Coredge
| Role | Product Manager |
|---|---|
| Product | dFlare |
| Company | Coredge (Adani Group) |
| Work Duration | Dec 2022 to May 2024 |
| Product Life Cycle Stage | Introduction |
| Major Stakeholders | Developers, Designers, DevOps, Testers, Marketing, Sales, Technical Writers, Clients, C-Level Executives |
I had the exciting opportunity to build Dflare, our Workspace-as-a-Service platform, right from the ground up at Coredge. My goal was to give developers and AI specialists a cloud-based workspace that’s powerful, easy to access, and gets them coding or training models in minutes, not days.
The Challenge We Took On
We saw that developers, especially those working with AI, were often bogged down by long setup times just to get their environments ready. Startups and smaller companies, in particular, struggled with the high cost of powerful computing resources. We wanted to change that by making high-performance, isolated cloud desktops accessible and affordable.
Finding Our Way
Before building Dflare, we dove deep into what developers really needed. We looked at a rapidly growing cloud services market and saw a clear demand for flexible, remote work solutions. We talked to potential users – from individual developers frustrated with tedious onboarding to AI startup founders needing a cost-effective way to train their models. We also checked out what others were doing, learning from both their successes and the common pain points users experienced with existing DaaS solutions, like complexity and unpredictable costs.
Our Solution: Dflare
Dflare became our answer. It’s a cloud-based workspace designed to:
- Get you started fast: Access pre-configured Windows or Linux desktops with all your essential tools, like Git, Python, and Java, directly from your browser.
- Power your most demanding work: Integrated with high-performance GPUs (like A100s and H100s) for those heavy AI/ML tasks.
- Be where you are: Work from any device, anywhere.
- Simplify everything: Easy desktop creation, management, and resource scaling, so you can focus on your code, not the setup.
- Keep your data safe and sound: Manageable volumes ensure your work persists, and you can easily connect to your data in GIT, S3, and more.
Bringing Dflare to Life
Building Dflare was a true "from scratch" adventure. We designed and developed its core components – from the user interface and backend APIs to the complex controllers that manage the workspaces and stream them to users, all orchestrated with Kubernetes. It was a collaborative effort, working closely with our engineering and design teams to turn the vision into a reality.
Overcoming Hurdles
Creating a platform like Dflare from the ground up naturally came with its challenges. We tackled the technical complexities of building a robust and scalable SaaS solution head-on. A key focus was making Dflare stand out by being genuinely easy to use and addressing the common frustrations users had with other DaaS offerings.
Impact & Recognition
Dflare was built to make a real difference – slashing environment setup times, empowering developers with the tools they need instantly, and offering a cost-effective way for businesses to leverage high-performance cloud computing.
I'm incredibly proud that Dflare's impact has been recognized:
- Awarded the "Digital Transformation Award" in Leh (see here).
- Showcased at GPAI (Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence) 2023 (gpai.ai).
- Featured at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 (vibrantgujarat.com).
My Role & Contributions
As the Product Manager for Dflare, I drove the product from its initial concept through to its realization. This involved:
- Shaping the Vision: Authoring the Product Requirements Document that laid the foundation for Dflare.
- Understanding Our Users & Market: Leading market and competitive research to ensure Dflare met real-world needs.
- Championing User Experience: Developing user personas and flows, and working with design on prototypes to create an intuitive platform.
- Bridging Tech & Product: Defining the technical requirements and architecture for Dflare's robust infrastructure.
- Ensuring Quality: Outlining the testing strategy to deliver a reliable and high-performing service.
It's been a rewarding journey bringing Dflare to life and seeing it empower developers and innovators!