April 5th, 2026

Thanks and Onward, 2026

Thanks and Onward, 2026

Gemini wouldn't remove the bird...

"Thanks and onward!" was how our first lead investor at Iron.io in 2011 signed the seed round closing docs email.

It then became the title of my blog post announcing the close of the acquisition in 2017 when we joined Oracle.

And now, almost 10 years after the acquisition, the same title is announcing the close of my time at Oracle.

Joining Oracle

We first joined Oracle to fork IronFunctions into the Fn Project and build Oracle Functions. Iron.io started as a Ruby company, and ended as a Golang shop, but ironically we launched the Fn Project at JavaOne 2017. Little did I know that two years later I would join that same Java team as an "outsider".

Former founders, particularly CEOs, rarely last at big companies. We spend our days storming the hill with a vision and few rules, few restraints, and even fewer people telling us no.

Big companies, by contrast, are intentionally designed to slow you down with rules, restraints, and armies of "no" people. This works. They survive both because of this, and in spite of it. Which is why my 9 years here were so unexpected. How did that happen?

The Java team

First, I had all 3 of my kids there, and we built our home up in Marin (north of San Francisco). So the season was right.

Also, getting stuff done in a corporate environment can be a satisfying accomplishment in and of itself. Startups may be unencumbered, but nobody is listening. With a big company machine behind you, everybody is listening.

Another reason was the challenge and scope. Maybe you've heard me say "half the global GDP runs on Java". The size of the market is remarkable, and watching the sentiment shift across the industry and ecosystem as we made steady progress was a lot of fun.

Finally, the enduring reason was the culture of the Java team. Humble, driven, long-term oriented, stewardship-minded. Part of this comes from the Sun Microsystems days, and part from the great leadership of my boss Georges Saab. The downstream effect was a set of amazing peers and the latitude to hire and build incredible teams.

A few things we accomplished:

  • Hired and led a world-class devrel and education group with zero attrition
  • Turned Java's YouTube into a powerhouse of engaging content resulting in rapid compound growth across all metrics
  • Launched Dev.java, Inside.java, Learn.java, the Java Playground, and grew OpenJDK.org
  • Partnered with the College Board to modernize the AP CS A exams and teaching infrastructure taken by nearly 100k students every year
  • Shifted the market perception through 17 new releases of Java and continual briefings with the media, press, analysts, customers, educators, publishers, and more.
  • Brought JavaOne back to California with a parallel educators summit
  • Launched successful podcasts, one of which my daughter starred in when she was 3
  • Assisted the sales and renewals of the business to grow to thousands of customers
  • Ramped up an AI program aligning Java, OpenJDK, Helidon, and the ecosystem, to prepare for Java's role in the future of software development

Ultimately my work spanned developer relations, education, product, engineering, marketing, and the broader ecosystem, to "turn the ship around". This was challenging, rewarding, fulfilling, and fun!

There are too many people to thank, but thank you to all in my group who trusted and joined me on the journey.

What's Next?

After my first startup AllDorm.com, I spent a few months (in the "Saratoga House pool") deciding what I wanted to do with my life. That was in 2005. Now for the first time since then, I'm in that pool again, but this time without the sun beer, and an amazing family by my side.

There is so much going on at companies of all sizes especially with the explosion of AI platforms and tools. My plan is to start building again and just go have conversations. We'll see where that leads.

And then there are wild ideas like buying some land out of California and building the farm we've talked about. Who knows! I trust in God's plan.

Keep in Touch

If you'd like to connect, hit me up on LinkedIn, X, or hello@chad.cm.