DigitalOcean becomes a public company

Today is a proud day for all of us here at DigitalOcean. It’s also a tremendously exciting day for our customers and community. We are now officially listed on the New York Stock Exchange as a publicly traded company (NYSE: DOCN). While the IPO is an incredible milestone, I promise this is only the beginning of our journey together.

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all of you. We could not have gotten to where we are today without the dedication of our employees, the trust of our customers, and the support of our community. It is an honor to be the CEO of this remarkable organization and a responsibility I do not take lightly.

For me, it all comes back to our values. They start with community and end in love.

DigitalOcean was founded 10 years ago, with the belief that software developers, startups, and small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) were being poorly served by the emerging cloud computing market. We wanted to make a home for the millions of innovators who were unable to capitalize on the advantages and opportunities created by cloud infrastructure.

Our IPO will further enable us to fulfill our mission to simplify cloud computing so developers and businesses can spend more time creating software that changes the world. Today, more than 570,000 customers trust DigitalOcean with their projects or business. This is just the beginning. As we look ahead, we want to create a platform where even more developers and entrepreneurs can test their ideas, build their businesses, and realize their dreams.

Community and values continue to steer the ship

When I first joined the team as CEO, I introduced our three key imperatives: Grow faster, grow smarter, and grow together. This focus on growth wasn’t just about ours, it was a commitment to yours. We wanted to “grow faster” so we could serve you even better with product innovations laser-focused on your needs. We wanted to “grow smarter” to direct our people and resources more efficiently to support your growth objectives and continue to improve your experience on our platform. And we wanted to “grow together,” knowing that a more aligned and engaged team would offer even higher levels of innovation in support of and service to our customers.

As a public company, our focus will not change. Our values will continue to guide us and we will continue to hold ourselves accountable for empowering your growth and success.

We will remain focused on your unique needs as we deliver new innovations to help you grow your businesses and do even more with DigitalOcean. We will expand our global footprint to help even more developers and entrepreneurs around the world realize the benefits of cloud computing. And we will continue to grow and invest in our community.

One of our first employees was brought on to help us craft and develop the robust community tutorials you know today. We believe our community is what helps make us special and know it’s something you rely on us to deliver and do well. We promise to continue to cultivate these important resources to help developers and entrepreneurs, like you, learn and grow throughout their journey.

Hub for Good grows with Pledge 1%

In 2020, our team launched Hub for Good to provide infrastructure credits, donations, and resources to help our community come together to solve the challenges of the world. As part of our IPO, we’re announcing our commitment to join the Pledge 1% movement. We will be allocating 1% of our pre-IPO equity valuation, around $50 million, to expand our Hub for Good charitable endeavors over the next 10 years.

We are also renaming the Hub for Good program to honor one of our beloved team members who tragically passed away earlier this month. Hollie’s Hub for Good will honor Hollie Haggans, who not only helped build Hub for Good, but was also a fierce champion of our community of developers and startups. We are proud to have her legacy live on through this program and to continue to advance the inspiring work she accomplished during her 5+ years at DigitalOcean.

Moving forward, Hollie’s Hub for Good will also include projects to help bring more people into tech, will step up our commitment to open source software, and will be the vehicle to ensure that the footprint of our technology infrastructure is carbon neutral. Our ongoing commitment to Hollie’s Hub for Good is a meaningful way we can help put our technology in the hands of even more people so that they can change the world.

Looking ahead

Thank you again to all of those who helped support DigitalOcean and who helped get us to this exciting milestone. While today is a day for celebration, our work here is not done. We look forward to serving you in the years ahead and promise to work tirelessly to help you achieve your goals and realize your dreams.