Cockroach Labs, founded by former Google employees, aims to create a resilient, scalable, and user-friendly database system named CockroachDB, inspired by the adaptability and robustness of cockroaches. The founders' journey began with addressing the limitations of traditional databases during their tenure at Google, where they encountered issues like application-level sharding and the complexities introduced by the NoSQL movement. After leaving Google to work on a photo-sharing platform, they struggled with existing open-source infrastructure, which motivated them to develop CockroachDB as an open-source solution designed to handle vast amounts of data while maintaining consistency and ease of use. With its launch, CockroachDB invites developers to utilize and contribute to a platform that prioritizes simplification and seamless scalability.