I’m excited to announce that we’ve found a new home for our beloved DeployBot!
Why sell a growing product?
The most common question Chris and I get when people hear that we run multiple products is how on Earth can we focus on so many things at once. The answer is always: it’s tricky. Since Wildbit exists for its’ team, the diversification of products makes us sleep better at night. Knowing that we don’t have all of our eggs in a single basket allows us to make sure that we can be around for a really long time.
One of the reasons it has worked so well for us is because often our products are in different stages of their life. Meaning, our attention can be focused on one product at a time. When we launched Postmark, Beanstalk was already an established product. By the time DeployBot came along, the other two were humming along.
Things changed for us 2 years ago. As a team we saw huge potential in Postmark and we really wanted to commit to growing it. In reflection, Chris and I have never actually “grown” a product. We realized we’re very good at building and shipping, but this was going to be a very new challenge for us. Almost simultaneously we realized we needed to do something with Beanstalk to bring it new life. We decided we were going to build a whole new product and dedicated a team towards the long road to get there. And there was this new product, DeployBot. Ripe with opportunity, but complicated to grow given the various stages of the development process still being evolved in the real world.
Chris and I quickly saw that we were headed deep under water with all of those strategic projects to juggle. Something had to give. So we took a hard look at our product suite. Postmark’s momentum was so strong. With the huge potential for success, Postmark was a product we had to see through. The new product Conveyor was important too. Beanstalk’s customers deserve a better solution after 10 years. And DeployBot was the only product we weren’t sure of. While it was growing and users loved it, the deployments space is really complicated. There are so many potential markets and ways software teams ship software. To really help DeployBot grow we’d have to spend a lot of our bandwidth on it as well. So with all that information we moved most of our team onto Conveyor and Postmark, while continuing to maintain and support DeployBot.
All this time we knew we had to decide what to do with DeployBot. Maintenance mode is not something you stay in for long, or something we are proud of, but we had no idea you could really just sell an app. After seeing many friends do it, we realized that we could find someone else to take what we built and make it shine. So this year, through a referral from Garrett Dimon on our team, we worked with FE International to see if we could find a buyer. It wasn’t easy (more later) but we’re so relieved and excited that we’ve found someone we think will be great.
DeployBot’s new caretakers
The team that acquired DeployBot is originally from Germany. Tim, the owner, partnered with bevuta IT, a software company with a vast variety of experiences. Chris and I really wanted to find a team that was willing to invest in the product. They needed to have the experience and enthusiasm to grow DeployBot and take care of everyone who has come to depend on it in their workflow.
I was really excited after our first call. Tim really seamed to get it. He has put together an awesome team dedicated just to DeployBot. They are currently working closely with our team to get up to speed. In the meantime, Wildbit is still doing the first line of support so that customers get as seamless a transition as possible.
In the last few weeks as we’ve worked together on the migration, I have felt tremendous relief. While I felt good with our decision on the buyer, there was always anxiety about what reality would be like. So far, I’m feeling excellent with our choice. Tim and his team are smart and caring and super enthusiastic to take DeployBot out of maintenance mode and turn it into the premier deployment product it should be.
What’s next?
We are still working very closely with the new owners to help them get up to speed. Chris Bowler and Brian Kerr are continuing to be the first line of support for existing customers, while their support team learns the ins and outs of helping DeployBot customers. Come February, Wildbit will be completely removed from the day to day of the product.
What I want to make very clear, and what I said to Tim several times, is that Chris and I want and intend to walk away from this deal making a new friend. We want to support them on the product and direct customers as much as possible. We are so excited for what they can bring to the product and are cheering them on.
There are a lot of mixed emotions right now. I think we’re all a little sad that we’re no longer the guardians of our little robot. We’re so incredibly grateful for the customers that signed up and trusted us with deploying their projects. And we’re relieved to be able to to focus on Conveyor and Postmark.
Please join me in our continued support and encouragement of the new stewards of DeployBot. Let’s cheer them on together.
So much ❤️,
Natalie