Software development scaleup Buildkite has found a new CEO to replace cofounder Keith Pitt, who left the business suddenly five months ago, handing the reins to veteran Silicon Valley exec Kevin Gounden.
The 12-year-old US-Australian business, allows developers to build, test, and deploy software at scale, has been rebuilding its C-suite over the last 18 months under Seattle-based chair Barry Crist, who took control of the board in 2023, including the appointment of former Woolworths, AWS, Apple engineer James Wilson as CTO, Jay Wampold as CMO and Francine Hackett as CFO, following major staff turnover since the start of 2024.
Crist, a 20-year veteran of developer tools, including leading Chef Software, was acting CEO in the interim.
Buildkite was founded in 2013 by Pitt and Tim Lucas, who was co-CEO, but exited the business in 2022. Pitt departed in March this year without explanation, but remains a major shareholder. Crist said at the time that it was “part of the normal lifecycle of a technology company”.
Software developed through Buildkite is used by more than 1 billion people daily, with Airbnb, Block, Canva, Culture Amp, Elastic, Lyft, Pinterest, Rippling, Shopify, Slack, Tinder and Uber among the client roster.
The software development startup raised a $31 million Series B in 2022, led by OneVentures and AirTree, with Up bank founder Dom Pym also chipping in alongside US firm General Catalyst. It previously raised $28 million in 2020 at a $200 million valuation.
The incoming CEO has more than two decades of experience leading high-growth technology companies and global product organisations. Gouden was recently chief product officer at Lightcast and Randstad, and has been a founder and the CEO of multiple successful SaaS ventures.
“I’m extremely excited to be joining Buildkite at such a pivotal moment for the company, the developer ecosystem, and the software industry as a whole,” said Gounden
“Buildkite’s software delivery platform has become the gold standard for the world’s top companies and engineering teams, and I look forward to working with this talented team to accelerate our product innovation, extend our global impact, and help more customers of every size and type deliver world-class software with confidence.”
Crist said Gouden “brings exceptional product leadership, technical depth, and entrepreneurial drive” to Buildkite
“His experience scaling global technology businesses and developing enterprise-grade solutions makes him the ideal CEO to guide Buildkite’s next chapter of growth and innovation.”
Buildkite is based in San Francisco and Melbourne.
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