Join 1363 founders getting motivational stories of how other founders started and grew their online businesses

Digital Ocean: Smooth Sailing for Struggling Developers

DigitalOcean

Moving the world towards digitalization is inevitable. This ocean of clouds makes developers unleash their full potential to construct the applications of our future.

Under the motto of ‘Cloud is complex, we make it simple’, Digital Ocean splashes the waves and leads developers and startup companies to the paradise island of cloud computing.

For thousands of users to navigate the clouds with ease and find the paradise island of their dreams, Alec Hartman, Ben Uretsky, Jeff Carr, Mitch Wainer, and Moisey Uretsky joined forces to make this dream come true.

Digital Ocean serves as a unique platform that is the perfect solution for all the developers and startup companies out there that want lean and clean cloud computing for the best possible price.

Continue reading all about the bits and pieces that made Digital Ocean the go-to platform for developers. Know more about the motivating story of 5 people, joining forces for a greater cause.

Tapping the Digital Waters

The Uretsky brothers, Moisey and Ben are the co-founders of Digital Ocean. Ben Uretsky had his interest in computers and technology from an early age and decided to act on it. Ben followed his heart’s desire and ended up earning himself a bachelor’s degree in informational technology.

Ben’s brother, Moisey was a child prodigy in mathematics. Possessing such a talent, Moisey couldn’t just sit and wait and let everything go to waste. Proactively contemplating, Moisey set up his goal to enroll at New York University and complete his studies in mathematics.

Born and raised in the USA to a loving family, providing a careless childhood, the Uretsky brothers were in touch with technology from an early age.

With access to technology from an early age, the adventurous brothers had their ideas awakened and started solving problems that one dared to step up and solve.

As time passed by, the motivated duo started filling the digital ocean with their own water drops. Ben and Moisey’s entrepreneurial journey started with the founding of ServerStack. The Uretsky brothers gained first-hand experience with managing web hosting and maintaining virtual servers.

Running ServerStack provided the Uretsky brothers with insightful knowledge of how needy the digital world of web hosting really was.

After surveying the cloud hosting industry, the Uretskys determined that most hosting organizations were geared toward business clients, leaving the market for entrepreneurial software developers unfilled.

Joining Forces for a Brighter Future

Along with Ben and Moisey Uretsky, Mitch Weiner was the other mastermind and co-founder of Digital Ocean. He connected with Ben and Moisey Uretsky through a Craiglist job listing the brothers had posted.

Mitch was born and raised in the USA. Enjoying a typical, fun-filled childhood, Mitch showed interest in learning more and more. As years passed by, Mitch enrolled at Northeastern University, earning himself a well-deserved dual major in marketing and entrepreneurship.

Another river of talents came to fill the ocean and bring the Digital Ocean to life. Digital Ocean’s idea to change the future wouldn’t be possible without the co-founder Jeff Carr, along with the help from Alec Hartmans.

Multiple streams of talents, paired with sets of skills, while following the same dream led to Digital Ocean becoming a platform that offers a solution.

As people say, success doesn’t come easy. Alec Hartman, Ben Uretsky, Jeff Carr, Mitch Wainer, and Moisey Uretsky experienced hardship first-hand while trying to get Digital Ocean free-flowing.

Even though all of the co-founders possessed certain experience in the field, all of them had to give in and go with the flow.

Moisey Uretsky, despite the multiple projects he had going on at the beginning of his professional career, decided to partner up with his brother Ben. The Uretsky brothers embarked on an entrepreneurial journey called ServerStack.

After dealing with the ups and down in ServerStack, Moisey stepped in as an investor in Cartesian Co. and Local Bushel before starting up with Digital Ocean.

The same goes for Ben, too. He dedicated himself with all of his knowledge and laser-like precision to the launching of Server Stack.

While working at the first startup, Ben learned a lot about the industry, dedicating himself hands-on. Later on, just as Moisey, Ben too transferred his knowledge to Digital Ocean.

Digital marketing and entrepreneurship expert Mitch Wainer entered the scene as a savior. Mitch’s professional life began right after he acquired his bachelor’s degree while dabbling in multiple projects alongside his colleagues.

Mitch landed his first job as director, being responsible for digital marketing, and branding at a company called Thunder Factory right before his career at Digital Ocean started.

Alec Hartman is a huge piece of the puzzle in creating Digital Ocean. The first step into the professional world for Alec was acquiring his bachelor’s degree in political science and philosophy.

Before joining the team behind Digital Ocean, Alec had already possessed a 12-year long experience in the field. The first job that Alec Hartman landed was in a marketing group at CohnReznick LLP, followed up by a CEO position at Devshop and TechDay HQ.

One Digital Drop at a Time into the Digital Ocean

The Uretsky brothers had a crystal-clear vision regarding the goal behind Digital Ocean. Ben and Moisey wanted to reinvent the digital market of cloud computing and bring a more complete product to the world, better than ServerStack, their previous endeavor.

Ben and Moisey Uretsky detected the flaws in the industry and knew exactly what to do to improve the current situation with cloud computing.

The motivated brothers set sail to create Digital Ocean, enabling struggling developers to diminish the complications occurring along the way.

A pond started to form as a beta product in January 2012, when Mitch Wainer joined forces with the Uretskys brothers. The team was complete in mid-2012 with Jeff Carr and Alec Hartman joining the already existing beta project.

The team behind Digital Ocean moved to Boulder, Colorado after they got approved by TechStars for their startup acceleration. Right after that, 10 000 cloud servers were launched for the 400 signed-up users.

Going through rough patches towards a successful business is something that always happens. Thanks to strong belief and motivation, the team of Digital Ocean made it what it is right now.

Through 19 rounds of different fundings, Digital Ocean managed to raise a mindboggling sum of $491.3 million.

Digital Ocean went all out with the IPO on 31 March 2021, with the opening stock of $47 per share. The money raised through the IPO amounted to $775.5 million, while the IPO valuation stands at $5 billion.

Digital Ocean Now

Alec Hartman, Ben Uretsky, Jeff Carr, Mitch Wainer, and Moisey Uretsky held their heads above water, making sure their company is set for smooth sailing.

Today, Digital Ocean’s headquarters are located in New York, USA counting over 602, 000 happy users worldwide. Thanks to its amazing potential, Digital Ocean maintains its servers steady as ever, providing 99.99% SLA uptime for VMs and block storage. Through the years, Digital Ocean managed to emerge with multiple products for scaling, and managing, delivering simplified app developing tools, all at reasonable prices.

Still, the most in-demand products coming from the Digital Ocean are the Droplets and Kubernetes.

Before making it big in the world of cloud computing, Digital Ocean had to deal with some serious competitors like Hostwinds, Linode, and G2 Deals, among others.

Digital Ocean grows stronger by the day, reaching new highs with the help of around 600 employees. The current CEO of Digital Ocean is Yancey Spruill, the man behind the wheel in the company, in charge of operations.

Today, the company aims to provide an awesome experience for users, connecting the waves of Digital Ocean with the Clouds.

Set your sails into the Digital Ocean and watch the future being created in front of your eyes.