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  • #12: Dev-focused go-to-market, value props (20+ examples), and a GitHub growth loop

#12: Dev-focused go-to-market, value props (20+ examples), and a GitHub growth loop

Hey, how was your month?

#12 which means it has been a year since I started sharing my learnings on developer marketing. 18 articles, 75 dev marketing examples, 2 times in the top 5 on HN. 

Crazy.

I've learned so much. THANK YOU for keeping me going!And THANK YOU Mags (I know you are reading) for letting me put almost all my free time into this.

Grateful for so many kind words fellow markepears sent my way throughout the year. You are the best!

As always, if you want to talk dev marketing ->  grab your 30min spot.

I'll keep doing this for as long as we both learn something from it.  

Here are my insights this month. 

10 developer marketing insights

1. Value proposition for developer tools

Value proposition that basically shapes your website header is probably the most important piece of copy on your site. And I was really trying to understand what really works for dev-focused companies.

Took me a few months but I finally published a v1 of this (working on v2 already, so pls do share your thoughts ;)).

I go deep into:

  • What is a good value prop and how to test it

  • Considerations around market/product/landscape maturity

  • Many themes and examples of how dev-focused companies go about it

2.keyBoard vs whiteBoard vs Boardroom content

On a recent episode of the Developer Marketing Alliance podcast William Chia really goes into what dev product marketing means. 

My favorite thought is this split between:

  • keyBoard content (for the dev)

  • whiteBoard content (for the architect)

  • Boardroom content (for the CTO)

Highly recommended.

3. How to launch on product hunt

How to launch a dev tool on ProductHunt?

Another great resource from Ronak Ganantra.

It is a compilation of discussions in the marketingto.dev marketing community and his personal experience at Hygraph (previously GraphCMS)

Great stuff.

4. GitHub PR growth loop from Snyk

Beautiful growth loop that uses GitHub PRs to spread awareness even internally in the org.

And just one dev needs to sign up for the product to start it.

Works like this:

  • New user signs up for Snyk

  • they connect their GitHub account

  • Snyk finds vulnerabilities in their repositories

  • Snyk-bot creates Snyk-branded PR to fix them

  • other devs in the org see and interact with the PR

  • some follow links to check out Snyk

  • some of them sign up for Snyk

Heard about it on Lenny's podcast episode with Ben Williams (the story starts at 20:53).

5. bottom up vs top down vs middle out

Which go to market motion works best with devs?

Bottom-up, top-down, or middle-out?

Developer-focused go-to-market strategies discussed on Hacker News.

Never heard of middle-out before:

"Apart from bottoms up and top down, there is a strategy called middle out where you target engineering managers and then simultaneously get developers excited with product experience and directors/VP(purchasers) excited about product value. This generally accelerates purchasing decision."

Very interesting discussion follows in this thread.

6. Developer marketing tools and agencies

Put together a list of devmar tools for analytics, community management, social media, and content creation. 

+ a few agencies and productized services that focus on the developer audience. 

Hopefully, you'll find something useful.  

7. Swyx on scaling devtools podcast

"Features vs benefits" through the lense of developer tech adoption cycle.

+ many other dev marketing gems.

From @swyx on Scaling Dev Tools podcast.

Pure gold.

8. Adam Gross and 1-2-3 framework for GTM

Deep dive into the role of sales in PLG go-to-market motions.With many examples from dev tool companies.TLDR:

  • there are 3 motions: free, self-served, and enterprise

  • 1. free focuses on value prop for individual dev and measured by adoption

  • 2. self-served focused on value prop for the team (collaboration) and measured by MRR

  • 3. enterprise focused on value prop for the org (compliance) and measured by ACV

Super useful stuff from Adam Gross on HeavybitRead the article

9. Build vs buy

Build vs buy is a marketing classic. 

How do you navigate it with devs?

Came across this incredible discussion on Hacker News.

Seems that devs like the approach of "build then buy" the most.

The most upvoted comment goes:

"> Have you bought something that you had to scrap and build yourself anyways?

Yes, but that hasn't meant it was a mistake -- 'buy-then-build' can be a great strategy.

Often the 'then-build' never happens, but going into a decision with the mindset readiness for 'then-build', you can learn from existing products, hit their limits and understand what is the custom version of it you'll need in your context. "

10. Tips on product-led sales

Great insights on running product-led sales from Gabriel Madureira (Growth at PlanetScale , ex Twilio , ex MongoDB ).

I really liked this one:

"Avoid the common mistake of having that team spend time with free trialists who churned and never really used your product.

You're going to lose 50, 60, or even 70% of your free trials who will never come back. Those are not the ones that you should be trying to engage at this moment.

Engage the ones that are actually using the product, especially if you pick up on any signal that they:

- Are stuck- Are likely to pay more" 

Gabriel Madureira

1 Pear Fact 🍐

The oldest pear tree is from Gansu, China and estimated to be over 465 years old!

The oldest pear AND dev marketing newsletter just turned 1. 

Who is laughing now, Gansu tree? 

Pears!

Want more developer marketing insights?

Want to support my work?

  • Share it with your developer marketing friends.

  • You can also ☕ buy me a coffee and I do love coffee ;)

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