DNSimple, a long-time Ruby Central sponsor, helps businesses simplify domain management, including registration and DNS hosting across multiple providers. Their roots trace back to RubyConf 2010, where CEO Anthony Eden introduced the company to the Ruby community—and the world. Earlier this month, he sat down with us to discuss the growth of DNSimple and how Ruby and Rails and the community have played a key role. 

“When I started DNSimple, I was working as a full-time Ruby developer,” Eden explained. “I knew the Ruby community well, having attended and presented at many events. I knew that I could present a demo during a lightning talk that would resonate with Rubyists, showing a simple Ruby command-line tool where I could register a domain name, so I took the opportunity.” Eden’s decision to launch DNSimple at RubyConf made perfect sense, as it gave him the chance to connect directly with Rubyists, a community that would ultimately help propel the company forward.

The decision to build with Ruby was equally strategic. “In the beginning of DNSimple, we were only two people. I had been working exclusively with Ruby on Rails to build web applications for some time… [and] I knew Rails would get us from zero to launch quickly.” Ruby’s speed of development allowed Eden and his team to keep things lean and efficient, a critical factor for the success of an early-stage company.

Reflecting on how Ruby has continued to help DNSimple grow, Eden highlighted the language’s ability to enable rapid iteration and scalability. “The speed of development that Ruby enabled let DNSimple stay lean and profitable throughout its earliest days, where it really mattered to be efficient.” He also credits the Ruby community with opening doors to new customers and talent. “As DNSimple grew, my connections with the Ruby community helped DNSimple get other successful businesses using Ruby as customers, and we were able to hire Rubyists from that same community due to our long-time support.”

Today, DNSimple’s tech team is structured into two main areas: an application development team and a platform team. The application development team continuously improves the dnsimple.com web application as well as all of the other applications used to integrate DNSimple with both internal and external services.

When it comes to the team, Eden has prioritized three core values: solving customer pain around domain management, building lean systems and automating them, and fostering respect and care for teammates. These are values that also align with Ruby and its community. “Ruby, particularly with frameworks like Rails, enables us to deliver effective solutions without unnecessary complexity,” Eden explains. “It helps us solve customer problems quickly, and we can use Ruby to automate tasks with simple scripts. Ruby also has MINASWAN (Matz is nice, and so we are nice), which aligns well with our focus on caring for our teammates.”

Finally, Eden discussed how the company is exploring new technologies like generative AI—though with caution. “We are investigating whether or not there is value for our customers in using generative AI [in our product],” he said. “But first, we are more focused on how it could potentially help with public information we provide, like support documentation.” 

Through their sponsorship of Ruby Central, DNSimple is not only supporting the community that helped them grow but also contributing to the continued success and stability of the Ruby ecosystem. “One of our sponsorship goals is to ensure that the Ruby ecosystem continues to grow and thrive. We depend on Ruby heavily, and thus, a strong and stable community is very important to us,” Eden concluded.

For startups and companies looking to build products efficiently, Eden advocates for Ruby: “Ruby is a solid language for developing software quickly. There are existing open source projects for almost anything you could want to do with Ruby, and of course, there is Rails, which I believe is still one of the best, if not the best, web frameworks available.” 

For DNSimple, Ruby continues to be the foundation that allows them to deliver great products to their customers. You can meet members of their team at RailsConf 2025 this summer (July 8–10).