Docker founder Solomon Hykes announced on the Docker blog today that he has officially left Docker and will no longer be involved in the day-to-day operations of the company.

Solomon Hykes said he will be a board member, a major shareholder and a Docker maintainer in the future, but will no longer be responsible for day-to-day work at the company.

Docker founder Solomon Hykes, 34, said he had mixed feelings about the announcement.

Hykes ten years

Ten years ago, he and his friends Kamel Founadi and Sebastien Pahl co-founded a company called Dotcloud with the goal of using a technology called containers to create what they call “tools of mass innovation” : programming tools that anyone can use. He was 24 years old, he didn’t know what he was supposed to do, and their company needed a CEO, so that became a new role for Solomon Hykes.

Five years ago, Dotcloud became Docker, a team of five people: Eric Bardin, Sam Alba, Jerome Petazzoni, Julien Barbier and Solomon Hykes himself. The company grew quickly and hired an experienced CEO to keep it that way. Solomon Hykes was 29 years old at the time and wanted to continue to shine. Docker needed a CTO, so Solomon Hykes became Docker’s CTO.

Docker turmoil

Docker has had some turbulence over the years, but in fact, it’s this kind of corporate focus that may be helping Docker raise $250 million in the foreseeable future.

The company has had its ups and downs, with many experts expecting it to be shut down or sold at various points, but it has quietly plotted its way forward over the past two years, announcing its embrace of Kubernetes at a time when container hype was largely focused on the Google-led Kubernetes project. (related: https://www.oschina.net/news/89767/docker-support-kubernetes)

“Docker works without me”

Hykes said in his farewell letter that under the leadership of legendary CEO Steve Singer, Docker has transformed into a developer community with rapidly growing revenues and millions of developers. Docker is now in a position where it can carry on without him. “When you start a company, your job is to make sure it can one day succeed without you,” he says.