Start-Up ClusterHQ Shutting Down

Mark Davis, chairman and CEO of ClusterHQ, posted this article on December 22, 2016 on company’s web site:

When Flocker 0.1 was launched in early August 2014, shortly after the inaugural DockerCon, we were about the only people talking about stateful containers.

ClusterHQ were the first to say that ‘container data management’ was essential for containers to reach their full flowering (if it can be said that containers might flower). We were the first vendor in this space to deliver production-hardened code that solved real problems for DevOps.

Nowadays, seems like everybody is talking about stateful containers. Who will ever forget that intense 4 1/2 minutes on containerized databases in the 2nd Trump-Clinton debate? Yeah, we were definitely on to something. We were proud to be first.

Unfortunately, it’s often the pioneers who end up with arrows in their backs. And sometimes, archery injuries are self-inflicted.

For a confluence of reasons, the ClusterHQ board of directors, of which I am chairman, have decided it best to immediately shut down company operations.

We are proud of many accomplishments, not least of which is leaving behind an outstanding body of open source software which is actively used by many in the container ecosystem.

Along the way to today, ClusterHQ, and its antecedent instantiations, have benefited from many friends, fans, and hard-working supporters. I called these ‘Friends of ClusterHQ’ by the sobriquet ‘FoCkers’. To all the employees, customers, users, investors, advisors, partners, competitors, consultants, analysts, and vendors who helped us – there are thousands of you, and you know who you are – please accept our enduring, deeply felt gratitude.

I’ve been part of big successes as well as failures. While the former are more pleasurable, the latter must be relished as a valuable part of life, especially in Silicon Valley. The big successes are literally impossible without the many failures. Take a moment to think about that.

Philosophical and evolutionary economic ruminations aside, it is deeply disappointing to be at this juncture. It hurts.

All human endeavors are risky. Start-ups are especially so, with failure their most likely end. Still, we hope and strive for better. Here’s to meeting again soon, on another mission of hoping and striving.