# Jiten Vaidya

> Jiten Vaidya is the co-founder and former CEO of PlanetScale, with a career in backend infrastructure at Google, YouTube and Dropbox and service at the US Digital Service. He managed YouTube teams operating Vitess, helped build a business around the technology, and now works as an independent advisor, investor and executive coach.

- **Role:** Independent advisor, investor and executive coach; PlanetScale co-founder and board member
- **Organizations:** PlanetScale, Google, YouTube, Endorse, Dropbox, US Digital Service, Rocicorp, Replay, Metaphor, Responsive, Requestly, Spenza, Unlogged, Ola Krutrim, Namespace
- **Education:** Bachelor of Technology in Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
- **Known for:** Co-founded PlanetScale, a company built around the open source Vitess database scaling system., Led YouTube database administration and site reliability engineering teams operating Vitess., Led PlanetScale through its early funding rounds; total funding reached $55 million in June 2021.

## Career timeline

- **1984-1988** — Attended IIT Bombay, studying chemical engineering.
- **2005-2012** — Worked at Google and YouTube; managed database administration and site reliability engineering teams operating Vitess at YouTube.
- **2012** — Left Google for Endorse.
- **2013** — Joined Dropbox following its acquisition of Endorse.
- **2017** — Served with the US Digital Service; a 2019 interview describes a four-month Washington assignment.
- **2018** — Co-founded PlanetScale with Sugu Sougoumarane, commercializing services around Vitess.
- **2021-05** — PlanetScale launched its developer-focused database offering.
- **2021-06** — PlanetScale announced a $30 million Series B, bringing total funding to $55 million.
- **2021-07-19** — Announced Sam Lambert as CEO and his own transition to chief strategy officer, retaining a board seat.
- **2023** — Began working part time as an independent advisor, investor and executive coach, according to his personal biography.

## Achievements

- Co-founded PlanetScale, a company built around the open source Vitess database scaling system.
- Led YouTube database administration and site reliability engineering teams operating Vitess.
- Led PlanetScale through its early funding rounds; total funding reached $55 million in June 2021.
- Oversaw PlanetScale during the launch of its developer-focused database in May 2021.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — Research check: his public LinkedIn profile describes him as an independent advisor, executive coach and board member; Namespace lists him among its investors and advisors. This is a verification date, not a newly announced appointment.
- **2024-04** — Named as a scheduled speaker for an international faculty development program on April 27, 2024, in the organizer’s brochure.

## Links

- Website: https://jitenvaidya.carrd.co/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jitenvaidya
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/yaempiricist

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/jiten-vaidya
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-16