<commit_before>---
layout: markdown_page
title: "GitLab 101"
---
### GitLab 101

During the monthly GitLab 101 call with new hires we talk about the following topis:
- Overview of the GitLab [history](https://about.gitlab.com/about/)
- Our [values](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/#values) 
- Team structure [overview](https://about.gitlab.com/team/structure/org-chart/)
- [How we work](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/#general-guidelines)
- Q&A, which results in the FAQ below

### Frequently Asked Questions about the GitLab Culture

##### Q: understand that one of the two largest telecommunications operators in the United States wanted to copy our handbook?
We feel that there are definitely some parts that companies can take home from our handbook, but a handbook should be specific on what you do, not on what you wanna be. Every company will be able to fill out their own handbook over time.

##### Q: What could slow us down with making sure the enterprise edition is successful?
Losing the interest of the open source community. If someone wants to make a contribution for CE and decides not to merge it because it’s an EE feature for example. Saas will be very important; it will be the largest part of revenue in 2019
A great example of this is Netflix. Everyone knew that video on demand was the future. Netflix however started shipping dvds over mail. They knew that it would get them a database of content that people would want to watch on demand. Timing is everything.
GitHub is longer around, but we feel it’s still early. Tools don’t collaborate and we can try to do a better job than our competition.

##### Q: If an EE customer wants to pay for us to develop a specific feature, how do we manage this?
It’s great someone wants to pay to have a feature built, it means they really need it. However, we will not make a custom version of GitLab, even gitlab.com is running on EE, we move faster that way. Working this was minimizes technical complexity to determine features to follow after, it’s a trade off to make. This doesn’t mean that no is always going to stay no. Dmitriy was against open projects. We keep an open mind for improvements.

##### Q: What do you think are the things that could slow us down in the future that we should be aware of as a team and product?
A few things have come up, and we feel the best example is proposing 2 month release cycle. The argument was that we have a lot of bug fixes every time and it would give us more time to make a feature. We don’t feel that is the case. We aim to make the absolute smallest thing possible other wise it will slow you down. We would love to work on a 2 week release cycle but that should be another conversation.

##### Q: Do we split up cost on how we invest our cash?
It’s hard to be open about financials; it’s easy when everything is going well but very hard when it’s not. We try to be open to our team as we go along but it will hurt being open to the outside world about this in the future.

##### Q: Why do we work on Gogs, since it looks kind of similar to what we do at GitLab?
Gogs has a similarity with the core function of GitLab. Many times with competitors, we feel we can do the same, we can make that feature, we can add it to GitLab. What Gogs does is similar to GitLab but with less CPU and memory which is very difficult for us. Since it can host repositories for personal projects of a few people we feel it’s complementary to GitLab since we don’t service that target audience. There is still a place in the market for this tool and it’s genuinely useful so let’s make sure it’s a great tool for people to use. If you’re using GitLab and want to downgrade or are using Gogs and need more, the integration is simple and easy.

##### Q: When do you feel we should do an IPO?
Basically you can do an IPO when you have $100 million in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR). After we cross that threshold we can start thinking about IPO, before that we’re too small.

##### Q: What do you feel are the challenges in becoming the number one solution that companies standardize on?
If we can make a product that is strong with all features from idea to production, and it works well, then you have a chance. It should have benefits that you can only have with an integrated product, such as Cycle Analytics.

##### Q: Is it worth investing in trying to win the open source market from our competitors?
Our plan is to start with becoming the most popular tool for people’s own git hosting service; we’ve managed that so far. Secondly we want to get to be the one with the most revenue. Thirdly we want to become the most popular tool for hosting private repos. Once we’ve reached that we want to be the most popular tool for hosting public repos and lastly we want to be the number one tool for people to host not code but books, tech papers, visual models. movies etc. More info on this is on our [strategy page](https://about.gitlab.com/strategy/)
<commit_msg>Update culture page.<commit_after>---
layout: markdown_page
title: "GitLab 101"
---
### GitLab 101

During the monthly GitLab 101 call with new hires and the CEO where we talk about the following topics. This is a zoom call (please make sure there is no Google Hangout link in the invite). The agenda is below, urls are expanded so you can click on them when we paste this in the calendar invite:

1. Overview of the GitLab history [https://about.gitlab.com/about/]](https://about.gitlab.com/about/)
1. Our values [https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/#values](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/#values)
1. Everyone introduces themselves using the order in the calendar invite. What do you do at GitLab? Why did you join GitLab? What do you enjoy in your private life (quirky details are encouraged)? Did you already have 10 virtual coffee breaks? If you already had 10 are you open to more?
1. Team structure [https://about.gitlab.com/team/structure/org-chart/](https://about.gitlab.com/team/structure/org-chart/)
1. How we work [https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/#general-guidelines](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/#general-guidelines)
1. Q&A, which results in the FAQ below, this is done by a people ops person that joins the call.

### Frequently Asked Questions about the GitLab Culture

##### Q: understand that one of the two largest telecommunications operators in the United States wanted to copy our handbook?
We feel that there are definitely some parts that companies can take home from our handbook, but a handbook should be specific on what you do, not on what you wanna be. Every company will be able to fill out their own handbook over time.

##### Q: What could slow us down with making sure the enterprise edition is successful?
Losing the interest of the open source community. If someone wants to make a contribution for CE and decides not to merge it because it’s an EE feature for example. Saas will be very important; it will be the largest part of revenue in 2019
A great example of this is Netflix. Everyone knew that video on demand was the future. Netflix however started shipping dvds over mail. They knew that it would get them a database of content that people would want to watch on demand. Timing is everything.
GitHub is longer around, but we feel it’s still early. Tools don’t collaborate and we can try to do a better job than our competition.

##### Q: If an EE customer wants to pay for us to develop a specific feature, how do we manage this?
It’s great someone wants to pay to have a feature built, it means they really need it. However, we will not make a custom version of GitLab, even gitlab.com is running on EE, we move faster that way. Working this was minimizes technical complexity to determine features to follow after, it’s a trade off to make. This doesn’t mean that no is always going to stay no. Dmitriy was against open projects. We keep an open mind for improvements.

##### Q: What do you think are the things that could slow us down in the future that we should be aware of as a team and product?
A few things have come up, and we feel the best example is proposing 2 month release cycle. The argument was that we have a lot of bug fixes every time and it would give us more time to make a feature. We don’t feel that is the case. We aim to make the absolute smallest thing possible other wise it will slow you down. We would love to work on a 2 week release cycle but that should be another conversation.

##### Q: Do we split up cost on how we invest our cash?
It’s hard to be open about financials; it’s easy when everything is going well but very hard when it’s not. We try to be open to our team as we go along but it will hurt being open to the outside world about this in the future.

##### Q: Why do we work on Gogs, since it looks kind of similar to what we do at GitLab?
Gogs has a similarity with the core function of GitLab. Many times with competitors, we feel we can do the same, we can make that feature, we can add it to GitLab. What Gogs does is similar to GitLab but with less CPU and memory which is very difficult for us. Since it can host repositories for personal projects of a few people we feel it’s complementary to GitLab since we don’t service that target audience. There is still a place in the market for this tool and it’s genuinely useful so let’s make sure it’s a great tool for people to use. If you’re using GitLab and want to downgrade or are using Gogs and need more, the integration is simple and easy.

##### Q: When do you feel we should do an IPO?
Basically you can do an IPO when you have $100 million in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR). After we cross that threshold we can start thinking about IPO, before that we’re too small.

##### Q: What do you feel are the challenges in becoming the number one solution that companies standardize on?
If we can make a product that is strong with all features from idea to production, and it works well, then you have a chance. It should have benefits that you can only have with an integrated product, such as Cycle Analytics.

##### Q: Is it worth investing in trying to win the open source market from our competitors?
Our plan is to start with becoming the most popular tool for people’s own git hosting service; we’ve managed that so far. Secondly we want to get to be the one with the most revenue. Thirdly we want to become the most popular tool for hosting private repos. Once we’ve reached that we want to be the most popular tool for hosting public repos and lastly we want to be the number one tool for people to host not code but books, tech papers, visual models. movies etc. More info on this is on our [strategy page](https://about.gitlab.com/strategy/)

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