How Two French Engineers In New York Built The Company That Monitors The Entire Cloud
Jul 24, 2026 · 30:30
Olivier Pomel, CEO of Datadog, recounts how two French engineers in New York built the company that monitors the entire cloud, starting with a Y Combinator rejection that became a driving force. He attributes Datadog’s success to staying close to raw customer feedback and support tickets, building culture by example rather than writing it down, and betting early on the cloud explosion. Datadog now employs 8,000 people and offers 20–25 products. Pomel reveals that the company went public on COVID lockdown day, saw its stock drop 65% in two weeks, and recovered through consistent storytelling to public investors. On AI, his co-founder told engineers that in two quarters they would not be writing any code anymore; Datadog is investing in agents and smarter observability. His key advice for founders is to move faster on both hiring and firing, since hiring quickly and fixing mistakes beats waiting for the perfect hire.
