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# Lessons from Neha Narkhede
- URL: https://www.antoinebuteau.com/lessons-from-neha-narkhede/
- Published: 2026-07-01T20:55:51.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-18T21:35:38.000Z
- Description: Neha Narkhede co-created Apache Kafka and co-founded Confluent before founding Oscilar, connecting real-time data infrastructure to fraud detection and risk management while examining distributed systems, open-source scale, and the experience of building as a female founder.
- Author: Antoine Buteau
- Tags: Profile, Tech Entrepreneurs & Founders Profiles

![Visual summary of operating lessons from Neha Narkhede.](https://www.antoinebuteau.com/content/images/2026/07/lessons-from-neha-narkhede-profile-infographic.webp)

## Lessons from Neha Narkhede

Neha Narkhede co-created Apache Kafka and co-founded Confluent, building the open-source infrastructure that handles real-time data streams for thousands of companies. She later founded Oscilar to apply real-time data to fraud detection and risk management. This collection gathers her practical advice on distributed systems, scaling open-source software, and navigating the tech industry as a founder and female leader.

### Part 1: The Origin of Apache Kafka

1. **On the initial problem:** "We observed that our internal systems were struggling to handle the massive influx of user data." — [*Source: \[Microsoft Behind the Tech*](https://news.microsoft.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
2. **On the LinkedIn scale:** "Kafka was born from the necessity to manage real-time data streams as LinkedIn scaled." — [*Source: \[Forbes*](https://www.forbes.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
3. **On early limitations:** "Existing messaging systems were simply not designed for the volume and latency requirements of a global social network." — [*Source: \[Confluent Blog*](https://www.confluent.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
4. **On architectural philosophy:** "Our idea was that instead of focusing on holding piles of data... we would focus on treating data as a continually evolving and ever-growing stream." — [*Source: \[Kafka: The Definitive Guide*](https://www.oreilly.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
5. **On identifying the pattern:** "We realized other companies were encountering the same problems with user data that we had solved at LinkedIn." — [*Source: \[Forbes*](https://www.forbes.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
6. **On building for developers:** "The goal was to build a system that could capture data in motion and utilize it in real-time." — [*Source: \[Microsoft Behind the Tech*](https://news.microsoft.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
7. **On the central nervous system:** "We view our technology as a central nervous system for companies that aggregates data and makes sense of it within milliseconds, at scale." — [*Source: \[Innovators Under 35*](https://www.innovatorsunder35.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
8. **On open-sourcing Kafka:** "Why we wanted to open source it is... this trend that technology companies are going to essentially be defined in software." — [*Source: \[Microsoft Behind the Tech*](https://news.microsoft.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
9. **On taking the leap:** "Founding Confluent was a natural next step to bring what we built to the broader market." — [*Source: \[Forbes*](https://www.forbes.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*

### Part 2: Open Source Strategy

1. **On bottom-up adoption:** "Open source allows you to build a community of developers who champion your product from within their organizations." — [*Source: \[First Round Review*](https://review.firstround.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
2. **On monetizing open source:** "The key to monetizing is offering enterprise features that solve organizational pain points, without restricting the core developer experience." — [*Source: \[First Round Review*](https://review.firstround.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
3. **On community feedback:** "An active open source community acts as an extended product team, testing limits and surfacing novel use cases." — [*Source: \[Confluent Blog*](https://www.confluent.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
4. **On the cloud transition:** "Moving an open source project to a managed cloud service removes the operational burden for developers, allowing them to focus on building apps." — [*Source: \[First Round Review*](https://review.firstround.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
5. **On maintaining trust:** "You have to be extremely clear about what is free and open, and what constitutes a paid, closed-source feature." — [*Source: \[First Round Review*](https://review.firstround.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
6. **On developer marketing:** "Developers don't want to be sold to. They want tools that solve their immediate problems elegantly." — [*Source: \[First Round Review*](https://review.firstround.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
7. **On open source governance:** "Guiding an open source project requires balancing the needs of the community with the strategic direction of the company." — [*Source: \[Confluent Blog*](https://www.confluent.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
8. **On enterprise readiness:** "Open source gets you in the door, but enterprise readiness—security, compliance, and support—closes the deal." — [*Source: \[First Round Review*](https://review.firstround.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
9. **On category creation:** "Creating a new category means you spend as much time educating the market on the problem as you do selling the solution." — [*Source: \[Confluent Blog*](https://www.confluent.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*

### Part 3: Scaling Engineering and Infrastructure

1. **On the evolution of data:** "Data is no longer a static asset resting in a database; it is a fluid stream that powers real-time decisions." — [*Source: \[Kafka: The Definitive Guide*](https://www.oreilly.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
2. **On decoupling systems:** "A highly scalable architecture relies on decoupled systems that can operate independently and communicate asynchronously." — [*Source: \[Confluent Blog*](https://www.confluent.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
3. **On handling failure:** "At scale, failure is not an anomaly; it is a constant. Systems must be designed to gracefully recover without human intervention." — [*Source: \[Kafka: The Definitive Guide*](https://www.oreilly.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
4. **On stream processing:** "Processing data as it arrives, rather than in nightly batches, fundamentally changes how businesses respond to users." — [*Source: \[Confluent Blog*](https://www.confluent.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
5. **On infrastructure as a service:** "The best infrastructure is invisible to the developer using it." — [*Source: \[Microsoft Behind the Tech*](https://news.microsoft.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
6. **On distributed systems complexity:** "Building distributed systems means embracing trade-offs between consistency, availability, and partition tolerance." — [*Source: \[Kafka: The Definitive Guide*](https://www.oreilly.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
7. **On horizontal scaling:** "We built Kafka so that adding capacity is as simple as adding another node to the cluster." — [*Source: \[Confluent Blog*](https://www.confluent.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
8. **On fault tolerance:** "Data replication is critical, but it must be done efficiently so it doesn't become a bottleneck." — [*Source: \[Kafka: The Definitive Guide*](https://www.oreilly.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
9. **On continuous delivery:** "Infrastructure teams must operate with the same agility and continuous delivery cadence as product teams." — [*Source: \[Confluent Blog*](https://www.confluent.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
10. **On the future of infrastructure:** "The infrastructure of the future will increasingly manage itself, allowing engineers to focus entirely on business logic." — [*Source: \[Microsoft Behind the Tech*](https://news.microsoft.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*

### Part 4: The Real-Time Paradigm

1. **On real-time as DNA:** "Real time is in our DNA. Everything we build is centered around acting on data the moment it is generated." — [*Source: \[Fintech Nexus*](https://www.fintechnexus.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
2. **On batch processing limitations:** "Batch processing forces businesses to look in the rearview mirror. Real-time allows them to steer." — [*Source: \[Confluent Blog*](https://www.confluent.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
3. **On customer expectations:** "Today’s consumers expect personalized, immediate interactions. You can't deliver that on yesterday's data." — [*Source: \[Microsoft Behind the Tech*](https://news.microsoft.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
4. **On event-driven architectures:** "An event-driven architecture accurately models how things happen in the real world—as a series of discrete events." — [*Source: \[Kafka: The Definitive Guide*](https://www.oreilly.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
5. **On software-defined business:** "Not just use more software, but literally all the actions and decisions in a company happen through software." — [*Source: \[Microsoft Behind the Tech*](https://news.microsoft.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
6. **On real-time analytics:** "The value of data decays rapidly over time. Analyzing it in real-time maximizes its utility." — [*Source: \[Confluent Blog*](https://www.confluent.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
7. **On competitive advantage:** "Moving from batch to real-time is a monumental shift that defines the competitive edge of modern enterprises." — [*Source: \[Forbes*](https://www.forbes.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
8. **On legacy systems:** "Transitioning away from legacy databases requires a fundamental rethink of how state is managed across an organization." — [*Source: \[Confluent Blog*](https://www.confluent.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
9. **On the ubiquity of streams:** "We think virtually every company would benefit from a central data nervous system." — [*Source: \[Innovators Under 35*](https://www.innovatorsunder35.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
10. **On future applications:** "As real-time processing becomes commoditized, the focus will shift entirely to the intelligence layered on top of it." — [*Source: \[Fintech Nexus*](https://www.fintechnexus.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*

### Part 5: The Founder’s Mindset

1. **On being uncomfortable:** "You can accomplish a lot of things. And at the same time, you are uncomfortable almost most of the time." — [*Source: \[Microsoft Behind the Tech*](https://news.microsoft.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
2. **On the nature of growth:** "Uncertainty often leads to personal growth, pushing you to navigate challenges you didn't know you could handle." — [*Source: \[Forbes*](https://www.forbes.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
3. **On identity:** "I've learned to embrace my own unique background that truly makes me who I am today." — [*Source: \[Forbes*](https://www.forbes.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
4. **On taking the first step:** "Starting a company is an irrational act of optimism. You have to believe in the vision more than the statistics of failure." — [*Source: \[First Round Review*](https://review.firstround.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
5. **On failure:** "My personal mantra is to fail fast and keep moving." — [*Source: \[Forbes*](https://www.forbes.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
6. **On defining success:** "Building a billion-dollar company is a milestone, not the finish line." — [*Source: \[Forbes*](https://www.forbes.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
7. **On continuous learning:** "The role of a founder changes every six months. If you aren't learning at that pace, you become the bottleneck." — [*Source: \[First Round Review*](https://review.firstround.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
8. **On solving bigger problems:** "After Confluent, I wanted to tackle an even bigger problem: making the internet a safer place for everyone." — [*Source: \[Oscilar Blog*](https://oscilar.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
9. **On co-founder dynamics:** "A strong co-founder relationship is built on complementary skills and absolute trust." — [*Source: \[Oscilar Blog*](https://oscilar.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
10. **On long-term vision:** "Technology can scale change — but only purpose gives it meaning." — [*Source: \[Forbes*](https://www.forbes.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*

### Part 6: Leadership and Building Teams

1. **On teamwork:** "Teamwork makes the dream work. You cannot build foundational technology alone." — [*Source: \[Girl Geek X*](https://girlgeek.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
2. **On hiring engineers:** "We look for engineers who are not just technically brilliant, but who deeply care about the customer's problem." — [*Source: \[First Round Review*](https://review.firstround.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
3. **On maintaining culture:** "Culture is not what you write on the wall; it is how the team behaves when things go wrong." — [*Source: \[First Round Review*](https://review.firstround.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
4. **On transparency:** "In a fast-growing startup, transparent communication is the only way to keep everyone rowing in the same direction." — [*Source: \[First Round Review*](https://review.firstround.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
5. **On delegating:** "Leadership means stepping away from the code to build the organization that builds the code." — [*Source: \[First Round Review*](https://review.firstround.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
6. **On engineering management:** "The transition from engineer to manager requires a complete recalibration of how you measure your daily output." — [*Source: \[Girl Geek X*](https://girlgeek.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
7. **On diversity in teams:** "Diverse teams build better products because they challenge underlying assumptions." — [*Source: \[Girl Geek X*](https://girlgeek.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
8. **On resolving conflict:** "Technical disagreements should be resolved through data and prototyping, not by authority." — [*Source: \[First Round Review*](https://review.firstround.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
9. **On setting goals:** "Great teams need ambitious, borderline uncomfortable goals to do their best work." — [*Source: \[First Round Review*](https://review.firstround.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*

### Part 7: Women in Tech and Advocacy

1. **On the glass ceiling:** "You will have to fight extremely hard if you don't have a male cofounder. My first advice is to develop the mental strength to fight many battles." — [*Source: \[Forbes*](https://www.forbes.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
2. **On being judged:** "Women often face the fear of being judged negatively as being too ambitious, while for others, ambition is normalized." — [*Source: \[Girl Geek X*](https://girlgeek.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
3. **On potential vs. experience:** "Men are often assessed based on their future potential, while women are more frequently evaluated based on their past experience." — [*Source: \[Girl Geek X*](https://girlgeek.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
4. **On self-advocacy:** "Make your requests concrete. When negotiating for a promotion, be explicit about what you have achieved and what you expect." — [*Source: \[Girl Geek X*](https://girlgeek.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
5. **On feeling out of place:** "It is okay to feel a little out of place. You have to develop the persistence to keep going." — [*Source: \[Forbes*](https://www.forbes.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
6. **On preparation:** "Write down your points ahead of time to ensure clarity and to keep emotions aside during important conversations." — [*Source: \[Girl Geek X*](https://girlgeek.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
7. **On resilience:** "You must be willing to hear 'no' a few times before eventually reaching a 'yes'." — [*Source: \[Forbes*](https://www.forbes.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
8. **On the ultimate advice:** "My general advice to women engineers is simply: Do not quit." — [*Source: \[Forbes*](https://www.forbes.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
9. **On visibility:** "Speaking at conferences and sharing expertise is crucial for women engineers to build authority and inspire the next generation." — [*Source: \[Girl Geek X*](https://girlgeek.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*

### Part 8: Risk, AI, and Oscilar

1. **On the mission of Oscilar:** "We want to replace fragmented, slow, and inefficient point solutions with a unified AI-powered platform." — [*Source: \[Oscilar Blog*](https://oscilar.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
2. **On financial risk:** "Managing risk is no longer just a compliance exercise; it is a core business enabler in the fintech ecosystem." — [*Source: \[Fintech Nexus*](https://www.fintechnexus.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
3. **On AI in fraud detection:** "AI allows us to detect complex fraud patterns that rules-based systems miss, and it does so in real-time." — [*Source: \[Oscilar Blog*](https://oscilar.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
4. **On no-code solutions:** "Empowering risk operators with no-code tools removes the engineering bottleneck in deploying new fraud models." — [*Source: \[Fintech Nexus*](https://www.fintechnexus.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
5. **On the evolution of data engineering:** "We are moving from data engineering as infrastructure to data engineering as direct business risk control." — [*Source: \[Oscilar Blog*](https://oscilar.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
6. **On system agility:** "Fraudsters evolve constantly. Your risk infrastructure must allow you to adapt your defenses in minutes, not months." — [*Source: \[Fintech Nexus*](https://www.fintechnexus.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
7. **On unified data:** "You cannot make accurate risk decisions if your user data is scattered across five different internal tools." — [*Source: \[Oscilar Blog*](https://oscilar.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
8. **On the next generation of fintech:** "The next wave of financial innovation will be constrained only by our ability to secure those transactions at scale." — [*Source: \[Fintech Nexus*](https://www.fintechnexus.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
9. **On full-circle engineering:** "Applying real-time streaming principles to AI-driven risk management feels like the natural culmination of everything we learned building Kafka." — [*Source: \[Oscilar Blog*](https://oscilar.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*