Okta for Startups: Free Identity Tools for Entrepreneurs

Director and Vice Chairperson of the Board, Co-Founder and former Chief Operating Officer, Okta

December 6, 2017

As entrepreneurs, we face various challenges: we have to build a business model for something that hasn’t been done before, while building a product or service, and convincing customers of our vision – all on top of getting the core of a business up and running.

2It’s no small undertaking; founding a company is hard. But getting those core systems set up – many of which have been created and refined by experts for years – doesn’t have to be. That’s why today we’re launching Okta for Startups, a program that takes care of the user and access management for both your app and your internal infrastructure.

With Okta for Startups, young and growing organizations will be able to use Okta’s identity tools for up to 25 employees, contractors and partners through the Okta Identity Cloud for free. And any organization that wants to use Okta’s API offerings to build secure user management into their web or mobile app will also have the option to use Okta’s APIs for up to 20,000 annual monthly active users. That means developers and business leaders can easily manage the rapidly growing network of people, applications and devices connected to a business – all at no cost.

We’ve built a powerful network at Okta, and we believe in the potential for the next generation to help drive the industry forward. We’re proud to offer this new program to enable new and growing companies like Agile Stacks, a startup that makes it easier to quickly implement a full stack DevOps automation for cloud environments, and People.ai, a Y Combinator grad that helps align sales and marketing through data. Now startups like these can focus on what’s most important when they’re getting started – their core business and customers – by making it easy (and free) to build a foundation of identity and access management into your app or company infrastructure.

If you’re interested in taking Okta for Startups for a trial run, or would like to get more information, reach out to our team at [email protected].

Frederic Kerrest

Director and Vice Chairperson of the Board, Co-Founder and former Chief Operating Officer, Okta

Frederic Kerrest is the Vice Chairman and co-founder of Okta and has been a director since July 2009. He served as Okta’s Chief Operating Officer from 2009 to November 2023, during which time he was responsible for Okta's day-to-day operations and worked with employees, partners, and customers to deliver on our vision of freeing everyone to safely use any technology. As a key member of management, Frederic helped set corporate priorities to drive success for Okta and our customers. He oversaw corporate strategy, corporate development, strategic partnerships, and Okta’s social impact arm, Okta for Good.

Prior to Okta, Frederic worked in sales and business development at Salesforce.com, and in venture capital at Hummer Winblad Venture Partners.

Frederic is the author of Zero to IPO, a Wall Street Journal-bestselling guidebook to building startups based on his own experiences, as well as those of some of the world’s most successful and recognizable entrepreneurs. The book was an outgrowth of his award-winning podcast of the same name, which features Silicon Valley founders, investors, and entrepreneurs sharing insights from their experiences building businesses. He advises early-stage software companies and serves as a Member of the MIT Corporation Visiting Committee for the Sloan School of Management.

Frederic earned a B.S. in computer science from Stanford University, and an M.B.A. in entrepreneurship and innovation from the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he was the recipient of the 2008 MIT Patrick J. McGovern, Jr. Entrepreneurship Award..

Okta for Startups: Free Identity Tools for Entrepreneurs

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