At MongoDB our goal isn't to dominate the somewhat staid $30 billion operational database market. That's too small. Instead, our goal is to enable trillions of dollars in new market opportunities for a vast array of organizations. For this and other reasons, CNBC has named MongoDB to the CNBC Disruptor 50 list, an annual list of venture-backed private companies that "are shaking up the landscape, threatening the status quo across industries and for specific market leaders." As a CNBC Disruptor, MongoDB joins honorees Uber, Etsy, Dropbox, Palantir, GitHub and SpaceX.

Clearly, MongoDB is in good company. And just as clearly, in response to a recent Wall Street Journal headline, innovation is not dead. If anything, with MongoDB the world of Big Data is just beginning.

It's a great honor to be recognized by CNBC for MongoDB's accomplishments and our ambition, especially given that we're the only database company to make the list. It's also a testament to the hard work that MongoDB and its vibrant community have invested for the past seven years, ever since MongoDB co-founders Dwight Merriman, Eliot Horowitz and Kevin Ryan set out to build the database they wished they'd had at DoubleClick.

Disruption Is In The MongoDB DNA

Today tens of thousands of organizations deploy MongoDB to build and scale all manner of applications, from product catalogs and content management systems to enterprise data hubs and mobile apps. While many MongoDB deployments involve displacing 40-year old relational database technology CNBC pegs MongoDB to disrupt relational database stalwarts like Oracle, IBM and Microsoft, a rising percentage involves organizations of all types and sizes turning to MongoDB to build applications that were impossible until now.

In fact, many of those named to CNBC's Disruptor 50 list depend on MongoDB to run their businesses.

One company not on CNBC's list, but which has proved to be an impressive innovator is MetLife, which struggled for a decade to align more than 70 different data sources and IT systems in order to get one, comprehensive view of its customer data. In 2013 MetLife turned to MongoDB to create “the Wall," getting to a workable pilot in just two weeks and full production in a mere 90 days, thanks to the flexibility of MongoDB's data model. This Facebook-like interface combines all the data on a customer so agents have a full picture of the customer’s relationship with MetLife during every interaction.

This single view of the customer was virtually impossible with a relational database. It was simple with MongoDB.

Such success stories illustrate why MongoDB has become so popular. They also underline why MongoDB has the industry's largest, fastest-growing Big Data community, and is blessed with an exceptional ecosystem of business partners like Cloudera, IBM and Red Hat, as well as an incredible developer community.

CNBC's Definition Of Disruption

When evaluating 522 of the industry's most disruptive companies, CNBC ranks companies according to a proprietary blend of quantitative and qualitative assessments of a number of criteria. While CNBC doesn't reveal its methodology, it does note a "common denominator":

All of these companies entered traditional sectors and turned them upside down. It's not about one product or delivery method. It's the power of a company to displace the established incumbents in its own industry, prompting a ripple effect throughout its economic ecosystem. A true disruptor's power is seen in its effects on multiple industries—and its ability to disrupt the public giants.

This explains MongoDB's impact exceptionally well. The market is huge and, if MongoDB's market disruption continues as planned, we should help to make an exceptionally large database market much, much bigger. Importantly, while many Fortune 500 organizations depend on MongoDB, adoption often starts with a single developer, as was the case with the City of Chicago's MongoDB-based predictive analytics platform.

By enabling this new generation of "kingmakers," MongoDB is poised to change the way organizations interact with their data...forever.