Episodit
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Tessa Kriesel is the founder of builtfor.dev, where she helps DevTools founders with GTM.
In this episode we talk about how she helps founders improve their go to market strategy in a short sprint.
Links:
Built for DevsTessa KrieselThis episode is brought to you by WorkOS. If you're thinking about selling to enterprise customers, WorkOS can help you add enterprise features like Single Sign On and audit logs. https://workos.com/
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We dig into the the build vs. buy dilemma for APIs, and the role of OpenAPI in effective documentation.
This episode is brought to you by WorkOS. If you're thinking about selling to enterprise customers, WorkOS can help you add enterprise features like Single Sign On and audit logs.
We explore how AI is transforming the landscape of APIs and developer tools, and discuss the future of coding.
The choice between building and buying SDKs depends on company maturity.OpenAPI is crucial for generating quality API documentation.AI is revolutionizing how APIs are created and consumed.Maintaining SDK libraries can be a significant challenge.Developer tools must evolve to keep pace with API design changes.Trust in AI-generated code is growing among developers.The future of coding will likely involve more AI integration.Links:
APIMaticSid Maestre -
Puuttuva jakso?
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Jake Cooper is the founder of Railway - an infrastructure platform that let's you build powerful infrastructure in a simple way.
This episode is brought to you by WorkOS. If you're thinking about selling to enterprise customers, WorkOS can help you add enterprise features like Single Sign On and audit logs.
In this episode we discuss:
- Building a remote team with a flat structure
- Railway's sales team doing their best Minority Report impression
- Why leverage matters
- Building their own data centers
- Why it's important to do hard thingsP.s. here's news about the tsunami warning
Links:
- Railway
- Jake Cooper
- Angelo from Railway -
In this conversation, Daksh Gupta, the CEO of Greptile - an AI code understanding API - shares:
Why it’s important to do unique types of marketing, like making an energy drinkWhy most people misunderstand salesHow companies are buying AI tools and why it will probably change soonThis episode is brought to you by WorkOS. If you're thinking about selling to enterprise customers, WorkOS can help you add enterprise features like Single Sign On and audit logs.
Links:
Greptile greptile.com Mintlify https://mintlify.com/Greptile energy drink https://x.com/dakshgup/status/1769813883194130856 Steve Ballmer boxes https://x.com/dakshgup/status/1854224733086359582 PostHog competition https://x.com/james406/status/1854557581030670478 -
Ankur Goyal is the founder of Braintrust, a year old LLM eval platform that is already used by Figma, Vercel and Stripe and just raised $36m from a16z. It's a rocketship.
This episode is brought to you by WorkOS. If you're thinking about selling to enterprise customers, WorkOS can help you add enterprise features like Single Sign On and audit logs.
Key Success Factors
- Started with a targeted list of ~50 companies already working with AI
- Focused on early adopters and innovators in the space
- Strategy: If they could make the frontrunners happy, others would followLinks:
- Braintrust
- Ankur Goyal
- Alana Goyal
- Basecase
- Elad Gil
- Martin CasadoChapters:
* 00:00 Introduction to BrainTrust and Its Success
* 02:52 The Importance of User Research in Product Development
* 06:11 Building Relationships with Key Customers
* 09:05 The Role of Feedback in Product Improvement
* 11:54 The Impact of Mentorship on Entrepreneurial Success
* 15:11 Identifying Market Opportunities in AI Development
* 18:00 Effective User Interviews and Problem Validation
* 20:59 The Evolution of BrainTrust's Product Features
* 23:55 Advice for Aspiring DevTool Founders
* 26:48 Exciting Developments in the DevTool Space -
Samuel Colvin - the creator of Pydantic - the most popular data validation library for Python. Used by literally everyone (Anthropic, OpenAI, Meta, NVIDIA, even the NSA). He shares the story behind his startup Logfire which just raised $12.5m from Sequoia.
This episode is brought to you by WorkOS. If you're thinking about selling to enterprise customers, WorkOS can help you add enterprise features like Single Sign On and audit logs.
Key takeaways:
- You can just build a different product to your open source project and leverage your brand
- Quality of product matters a LOT (if you can build a popular open source project, can probably build a quality paid product)
- Really helps to be part of a movement. Hard to predict but Pydantic benefited from two (types and LLMs)
- GitHub stars are a vanity metric compared to download numbersLinks:
- Pydantic
- Logfire
- Samuel ColvinChapters
00:00 The Genesis of Pydantic
02:46 The Evolution of Software Development
06:02 Building a Successful Open Source Library
08:52 The Impact of Community and Adoption
11:51 Metrics of Success in Open Source
15:08 Transitioning from Pydantic to LogFire
17:59 The Vision Behind LogFire
20:50 The Connection Between Pydantic and LogFire
24:05 Navigating the Challenges of Building a Startup
26:56 The Future of Observability and DatabasesP.s. thanks to my friend Abeed for making the episode happen!
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There are more and more open source DevTools startups. I’ve interviewed dozens. But I am still confused about open source licenses. So I decided to ask questions to two people who actually understand them: my friends Eric and Matt - founders of open source background jobs tool Trigger.dev.
This episode is brought to you by WorkOS. If you're thinking about selling to enterprise customers, WorkOS can help you add enterprise features like Single Sign On and audit logs.
Two Key Questions for License SelectionWhat are the benefits of permissive licenses?What are the main licenses?Why shouldn’t you write your own (open source) license?What is Copyleft?Post Open Source" Movement(00:50) - Open Source Licensing(18:18) - Protective Licensing(23:12) - Copy Left Concept(43:30) - Wordpress
What we discuss:Trigger:
Eric Allam - https://x.com/maverickdotdev Matt Aitken - https://x.com/mattaitkenTrigger.dev https://trigger.dev/JSON Hero https://jsonhero.io/Licenses
MIT License https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_License - Matt’s “most permissive license”Apache-2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_License - “Like MIT but with trademarks”FSL / Fair Source License https://fair.io/ - created by SentryHeather Meeker - Open Source Licencing expert https://www.linkedin.com/in/heathermeeker/ A practical guide to Open Source Licencing https://www.amazon.co.uk/Open-Source-Business-Practical-Licensing/dp/1544737645References
Sentry https://sentry.io/welcome/ Redis https://redis.io/ Valkey https://valkey.io/ Clickhouse https://clickhouse.com/ Background to Continue.dev and PearAI https://techcrunch.com/2024/09/30/y-combinator-is-being-criticized-after-it-backed-an-ai-startup-that-admits-it-basically-cloned-another-ai-startup/ -
John O'Nolan is the Founder and CEO of Ghost.org. Ghost is an open source blog & newsletter platform. We use them for the Scaling DevTools' blog.
Note: this episode was recorded on 17th October 2024.
We talk about:
How to communicate the benefits of Open Source to non-developersHow Ghost manages to align open source and money makingJohn's thoughts on the Automattic/Wordpress dramaAdvantages and disadvantages of VC funding and open sourceWhat would John do with VC dollarsResources:
Ghost https://ghost.org/John's website https://john.onolan.org/The WordPress vs. WP Engine drama, explained https://techcrunch.com/2024/11/07/wordpress-vs-wp-engine-drama-explained/ Indie Hackers podcast https://www.indiehackers.com/podcast/139-john-onolan-of-ghostCursor cursor.comBen Thompson's blog https://stratechery.com/This episode is brought to you by WorkOS. If you're thinking about selling to enterprise customers, WorkOS can help you add enterprise features like Single Sign On and audit logs.
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Gonto (Martin Gontovnikas) was the 6th employee at Auth0 and helped them grow fast and sell for $6.5billion to Okta.
Now he is the founder of Hypergrowth Partners and helps DevTools grow fast.
We discuss:
What Auth0 did to become so valuable so fastWhat the best founders do (Guillermo Rauch)Different is better than better People follow people not brandsWhy bleeding edge mattersResources
Why Technical SDRs are the Future of DevTools
https://playbooks.hypergrowthpartners.com/p/product-advocates-technical-sdrsGonto's website https://gon.to/Gonto's Twitter https://twitter.com/mgontoHypergrowth Partners https://www.hypergrowthpartners.com/Code to Market https://codetomarket.fm/Guillermo Rauch https://x.com/rauchgThis episode is brought to you by WorkOS. If you're thinking about selling to enterprise customers, WorkOS can help you add enterprise features like Single Sign On and audit logs.
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Mike McQuaid and John Britton are cofounders of Workbrew - a tool that gives you the missing features for enterprises running homebrew.
John has previously worked at GitHub and Twilio and is a contributor to Homebrew. Mike has also worked at GitHub as well as being the project lead and longest running maintainer at Homebrew.
We dig into:
How Homebrew can trace its origins to a pub in LondonHow Apple actually work with HomebrewHow Homebrew managed to grow and scale upHow Workbrew are avoiding misaligned incentives so common in open sourceLinks for Mike, John and Workbrew
Mike McQuaid https://mikemcquaid.com/John Britton https://johndbritton.com/Workbrew https://workbrew.com/This episode is brought to you by WorkOS. If you're thinking about selling to enterprise customers, WorkOS can help you add enterprise features like Single Sign On and audit logs.
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Paul Klein is the founder and CEO of Browserbase - one of the fastest growing DevTools in 2024.
Browserbase is a headless browser API focused on helping AI Agent startups.
We dig into:
Why browser automation?How Browserbase hit "VC-market-fit"Visionary is revisionist-history Tips for hiring your friendsWhy buying a jacket is like buying a devtoolBuilding an in-person DevTool in San FranciscoMaking priorities (what Paul doesn’t care about).Where to find Paul and Browserbase:
Twitter/X https://x.com/pauljasonklein?lang=enLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulkleinivBrowserbase https://www.browserbase.com/References
Mux acquires Stream Club https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mux-acquires-stream-club-to-enable-developers-to-build-live-streaming-studios-into-their-applications-301449407.htmlLevelsio on VPSs https://x.com/levelsio/status/1827308534645572015 Charly Poly https://www.linkedin.com/in/charly-poly/?originalSubdomain=frDevTools Pauls: Paul Butler https://x.com/paulgb?lang=en and Paul Copplestone https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulcopplestoneSolaris office space https://www.solarissf.com/To support Scaling DevTools, please check out the Enterprise Ready Conf from WorkOS https://enterprise-ready.com/
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In 2017, Rasmus Makwarth sold his previous APM (Application Performance Managment) startup Opbeat to Elastic for an undisclosed amount. Opbeat became Elastic APM, which became a big part of the Elastic Observability solution and Rasmus became Senior Director of Product Management - with a focus on Developer Experience.
Today, Rasmus is the founder and CEO of Bucket.co - a feature flagging tool built for B2B teams. Bucket has raised $5.7m from investors such as Project A and Creandum.
We dig into:
The realities of fundraising on a deadlineThe role of San Francisco in fundraising - do you need to be there?How exit opportunities can come from unexpected sources and the importance of showing up The importance of building a great productWhat Rasmus learned at Elastic - one of the biggest DevTools in the world Why Bucket is betting on helping engineers at b2b companies understand how users use their featuresThe future of product engineeringWhere to find Rasmus:
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/makwarth/?originalSubdomain=dkTwitter/X https://x.com/makwarthBucket https://bucket.co/References
Elastic https://elastic.co/Opbeat acquisition announcement https://www.elastic.co/blog/welcome-opbeat-to-the-elastic-familyShay Banon - founder of Elastic https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimchy/Gregory Tademoto - VP Global Business & Corporate Development https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregorytademoto/To support Scaling DevTools, check out the Enterprise Ready Conf from WorkOS https://enterprise-ready.com/
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Shawn Wang (aka swyx) is the founder of smol.ai (AI news curation), and the cohost of Latent Space (popular AI Engineer podcast).
Plus, Shawn started the AI Engineer movement with his essay Rise of the AI Engineer and organized two incredible AI engineer conferences in the past twelve months - AI Engineer World's Fair and AI Engineer Summit
And Shawn has angel invested in DevTools like Airbyte, Railway, Supabase, Replay.io, Stackblitz, Flutterflow, Fireworks.ai while running the DevTools angels community.
Besides this, Shawn curates DX.tips (DevTools magazine) and in a past life wrote the Coding Career handbook, championed learn in public, cofounded Svelte Society and was previously Head of Developer Experience at Temporal, and a Developer Advocate at AWS and Netlify.
Also, before this, Shawn had a very successful career in investment banking, trading, building data pipelines and performing quantitate portfolio management. I think this brings him a very unique perspective - I've always admired his ability to zoom out and see the big picture and the trends.
Even though Shawn is now all-in on AI, he's still one of the go-to authorities on DevTools go-to-market.
As you can tell, Shawn is someone I deeply admire. So I'm glad he came back.
What we discuss:
Organizing the AI Engineer ConferencesRise of the AI EngineerIntentionality and principles (yes we even talk about Alcoholics Anonymous)The AI CEOInvisible deadlinesIlya believing in AGI more than most people at OpenAIAre developers going to be obsolete? Thor convinced swyx to invest in SupabaseBuilding DevTools that work well with LLMsAngel investing in DevTools - why and howIs DevRel dead?How to hire DevRelWhy DX.tips existsLinks:
Rise of the AI Engineer https://www.latent.space/p/ai-engineerLatent Space Podcast https://www.latent.space/swyx's Twitter https://x.com/swyxswyx's website https://www.swyx.io/swyx's LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnswyxwang/smol.ai https://smol.ai/DevTools Angels https://github.com/sw-yx/devtools-angelsDX.tips https://dx.tips/DevRel's Death as Zero Interest Rate Phenomenon https://dx.tips/zirp AI Engineer Summit https://www.ai.engineer/summit/2023AI Engineer World's Fair https://www.ai.engineer/worldsfairCoding Career Handbook https://www.learninpublic.org/Shawn's previous appearance on Scaling DevTools https://podcast.scalingdevtools.com/episodes/swyx Eisenhower Matrix https://asana.com/resources/eisenhower-matrixThor from Supabase https://x.com/thorwebdevSolaris AI coworking space in SF https://www.solarissf.com/Browserbase https://www.browserbase.com/Indent https://indent.com/ and Fouad https://x.com/fouadmatinHow to do hackathons https://dx.tips/hackathonsHow to do conferences https://dx.tips/conf-guideHow to hire DevRel https://dx.tips/mailbox-first-devrel-hiringClimbing the ladder of abstraction with Amelia Wattenberger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAy_GHUAICwCheck out the Enterprise Ready Conf from WorkOS https://enterprise-ready.com/
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Sagar is the CEO and co-founder of Speakeasy - an API tooling platform. We talk about the journey of Speakeasy. The challenges of startup life. How they developed the product and how they work with influencers in a surprising way.
Building relationships with influencers can significantly enhance product development.Importance of listening to customersFine line between product and consultingThe role of documentation in user experienceBeing responsive to customer needs builds long-term relationships.The startup journey requires patience and adaptability.Links:
Sagar Batchu Speakeasy https://www.speakeasy.com/Check out the Enterprise Ready Conf from WorkOS https://enterprise-ready.com/
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In this conversation, Anurag Goel, founder and CEO of Render, discusses the evolution of Render as a cloud infrastructure platform is actually simple to use.
He shares insights from his time at Stripe, emphasizing the importance of customer focus, crafting a seamless user experience, and the philosophy of progressive disclosure of complexity.
Anurag also highlights the significance of customer support as an integral part of the product and offers advice for aspiring founders on finding their passion and maintaining empathy in their work.
This episode is brought to you by WorkOS. If you're thinking about selling to enterprise customers, WorkOS can help you add enterprise features like Single Sign On and audit logs.
Building in special details enhances customer experience.The delicate balance between simplicity and capability. How the power of sensible defaults. and progressive disclosure of complexity improves usability.Focus on customer needs drives product development.Customer support should be treated as a product.Finding founder market fit is crucial for success.Empathy for users is essential in product development.
What we discuss:Links
Anurag's Twitter https://x.com/anuraggoelRender https://render.com/Stripe https://stripe.com/Keywords
Render, developer experience, cloud infrastructure, customer support, startup culture, Anurag Goel, Stripe, product development, user experience, technology -
This is our 100th episode!
And we're thrilled to welcome back fan favourite Ant Wilson - the cofounder and CTO of Supabase.
They discuss the evolution of Supabase, the importance of open source, and effective marketing strategies.
Ant shares insights on community engagement, the significance of developer-centric branding, and the challenges of navigating the enterprise landscape.
We also touch on the rise of AI and vector databases, emphasizing the power of open source in development. The conversation concludes with reflections on the journey and future aspirations.
Thank you to everyone who made it our 100th episode!
Open source can significantly enhance hiring opportunities.Building a strong brand requires understanding your audience.Open source provides a competitive edge against incumbents.The importance of stability and security for enterprise clients.Time in the market builds trust with potential customers.
TakeawaysLinks
Supabase https://supabase.com/Ant Wilson's Twitter https://x.com/antwilsonpgvector https://supabase.com/docs/guides/database/extensions/pgvector Greg Richardson https://x.com/ggrdsonPrevious episode with Ant https://podcast.scalingdevtools.com/episodes/product-market-fit-is-one-pivot-away-with-ant-wilson-founder-of-supabaseKeywords
open source, developer tools, marketing strategies, community engagement, AI, vector databases, enterprise solutions, product development, tech podcast
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Nick Gomez is the co-founder and CEO of InKeep. InKeep is an AI customer support tool focused on Developer Tools.
They discuss the importance of understanding developer needs, the role of AI in technical support, and how community engagement can enhance support efforts.
What we discuss
AI support for developer tools is different from traditional B2B SaaS support.Developers often seek help through documentation and community forums.Scaling technical support requires understanding the developer's tech stack.Clear communication channels can improve support efficiency.AI solutions must prioritize quality to build trust with users.Community engagement can help crowdsource support efforts.Support teams should continuously improve documentation based on user inquiries.24/7 support can be achieved through AI tools.Investing in customer relationships can lead to valuable insights and support.Innovative tools are changing the landscape of developer support.Links:
Nick Gomez's Twitter https://x.com/nickgomezcInKeep https://inkeep.com/Keywords
AI support, developer tools, technical support, community engagement, customer investment, quality assurance, support team structure, 24/7 support, innovations in development -
Adam Frankl has been VP at four Developer Tools unicorns, including JFrog, Neo4J and Sourcegraph.
Adam is the author of the Developer Facing Startup and recently launched the Developer Facing Startup Founders Academy: a program that helps founders launch and grow their developer tools.
In this conversation, Adam Frankl discusses the critical role of a Technical Advisory Board (TAB) in the success of developer-facing startups.
He emphasizes the importance of understanding developer needs, effective interviewing techniques, and the necessity of building credibility and community. Adam outlines a structured approach to gathering insights from developers.
He also highlights the significance of storytelling in marketing and the need for founders to engage deeply with their user base to discover and address their problems effectively.
Takeaways:
A Technical Advisory Board is essential for startup success.Founders must prioritize understanding developer needs.Effective interviews should focus on the problem, not the product.Social proof is crucial for building credibility.Developers are influenced by their peers and community.The 'Dream Sequence' outlines the developer adoption process.Storytelling is key to engaging potential users.Founders should continuously engage with their user base.Identifying key personas is vital for targeted outreach.Developers are not leads; they require a different approach.Links:
Developer Facing Startup Founders Academy https://developer-facing-founders-network.mn.co/Adam Frankl's LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamfrankl/The Developer Facing Startup https://www.amazon.co.uk/Developer-Facing-Startup-market-developer-facing/dp/B0D4KJNSPPKeywords:
Technical Advisory Board, Developer Startups, User Research, Developer Needs, Social Proof, Community Building, Founder Responsibilities, Developer Adoption, Interview Techniques, Startup Success -
In this conversation, with Michael Grinich - founder and CEO of WorkOS. WorkOS helps you start selling to enterprise customers with just a few lines of code.
We discuss the challenges and strategies of navigating tough conversations in a startup environment, the importance of understanding engineering leadership, and the role of empathy in user experience.
The conversation covers the significance of conferences for startups, the necessity of articulating the 'why' behind a business, and the challenges faced by solo founders. The discussion also touches on decision-making processes, handling competition, and the future direction of WorkOS.
If a conversation scares you, it's probably necessary.Engineering leaders focus on business goals, not just technology.Conferences can be a great way to connect with potential customers.Building relationships at events can lead to long-term success.Frameworks can be constraining; focus on user empathy instead.Understanding user needs is crucial for product development.Articulating the 'why' can enhance customer connection.Maintaining focus on your mission is key to success.Finding a deeper mission can drive your startup forward.The journey of building a startup is often unclear at the beginning.Links:
WorkOS https://workos.com/Michael's Twitter https://x.com/grinich ELC https://sfelc.com/ Crossing the Enterprise Chasm Podcast https://workos.com/podcastStart With Why https://simonsinek.com/books/start-with-why/AWS reinvent https://reinvent.awsevents.com/ -
In this episode, we're joined by returning guest Colin Sidoti - the cofounder and CEO of Clerk.
Clerk is a comprehensive user management platform.
What we cover:
- The origin story and South Park Commons
- Clerk's dramatic growth since the first episode - what changed? What did they do right?
- 7% growth per week
- Tiny details that improve the developer experience
- How to you know if a change is better - watching people's faces as they try it
- The difficulties of bringing new joiners up to speed in a very high context environment
- Obsessions of founders
- Zuckerberg's obsession and South Park Commons talk
- Nick Parsons appreciation: why it's hard to hire good developer marketing people
- The uniqueness of marketing developer tools
- Buying a van and parking it outside YC
- Local marketing campaigns in San FranciscoLinks:
- Clerk https://clerk.com/
- Colin's Twitter https://x.com/tweetsbycolin
- Nick Parsons' Twitter https://x.com/nickparsons
- Jakob's tweet https://x.com/jakeplusev/status/1827791946380877828
- Malte Ubl's blog https://www.industrialempathy.com/
- Zuck's talk at South Park Commons https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02fBBoZa9l4 - Näytä enemmän
