Afleveringen
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Nikita Shamgunov is the founder of Neon, an open-source serverless Postgres company. Before Neon, Nikita co-founded MemSQL, now SingleStore, which is valued at over a billion dollars. He has also worked as a VC at Khosla Ventures and held engineering roles at Meta and Microsoft. Nikita is known for his strategic thinking and transparency about his decision-making process.
The importance of storytelling and providing a clear narrative for your companyWhen to introduce a sales team and how to build a sales and marketing "machine"Pricing strategies, including pricing for storage and compute in the data and analytics spaceThe evolution of revenue models in DevTools: from selling seats and storage/compute to selling tokensLessons learned from hiring MongoDB’s VP of Engineering, focusing on improving reliability and building strong team management processesThe benefits of using a high-quality recruiting firm and avoiding the pitfalls of bad hiresBalancing competitiveness with respect for competitors to maintain credibility, particularly in the developer tools marketThe idea of “developing your taste” in product development, inspired by Guillermo Rauch from VercelHow modern dev tools can monetize through seats, storage/compute, or tokens, with tokens currently being the most profitableWhy Nikita advises DevTools founders to understand the business model framework and align it with their strategy
We discuss: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.
NeonSingleStore Khosla Ventures Fusion Talent
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David Placek from Lexicon - the man who named Vercel and Azure - explains the importance of selecting a name that goes beyond simply describing what a product does. He shares what you can do to come up with a great name.
We cover:
Common Naming Pitfalls: Discusses why names that merely describe a product or service fail to capture imagination and differentiation.The Strategic Impact of a Name: Explains how a well-chosen name can deliver significant returns on investment by reinforcing brand behavior and market positioning.Sound Symbolism and Cognitive Science: Covers research into how letter sounds (for example, the “V” in Vercel) influence perception and contribute to a name’s effectiveness.The Naming Process: Details the rigorous process behind naming—from trademark searches and legal reviews to global linguistic evaluations and whiteboard sessions with clients.Advice for Early-Stage Founders: Encourages startups to first define their market behavior and the change they intend to create. The right name will emerge from a clear strategic vision.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.
Links:
Lexicon BrandingVercelPG .com quote -
Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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Mitchell Hashimoto - famously the founder of HashiCorp (creators of Terraform, Vault etc.) joins the show to discuss his latest open-source project, Ghostty, a modern terminal emulator.
We discuss:
Designing dev tools with a focus on human experience.Taking on large technical projects and breaking them down into achievable steps.Open source sustainability and the role of financial support.The impossible goal of building a perfect human experience with software.Passion and hiring—why obsession with a topic often leads to the best hires.Using AI as a developer and why Mitchell considers AI tooling essential.The motivation behind Ghostty and the idea of "technical philanthropy."The vision for libghostty as a reusable terminal core for other applications.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. https://workos.com/
Links:
Ghostty (https://ghostty.org/)Mitchell Hashimoto on Twitter (https://twitter.com/mitchellh)Mitchell’s blog (https://mitchellh.com/) -
Guillermo Rauch is the founder of Vercel. Vercel is a cloud infra platform so easy to use that it’s almost become a category: “I’m building the Vercel of X”.
Vercel also recently launched v0 which is potentially the next evolution of web development - type what you want and it builds it and deploys it for you.
He’s also the creator Next.js, socket.io and a ton of other open source tools and startups. Plus he’s a prolific investor in DevTools.
I’ve missed a ton of his achievements here but essentially, he’s the king of DevTools and you probably know him already.
What we talk about
- Why Guillermo bets on people who ship
- What AI has in common with Prettier
- v0 puts design first
- Saying ‘not yet’ is a boss move
- Why Guillermo thinks devs won’t lose their jobs
- How you can learn product building
- Why you should be careful when hiring from rocketships - not everyone was in the control room
- The value of people having a full stack skill set. And why communication is more important than ever
- Why it’s so important to explain what you do in simple terms
- Tools Guillermo is excited about right nowLinks:
- Guillermo Rauch
- Vercel
- v0
- NextJS
- Socket.IO
- Browserbase
- LiveKit
- LanguineThis 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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Jacob Eiting, CEO of RevenueCat, joins us to discuss mobile developers and how they're different, RevenueCat's recent acquisition of Dipsea - and how it helps them dogfood.
We also go hard on content - something RevenueCat is great at.
We also talk about charisma in founders (but don't worry neither of us said rizz)
This was especially fun because I actually used RevenueCat way before I started this show.
We discuss:
How RevenueCat simplifies in-app subscriptions and why mobile monetization is more complex than it appears.Making developers feel like heroes instead of struggling with tedious implementation.RevenueCat’s acquisition of Dipsea—a customer with over 100,000 subscribers—and how it benefits both companies.The advantages of operating an app at scale to better test and iterate on new RevenueCat features.How in-app subscription businesses differ from traditional SaaS in terms of pricing, churn, and optimization.The importance of content marketing and transparency in building trust with developers.The role of personality and authenticity in developer-first marketing.The long-term vision for RevenueCat and how they plan to expand beyond their core subscription infrastructure.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. https://workos.com/
Jacob Eiting (https://x.com/jeiting)RevenueCat (https://www.revenuecat.com/)Dipsea (https://www.dipseastories.com/)
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Taylor Otwell is the creator of the Laravel framework. Taylor has created numerous paid products that have generated millions, such as:
Laravel Forge (server provisioning/management)Laravel Vapor (serverless Laravel hosting with AWS)Laravel Envoyer (zero downtime PHP deployments)Laravel Nova (Laravel admin panel)In this interview, Taylor shares why he is now building Laravel Cloud - an infrastructure platform for Laravel apps and why Laravel Cloud needed VC funding.
We also cover:
The different challenges of bootstrapped and VC funded startupsHow the Laravel ecosystem became so entrepreneurial Building products for the average joe developerThe role of taste and craft in developer toolsWhat Taylor and Adam Wathan learned from each other Fear and Taylor's comparison with Alex HonnoldThis 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.
Laravel Taylor Otwell Laravel Cloud Open jobs at Laravel Adam Wathan
Links:Chapters:
00:00 The Journey of Laravel's Creator
02:48 Transitioning from Bootstrap to VC Funding
06:10 Building Laravel Cloud: A New Challenge
09:04 The Shift in Company Structure and Culture
11:50 Maintaining Quality and Usability in Development
15:09 Community Impact and Collaboration
17:56 Craftsmanship and Design Philosophy
20:45 Navigating Growth and Market Needs
23:54 Advice for Aspiring DevTool Founders
26:48 Future Directions and Innovations in LaravelThank you to Michael Grinich for making this happen. Thank you to Ostap Brehin for introducing me to Laravel. Thank you to Hank Taylor for helping me prep.
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In this episode, I pull out some of the key DevTools lessons I've learned in the last 120 interviews.
Including:
The importance of deeply understanding the problem you're solving by talking to developers directly, as emphasized by Adam Frankl.Ant Wilson's advice on experimenting with different go-to-market strategies and channels rather than relying on conventional wisdom. Zeno Rocha's emphasis on the importance of the last mile—packaging and presentation. He shares how spending more time on documentation and onboarding materials helped his open-source project gain massive traction.Gonto's perspective that "it's better to be different than better," and how creativity, uniqueness, and understanding developer habits are key to successful marketing.My personal reflections on overcoming fear and discomfort in go-to-market efforts.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. https://workos.com.
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Søren Bramer Schmidt, co-founder and CEO of Prisma, joins us to discuss the journey of building one of the largest developer communities in DevTools.
Søren shares how Prisma's deliberate strategies have shaped its growth, feature prioritization, and the launch of new products like Prisma Postgres.
We also explore the challenges of managing a vast user base and how Prisma is adapting to shifts in application development.
How intentional partnerships with educators and influencers fueled Prisma’s early growth.Strategies to engage the GraphQL community and gain visibility on platforms like Hacker News.Managing a large developer community while balancing innovation with stability.The evolution from Graphcool to Prisma ORM, including lessons from early pivots.Launching Prisma Postgres and how community feedback influenced its development.Implementing a simple, usage-based pricing model and reducing infrastructure costs through self-hosting.
We discuss: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. https://workos.com/
Links:
Prisma (https://www.prisma.io/)Prisma Postgres (https://www.prisma.io/postgres)Feldera (https://feldera.com/) -
Keith Casey aka Danger Casey is a Senior Product Manager at Pangea - a Security Platform as a Service.
Before Pangea, Keith was Director of Product Marketing at ngrok and worked at Okta and Twilio in a variety of roles - including DevRel. Keith also curates API Developer Weekly.
In this episode we discuss Keith's writings on the future of DevRel.
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.
Links:
- original article
- followup article
- How to kill your sdks in one easy step
- Developer productivity and selling to developers
- api developer weekly
- Pangea
- DevRel = zirp phenomenom? -
Louis Knight-Webb is the CEO and co-founder of Bloop.
Bloop helps with modernizing legacy software, particularly focusing on COBOL and mainframes.
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.
Takeaways:
- Mainframes and COBOL are still foundational in many industries.
- Bloop started with a focus on code search but evolved to address legacy code modernization.
- The transition from COBOL to Java is a significant challenge for many enterprises.
- Innovative approaches are needed to effectively translate legacy code.
- Ensuring code quality during migration is crucial to avoid operational disruptions.
- AI can enhance the code translation process but has limitations with legacy languages.Links:
- Louis Knight-Webb
- BloopChapters:
00:00 The Legacy of Mainframes and COBOL
03:05 The Evolution of Bloop and Code Search
05:58 Challenges in Modernizing Legacy Code
08:48 Navigating the Enterprise Code Landscape
12:11 The Transition from COBOL to Java
15:05 Innovative Approaches to Code Translation
18:02 Ensuring Code Quality and Functionality
20:56 The Future of Development and AI Integration
23:52 Building Relationships in the Enterprise Space
26:45 The Long-Term Vision for Legacy Code Modernization -
Guy Podjarny is the founder of Tessl - a startup that is rethinking how we build software.
Guy previously founded Snyk - a dependency scanning tool worth billions of dollars. Before Snyk, Guy founded Blaze, which he sold to Akamai.
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 conversation, we talk about the future of programming and the future of DevTools.
The future of programming will focus on writing specifications.Trust in AI toolsSnyk is an example of how tools can integrate into existing workflows.Code can become disposable, allowing for flexibility in development.Specifications will serve as repositories of truth in software development.Developers will need to adapt their skills to leverage AI tools effectively.Community collaboration is essential for the evolution of AI development tools.AI simplifies and democratizes the process of software creationThanks to Anna Debenham for making this happen.
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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 -
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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