Innovation : Teamwork : Results : Fun
We are on a mission to simplify Kubernetes troubleshooting for engineers!
Our Story: What Makes Us Different
Troubleshooting is fundamentally a data challenge. Better observability data means faster remediation and more reliable operations.
The big idea behind StackState came from a high-stakes consulting project for one of Europe's largest banks. Our co-founders, Mark Bakker and Lodewijk Bogaards, had been called in to help the bank deal with a crisis. A highly visible, critical, customer-facing application was failing repeatedly and the IT teams could not figure out why.
Our co-founders' epiphany was that tracking all resource dependencies and their relationships could provide a solution. There was just one problem. Tracking a large, dynamic, complex topology over time at millisecond resolution wasn't possible with existing technology. So Lodewijk and Mark built the world's first, and only, high-performance versioned graph database.
Today, that database and its related framework are the beating heart of our guided Kubernetes troubleshooting tool. Our solution correlates any changes in component configuration and dependencies with telemetry and trace data synchronized over time. This approach provides the foundation for deep insight and fast remediation.
StackState provides engineers with all the data need they need to troubleshoot their Kubernetes application and with step-by-step guidance on how to remediate even the most complex issues.
Leadership Team
As CEO of StackState, Andreas combines his extensive experience leading engineering organizations with clear market vision and passion to help StackState customers run reliable Kubernetes environments. Outside of work, you’ll find him baking craft pizzas in a wood-fired oven.
Michel den Braver, who serves as overseer to the board and CFO, has more than 25 years experience within the IT industry. Michel fulfilled various finance roles, at Oracle, for almost 10 years, both domestic and international. After Oracle he was Finance Director for BroadVision and BEA systems, both listed at NASDAQ.
Lodewijk Bogaards is a StackState co-founder and CTO. Lodewijk combines deep technical skills with high-level technical vision. If he’s not working on StackState, Lodewijk might be found playing squash, answering questions on StackOverflow, or meditating.
Kees van Bekkum is an experienced sales executive and is StackState’s general manager. Kees earned his chops in enterprise sales, building out successful sales organisations. In StackState, Kees is responsible for overall company performance as well as leading our sales team. In his spare time, Kees likes to spend time skiing, boating or admiring classic cars.
Mark Bakker is a StackState co-founder and product owner. Mark is an experienced IT architect who lived the problems StackState is solving. With a deep knowledge of AIOps products and industry, Mark and his team design the StackState product. Outside of the office, Mark likes to climb rocks and runs a boyscout unit.
Daan Teunissen is the founder of Xebia Group, a high-growth IT consulting firm with 2,500+ employees and 15+ offices globally. Under Daan's leadership, Xebia has been an engine of innovation, giving rise to independent software companies including XebiaLabs, StackState and Instruqt.
Alex is an energetic top executive with 30+ years of experience in the software industry, skilled in developing, growing, and directing global operations, sales, marketing, and services organizations. He is an inspiring leader with extensive knowledge and connections in the cloud, security, IT infrastructure, open-source, and related IT fields, specializing in sound positioning, growth, and go-to-market strategies.
Toffer brings to the table three decades of experience successfully scaling technology companies. As a leader at innovators including Dynatrace, Tamr RSA and StackState, he has built multiple go-to-market engines that continue to power rapid growth and attract distinguished investors and partners.
Wim Heijting advises IT businesses on PE/VC financing and M&A from his boutique firm Finch Corporate Strategy Services B.V., which he found in 2005. Besides this, he sits on the board of MaxGrip, MP Objects, and is a special advisor to the Noaber Foundation. Before Finch, Wim has been General Counsel, and COO at Baan Company, Managing Partner at Vanenburg Capital Management, CEO at Watermark, and COO at Cordys.
Our Values Are What Defines Us
Improving the quality of life
StackState does not exist for its own sake, but rather to improve people's lives. We want your train to arrive on time. Your mortgage payment to be processed in an orderly fashion. The bread to arrive at the bakery on time, so you can enjoy a nice breakfast, etc.
Engineering culture
We love to build and to innovate. We take pride in a strong engineering culture that is focused on producing a high-quality product that achieves more with less. Proof, logic, balanced trade-offs, and reason always win over politics and the status quo.
Team play
Large IT environments will always be heterogeneous and always evolving. Yesterday it was microservices, today it is serverless and tomorrow it will be something else. StackState will not pretend to be the best at everything. However, we will help you integrate the tools and solutions you already love, so you will never be stuck.
Open and direct communication
We strive to align ourselves to the truth of the matter, that is why we value open and direct communication. We encourage short and frequent feedback loops and don’t run away from difficult conversations.
Keeping it simple
IT is already complex enough, we’re trying to keep it simple. If there is a simpler way to achieve the same thing, or a way to not bother you with something you don’t need to know at all, we will aim for it.
Happiness is important
We care about the happiness of our people. We work hard because we love what we do. We listen to each other and try to understand what drives us to make sure we don’t lose touch with our passions. It shows in the end result.
Join our mission
Our mission is to empower all engineers – whether they are on software development teams, platform or SRE teams – to troubleshoot Kubernetes efficiently and ultimately provide the best experience for their users.
Our team is pushing observability to the next level by making data truly actionable. We are always looking for energetic, fun and talented people who obsess over customers and aren’t afraid to show it.