Egil Østhus, CEO of Unleash: $16.5 Million Raised to Build the Future of Feature Management

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Egil Osthus, CEO of Unleash, a feature management platform that’s raised over $16.5 Million in funding, about why these days every company is a software company, and streamlining the software development pipeline is basically an essential service. Unleash provides an open source, developer-led solution combined with tailor made solutions for their enterprise clients, keeping them at the cutting edge of innovation and clearly differentiated from the competition.

We also spoke about how Norway’s transition away from oil and towards a greener economy is setting the stage for a flourishing startup economy, with low-cost developers ready to set their sights on the  tech sector’s toughest challenges, why unleash retained a die-hard commitment to open source software despite its tensions with the commercial side of their business, and why the developer space is very resistant to traditional marketing strategies, forcing Unleash to always push for the perfect product-market fit.

Topics Discussed:

• Egil’s experiences in the Norwegian tech economy, and why the coming green transition promises fertile ground for its emerging tech sector
• Why development and testing in a risk-free environment are critical to successful software releases, and how Unleash makes sure everything goes smoothly
• Why these days every company is a software company, giving Unleash ample space for market expansion
• How Unleash overcomes the tension between open-source software development and the financial imperatives of a commercial enterprise, retaining their die-hard commitment to the open source developer community
• Why developers are so resistant to traditional marketing approaches, and how Unleash leverages their open source software to nourish commercial clients
• Why Egil feels listening is the most important skill for keeping ahead of customer preferences, letting them leverage a competitive advantage in terms of detail