach serving tens of thousands of clients with complicated technology solutions. Despite this fact, the company gets by on a workforce of just 94 employees, spread throughout three countries. This is a testament to the quality of the work that each contributes to make it a successful enterprise. When we checked the available job openings, we noticed that there are 8 positions currently open. Open jobs are available in Australia and Myrtle Point, Oregon.
9. The executive team at Octopus Deploy is small
According to Crunchbase, Octopus Deploy is continuing to keep its operations on the lean side. The executive leadership is small, consisting of just four persons. Paul Stovell is the founder and chief executive officer, Sonia Stovell is the chief financial officer, Bettania Passos is the director of people, and Michael Richardson is the vice president of product. It’s obvious by the upward movement of the business that this small team is a part of a tightly run ship.
10. Octopus Deploy finally accepted venture capital funding
Although Mr. Stovell was highly resistant to accepting venture capital funding, he finally relented. He accepted the offer from Insight Partners for the first and only round of Venture Capital funding in an unknown series round. The funding closed on April 20, 2021, with just one investor. The round raised a total of $172.5 million. This marks a turning point in the history of Octopus Deploy. It signaled a willingness on the part of the owner to take the next step in growth and development.
11.Octopus Deploy’s platform is complex
Although end-users enjoy a seamless experience using the streamlining Octopus Deploy platform, there is a lot more that goes on behind the scenes to make it operational. The complicated array of technologies requires the use of 41 different technology products that work together to power the platform and all of its features and the Octopus Deploy website. It took the developer several months to work out all the kinks to achieve the level of performance that was in line with his goals for the platform.
12. Octopus Deploy is trademarked
Octopus Deploy has successfully registered two trademarks to protect the intellectual property of the technology and products used. They are classified under scientific and electric apparatus and instruments. This helps to protect the assets of the company from other tech startups copying the unique platform and technology for profit. Octopus Deploy offers services and products that are unique in the deployment industry, and it aims to remain a leader that offers products and features that are not provided by other tech providers. It helps them to retain the leading edge and stay one step ahead of the competition, which is growing more intense.
13. Paul Stovell is also a blogger
According to his website, Paul Stovell has written multiple blogs about technology and Octopus Deploy. He shares the story of the origin of Octopus Deploy with the ups and downs of its early years. He also provides useful information for Octopus Deploy customers in his blogs. He is a prolific blogger.
14. Octopus Deploy maintains transparency
Paul Stovell believes in being completely transparent with his customers. He is an honest person who believes that people have the right to know as much as possible about any company they deal with. Stovell shares information about the cost of Octopus Deploy, and where that money is used. A share goes toward completing the next version of the software along with updates, Some goes on cloud hosting, web hosting, and server costs. The majority is spent on salaries and the people who work for Octopus Deploy. Some of the cost goes toward the profit margin of Octopus Deploy.
15. The marketing overhead for Octopus Deploy is low
Paul Stovell also shared that most of the revenue that comes in from sales of Octopus Deploy goes back into making improvements on the product and on the requirements to maintain great customer service/staff. He points out that the company does not spend much on sales and marketing. Although they do promote their products, they’ve found that word of mouth is also a powerful resource for getting referrals for Octopus Deploy. They maintain a lean marketing and sales budget, unlike some companies that allocated large sums for marketing. The popularity of Octopus Deploy is high and those who see it in action or use it talk to others who might benefit from the platform, and recommend it as a viable and affordable option for streamlining the deployment process for business.
16. Octopus Deploy terminated its partnership with Microsoft
In 2016, Octopus Deploy terminated its partnership formally with Microsoft. Stovell explained that Microsoft had created a system that was very similar to Octopus Deploy in terms of its features. They made it function much like Octopus Deploy and bundled it in with Visual Studio. They also changed the pricing model to include it free in a subscription and began heavily promotion of the product. When it became obvious that Octopus Deploy was competing with the Microsoft product that was being given away for free and looked so similar, they terminated their partnership with Microsoft.
17. 2014 was a huge year for Octopus Deploy
Once Octopus Deploy was established (2012), it began to grow rapidly. In 2014, each quarter of the fiscal year showed growth of 40 percent. This was astronomical. During that period, the company went from being a two-person team to seven employees. Workers had previously worked at libraries for their workspace, but the prosperity of the company and increase in revenue made it possible to establish an Octopus Deploy office with workspace to house the workers to perform their functions in a single place. The growth of the company was financed by revenue.
18. In 2014, Paul Stovell married and added to his executive team
2014 was a big year for Octopus Deploy as well as for its founder Paul Stovell. He married his current wife Sonia, and the couple had a baby. This was a big year for the company and it added Sonia to the executive team, which was a good move as the company continued to grow and prosper under Stovell’s joint leadership. This was a pivotal year for Octopus Deploy and Paul Stovell both professionally and personally as there was growth in the business and his family.
19. Stovell published an Octopus Deploy handbook
The Octopus Deploy handbook covers everything that workers need to know about the company in one convenient document. It discusses the Octopus Deploy vision and what makes it different. It tells workers what to be aware of for the first few months of being a part of the team, the company culture and philosophy about remote work, trust, responsibility, and communication, internal programs, structuring, and who does what. It’s written in clear conversational English to help prepare new workers for a remote working environment where trust is a major part of the culture.
20. Octopus Deploy is a company to keep your eye on
Octopus Deploy is a strong and stable tech business that has achieved remarkable growth and expansion since its establishment. It became profitable within 12 months of its launch. The founder accomplished this without the use of venture capital investment. In recent years, he agreed to allow one investor in for more rapid expansion. The business is run by a small group of technically-minded people who invest their energies in providing the best possible performance of the software. Stovell has maintained a lean approach to operations that has paid off in the long run and Octopus Deploy is a company that is likely to be around for years to come.
