The observability market is facing several challenges, including high costs and ineffective root cause analysis. Bob Quillin, CEO and Co-Founder of ControlTheory, is working to address these issues with his 12th startup. Quillin and his team, who previously worked together at Oracle Cloud, are developing a solution that leverages feedback loops and adds intelligence to observability systems.

The founders of ControlTheory have a background in building scalable services and working with CNCF standards. They identified inefficiencies in the observability market, including high costs and vendor lock-in. Current observability tools are often brittle and rely on one-way data pipes, resulting in high ingestion, indexing, and retention costs.

ControlTheory’s solution involves introducing feedback loops and intelligence into observability systems. This approach is based on ControlTheory principles, which have been influential in shaping the concept of observability. By focusing on controllability, the company aims to enhance the existing observability ecosystem.

The company’s solution is designed to provide customers with the data they need, when they need it, without requiring changes to their current infrastructure. This could potentially reduce costs and improve root cause analysis.

The observability market is evolving, and ControlTheory’s solution is one of several approaches being developed to address its challenges. The company’s focus on controllability and intelligent data delivery is a key aspect of its strategy.

In an interview, Quillin discussed the company’s vision and approach. “We’ve been in the observability space for most of our careers. We started looking at it more closely about two years ago and kept wondering: why is it so broken?” he said. “There’s a lot of frustration. Many customers feel like they’re paying too much or that costs are spiraling out of control.”

Quillin and his team are working to address these issues with their innovative solution. By introducing intelligence and feedback loops into observability systems, they aim to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of observability.

Guest: Bob Quillin
Company: ControlTheory
Show: KubeStruck