# Peter Zaitsev

> Peter Zaitsev is the Durham-based co-founder and former CEO of Percona, an open source database software and services company founded with Vadim Tkachenko in 2006. A former leader of MySQL AB’s High Performance Group and co-author of High Performance MySQL, he now serves as Percona’s Founder, advises technology founders, and is a co-founder of Coroot.

- **Role:** Founder at Percona; Co-founder at Coroot
- **Organizations:** Percona, Coroot, MySQL AB (former), Spylog (co-founder), Altinity, FerretDB, Ivinco, MigOps, Renegade Underdogs, Open Database Alliance
- **Education:** Undergraduate degree and master’s degree in Computer Science, Lomonosov Moscow State University
- **Known for:** Co-founded Percona in 2006 and led it as CEO until 2022., Grew Percona from two people to more than 350 staff without external funding, as described in his 2023 consulting announcement., Co-authored the third edition of High Performance MySQL with Baron Schwartz and Vadim Tkachenko.

## Career timeline

- **1999** — Co-founded web analytics company Spylog while at university.
- **2002** — Joined MySQL AB; later led its High Performance Group.
- **2004** — Moved to the United States while working for MySQL AB, according to his interview with Sramana Mitra.
- **2006** — Left MySQL AB and started Percona with Vadim Tkachenko.
- **2012** — Third edition of High Performance MySQL published, co-authored with Baron Schwartz and Vadim Tkachenko.
- **2022** — Transferred the Percona CEO role to Ann Schlemmer and became Founder.
- **2023** — Launched strategic consulting for open source founders.
- **2024** — Announced joining Coroot as co-founder on January 29.
- **2026** — Continued speaking on open source databases, AI and database operations at Percona Live.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Percona in 2006 and led it as CEO until 2022.
- Grew Percona from two people to more than 350 staff without external funding, as described in his 2023 consulting announcement.
- Co-authored the third edition of High Performance MySQL with Baron Schwartz and Vadim Tkachenko.
- Received the MySQL Rockstar 2022 award; recognition was presented at preFOSDEM MySQL Days in 2023.
- Co-founded Coroot and helped start other open source businesses, including Altinity and FerretDB.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Listed for Percona Live Amsterdam talks on open source database operations in the age of AI and a fireside chat on the columnstore revolution.
- **2026-08** — Discussed AI-assisted and autonomous PostgreSQL with Marc Linster in an interview published by DBtune on August 7.
- **2026-05** — Listed as the speaker for The State of Open Source Database Ecosystem in 2026 at Percona Live Bay Area.
- **2025-10** — Published a welcome message for Percona’s new CEO Peter Farkas.
- **2025-08** — Published an account of his GeeksGoPeaks Svalbard expedition and an essay on open source sales.

## Links

- Website: https://peterzaitsev.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterzaitsev/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/peterzaitsev
- GitHub: https://github.com/peterzaitsev
- Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/peterzaitsev.bsky.social
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peterzaitsev/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/peter.zaitsev

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/peter-zaitsev
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-25