"Linkedin built Kafka for massive-scale problems that 99% of us don't have."
What a tool is built for is not the same as what it is good for is not the same as what it is used for... and just like people spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about what happens if they get rich, companies spend a lot of time future proofing for scenarios where they are hugely successful. If nothing else is true about the tech industry, it's certainly true that people misjudge tools and misapply them with alarming regularity, to the point where it is at least as likely that the tool being used is a bad fit for the problem as it is a good fit.
What a tool is built for is not the same as what it is good for is not the same as what it is used for... and just like people spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about what happens if they get rich, companies spend a lot of time future proofing for scenarios where they are hugely successful. If nothing else is true about the tech industry, it's certainly true that people misjudge tools and misapply them with alarming regularity, to the point where it is at least as likely that the tool being used is a bad fit for the problem as it is a good fit.