A fresh contender joins the PaaS market
PaaS providers are sprouting up left and right, and we are no exception. In this article, we'll share how Sevalla came to be.
Developers nowadays have a plethora of options when it comes to choosing a Platform as a Service (PaaS) provider. It all started with Heroku, and now there are countless alternatives, each with its unique selling points. So why did we decide to create yet another PaaS? The answer is simple: we believe we can do it better.
But before we dive ahead, let's take a step back and explore the journey that brought us to Sevalla. After all, this isn't our first rodeo in this market. 🤠
The birth of Sevalla
You might have noticed that Sevalla is a product of Kinsta, a managed WordPress hosting provider. Our development team is a bunch of Node.js enthusiasts. While we've always been passionate about serving WordPress users, we've long wanted to expand our reach and provide solutions to developers like ourselves, not just those with WordPress-specific needs.
Choosing the right technology
After achieving significant milestones on the WordPress market, we embarked on an exploratory journey, creating proof-of-concept prototypes to test and validate ideas on how our infrastructure should look like.
We explored a range of technologies, including LXD, Firecracker, Nomad, and Kubernetes, to identify the best fit for our specific use case. Our goal was to build a platform that would be developer-friendly, scalable, and cost-effective. Through a series of experiments, trials, and errors, we gained valuable insights and, given Kinsta's long-standing partnership with Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and Cloudflare, ultimately chose Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) and Cloudflare as our infrastructure providers. GKE and Cloudflare's enterprise security features, plus some of their newer services met all our requirements, and we were pleased with the outcome.
Reflecting on our journey, there's a certain thrill in launching a greenfield project, where you can innovate freely, and build something that truly shines. However, as we explored new technologies, we also knew we had to keep our feet on the ground and make decisions that aligned with our business goals and (upcoming) customer needs. At the end of the day, we had a business to run.
Scaling & launching
As it became clear to us which technologies we would use, we made the necessary changes in our organization to accommodate this new venture. We hired new team members, restructured our teams, and set up a new roadmap for the upcoming months. We also started to work on the platform itself, building the necessary features and integrations to make it a viable product.
In just a few months, our teams declared the product ready for prime time. Although it had some rough edges, the product was functional and waited to serve its first users.
We launched our new PaaS services under Kinsta's brand, believing it would help us reach a broader audience and leverage Kinsta's SEO ranking, and reputation in the market. We began promoting it on social media channels and through our existing customer base.
Up until this point, everything was rosy. We had a product we could launch with, and we were excited to see how the market would react.
The truth & the inception of Sevalla
The harsh reality is that winning over developers' hearts and minds is not a walk in the park. Despite investing significant time and energy into our PaaS products, we initially underestimated the challenge of appealing to a new audience. Our experience with Kinsta, a WordPress-focused brand, has taught us that there's a significant difference between catering to a specific niche and reaching a broader developer community.
Recognizing the potential limitations of our PaaS products being tied to the Kinsta brand, we decided to start afresh, and create a standalone brand, Sevalla.
This is how we put Sevalla officially on the map. 📍
The future
Sevalla's aim is to establish a strong bond with developers and unlock its full potential, by replicating the success we've had with Kinsta, where we now host over 120,000 satisfied WordPress customers.
We intentionally left out the timelines in the post, but rest assured, the product has been actively developed all along. For proof, just take a look at our changelog! 😉
Sevalla is still in its infancy, but we're excited about the journey ahead. We've learned a lot from our past, and we're confident that we can make Sevalla a success. We're committed to building a platform that developers love, and we're excited to see where this journey takes us.
Become a part of our journey by following us on X, joining our Discord, or better yet, trying out our product.
We can't wait to share more with you soon! 🚀
PS: If you're wondering about the name ✨Sevalla✨, take a good look at the map of Sweden. 🇸🇪