How GitLab Built a Remote-First Billion Dollar Company

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how GitLab grew from a single open-source repository to a publicly traded company worth billions — all without a physical headquarters. They unpack the specific choices CEO Sid Sijbrandij made that allowed GitLab to scale to over 2,000 employees across 65 countries with no central office. From the company's handbook-first culture to its unusual IPO strategy via a direct listing in October 2021, the hosts dig into one concrete number: GitLab's 2025 revenue of $890 million and how they got there. They also discuss the trade-offs of radical transparency, why GitLab writes down every decision in a public handbook, and what other founders can learn from a company that treats remote work as a core competency, not a perk. If you're building a distributed team or just wondering whether the fully remote model can work at scale, this conversation is for you. #GitLab #SidSijbrandij #RemoteWork #Startup #OpenSource #DirectListing #DevOps #CompanyCulture #HandbookFirst #Scaling #Entrepreneurship #Founders #VentureCapital #IPO #Business #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #StartupStories Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo