StreamNative offers fully managed cloud-native event streaming and messaging powered by Apache Pulsar. Pulse 2.0 interviewed StreamNative co-founder and CEO Sijie Guo to learn more about the company.
Sijie Guo’s Background
What is Sijie Guo’s background? Guo said:
“I am the Founder and CEO of StreamNative and one of the original creators of Apache Pulsar and Apache BookKeeper, I also remain VP of Apache BookKeeper and PMC Member of Apache Pulsar.”
“My journey with open source technology, specifically Apache Pulsar began at Yahoo! where I was part of the team working to develop a global messaging platform for the company. I then went to Twitter, where I led the messaging infrastructure group and co-created DistributedLog and Twitter EventBus. In 2017, I co-founded Streamlio, which was acquired by Splunk, and in 2019 I founded StreamNative. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area of California.”
Formation Of StreamNative
How did the idea for the company come together? Guo shared:
“Both my co-founder and I have worked for hyper-scale technology companies and have seen first-hand how data streaming technologies impact businesses, in addition to the true need for real-time data across all business units. As engineers turning founders, our idea is quite simple and straightforward: We want to bring the data streaming technology we built for hyper-scale to organizations of all sizes. This way, everyone can leverage it to accelerate their business with real-time data.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Guo reflected:
“Thankfully, there have been a number of significant milestones for the company. These include landing the first few open-source users and seeing them successfully run open-source projects in production, as well as releasing the first case study of a hyperscale using Pulsar to power billions of billing requests at scale.”
“As the project matured, my role shifted towards go-to-market strategy, where I helped secure the first MarTech unicorn as a BYOC customer and shaped our BYOC offering, working closely with customers to grow their usage year over year.“
“Now, more enterprises and unicorns are using our technology in their most mission-critical applications. Seeing how our technology impacts everyone’s daily lives is one of the things I’m most proud of in my work with StreamNative.”
Recent Announcement: With Severless and UniConn.
Tell me about your most recent announcement – with Severless and UniConn. Guo replied:
“In my experience, data is the lifeblood of modern businesses, and having real-time insights is essential to maintain a competitive edge in our rapidly changing market. I’ve noticed that many organizations have struggled to adopt data streaming due to its complexity and the operational challenges of managing the infrastructure. To combat these challenges, we recently announced StreamNative Serverless. Serverless is a fully managed data streaming service with Pulsar & Kafka API compatibility. It’s designed to be instantly available, eliminating the barriers that have historically slowed down organizations looking to implement data streaming solutions. With StreamNative Serverless, I believe we’re making it easier than ever for businesses of all sizes to embark on their data streaming journey and unlock the power of real-time data.”
“We also launched UniConn, short for ‘Universal Connectivity,’ a feature allowing us to run Kafka Connect connectors natively on StreamNative Cloud, expanding our platform’s capabilities. By combining our new Serverless offering with UniConn, I believe we’re opening up exciting possibilities for organizations to accelerate their innovative solutions across the data streaming ecosystem. It’s a significant step forward in our mission to make data streaming more accessible and powerful for businesses of all sizes.”
Challenges Faced
What challenges have Guo and the team face in building the company? Guo acknowledged:
“The data streaming sector has been moving quickly as of late. The latest example is Confluent’s acquisition of WarpStream. This move signals a trend towards consolidation in the Kafka ecosystem, which could potentially lead to reduced innovation and fewer choices for customers – similar to what we saw with Oracle’s dominance in the database market a decade ago.”
“However, at StreamNative, we’ve chosen to view this challenge as an opportunity. We believe in the importance of maintaining a diverse ecosystem of streaming technologies to foster innovation and provide developers with the flexibility they need. To address this challenge, we’ve taken several proactive steps:
1.) We’ve expanded our offerings by introducing our Kafka-compatible Ursa engine. This allows us to fully embrace the Kafka API and ecosystem while still providing an alternative to a potentially more centralized Kafka future.
2.) We’ve launched UniConn, which provides universal connectivity through Pulsar IO and Kafka Connect connectors. This allows our customers to leverage existing Kafka-ecosystem tools and connectors within our platform.
3.) We’ve doubled down on our commitment to offering a full spectrum of streaming options. This includes our Hosted (Serverless and Dedicated), Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC), and Private deployment options. This diverse portfolio allows us to meet a wide range of customer needs and use cases.
4.) We’ve continued to champion Apache Pulsar as a cloud-native alternative to Kafka, unifying messaging and data streaming in a way that’s well-suited to modern infrastructure needs.”
“By taking these steps, we’re not just overcoming the challenge of industry consolidation – we’re turning it into an opportunity to provide more value to our customers. We’re offering them the flexibility to choose the best solutions for their needs, whether that’s leveraging Kafka-compatible tools or exploring the unique benefits of Pulsar.”
Evolution Of StreamNative’s Technology
How has StreamNative’s technology evolved since launching? Guo noted:
“Since our launch, StreamNative’s technology has undergone significant evolution with a clear focus on making data streaming more accessible and affordable for organizations of all sizes. We’ve consistently expanded our offerings to address the diverse needs of our customers and the broader market.”
“By embracing both Pulsar and Kafka ecosystems, we’ve made it easier for businesses to adopt advanced streaming capabilities without being locked into a single technology stack. This evolution reflects our commitment to democratizing access to powerful data streaming tools, making them not just more accessible, but also more affordable by eliminating operational overhead and allowing customers to pay only for what they use.”
Customer Success Stories
Can you share any specific customer success stories? Guo highlighted:
“Our recent case study with Innerspace is a great example of our ability to deliver a robust streaming solution to handle a customer’s real-time and complex data processing needs. StreamNative’s Apache Pulsar-based platform proved to be a game-changer for InnerSpace, offering unparalleled scalability and flexibility to handle varying workloads efficiently.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates StreamNative from its competition? Guo affirmed:
“StreamNative sets itself apart from the competition in several key ways. As the lead contributor to the Apache Pulsar open-source project, we bring unparalleled expertise and insight into the technology we offer. Our Pulsar-as-a-Service solution is uniquely flexible, allowing customers to run it either in our cloud or their own, adapting to their specific infrastructure needs and preferences.”
“Unlike our competitors, we specialize in providing a seamless Pulsar experience, backed by a team of experts who are intimately familiar with the intricacies of the system. This deep knowledge translates into superior support, more efficient problem-solving, and the ability to run Pulsar at scale with confidence.”
“Our offering goes beyond just providing the technology. We deliver a comprehensive package that includes enterprise-grade, fully managed Apache Pulsar, coupled with specialized support and training. This ensures our clients can maximize the value they get from the platform. We also guarantee SLAs, provide a user-friendly interface, and offer flexible deployment options – benefits that may not be available or as robust with our competitors.”
“Our recent developments in Kafka compatibility and the introduction of StreamNative Serverless demonstrate our commitment to innovation and adaptability. We’re not just offering a single solution, but a range of options that can cater to diverse streaming and messaging needs, all while maintaining our core expertise in Pulsar.”
“Choosing StreamNative means partnering with the leading experts in unified streaming and messaging, gaining access to cutting-edge technology, and receiving comprehensive support that ensures success in implementing and scaling data streaming solutions.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the StreamNative’s future company goals? Guo concluded:
We’ve always believed that data streaming should be made accessible, affordable, and scalable — regardless of the size of your organization or where you are in your data journey. This belief drives everything we do here at StreamNative.
