Nodejitsu

Nodejitsu Inc. operated as a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) company, carving a niche by providing a cloud hosting platform specifically for Node.js applications. The company was founded in April 2010 by Charlie Robbins, Marak Squires, and Paolo Fragomeni, a trio of developers passionate about JavaScript and its server-side potential with Node.js. Robbins and Squires were high school friends who had previously conceptualized a broader PaaS, but it was their shared enthusiasm for the burgeoning Node.js technology that crystallized into the focused mission of Nodejitsu. Fragomeni, an MIT alumnus, brought his expertise to the team as a co-founder and CTO.

The firm's business model centered on offering developers a streamlined environment to deploy and manage their Node.js applications, thereby reducing the complexities of infrastructure management. It provided a suite of tools, including a command-line interface named 'jitsu', which simplified the deployment process. The platform supported modern web technologies like WebSockets and socket.io, running its entire stack on Node.js. Revenue was generated through tiered subscription plans for both individual developers and businesses, offering shared or dedicated virtual machines with varying levels of resources, referred to as "drones". These plans provided specific RAM, disk space, and support levels. Additionally, Nodejitsu offered licensed software for enterprises to create their own private or public Node.js clouds.

A significant part of Nodejitsu's identity was its deep commitment to the open-source community. The company maintained numerous open-source projects on GitHub and offered free hosting for open-source applications. This focus was a direct reflection of the founders' journey, who had transitioned from backgrounds in finance and enterprise software to become evangelists for the collaborative nature of the Node.js community. This commitment extended to taking over the hosting of the npm registry after acquiring IrisCouch in May 2013, a move that also brought key personnel into its leadership team. A partnership with Joyent in 2012 further solidified its position after Joyent discontinued its own Node.js platform and recommended Nodejitsu to its users.

The company secured seed funding from investors including Bloomberg Beta, General Catalyst, and RRE Ventures. In a key strategic move, GoDaddy acquired Nodejitsu in February 2015 in an "acqui-hire" to leverage the team's expertise for its own major infrastructure overhaul to Node.js. Following the acquisition, Nodejitsu ceased its PaaS operations and transitioned its customer base to Progress Software's Modulus platform. The founding team went on to continue their work within the tech and open-source ecosystems, with Robbins taking a senior role at GoDaddy and later joining the Node.js Foundation board, and Fragomeni and Squires founding new ventures.

Keywords: Nodejitsu, Platform as a Service, PaaS, Node.js hosting, cloud platform, Charlie Robbins, Marak Squires, Paolo Fragomeni, GoDaddy acquisition, IrisCouch, Joyent, Javascript, cloud computing, application deployment, developer tools, jitsu, NPM private registry, open source hosting, Bloomberg Beta, server-side JavaScript, web application hosting, real-time applications, WebSocket support