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 Casado Chapters:* 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 Colvin Chapters00:00 The Genesis of Pydantic02:46 The Evolution of Software Development06:02 Building a Successful Open Source Library08:52 The Impact of Community and Adoption11:51 Metrics of Success in Open Source15:08 Transitioning from Pydantic to LogFire17:59 The Vision Behind LogFire20:50 The Connection Between Pydantic and LogFire24:05 Navigating the Challenges of Building a Startup26:56 The Future of Observability and DatabasesP.s. thanks to my friend Abeed for making the episode happen!

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.What we discuss: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 Trigger:Eric Allam - https://x.com/maverickdotdev Matt Aitken - https://x.com/mattaitkenTrigger.dev https://trigger.dev/JSON Hero https://jsonhero.io/ LicensesMIT 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/1544737645 ReferencesSentry 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.

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 mattersResourcesWhy Technical SDRs are the Future of DevToolshttps://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.

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 WorkbrewMike 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.

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/ReferencesMux 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/

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/ReferencesElastic 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/

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 SummitAnd 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/

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/

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.What we discuss: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.LinksAnurag's Twitter https://x.com/anuraggoelRender https://render.com/Stripe https://stripe.com/KeywordsRender, 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!TakeawaysOpen 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.LinksSupabase 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-supabaseKeywordsopen source, developer tools, marketing strategies, community engagement, AI, vector databases, enterprise solutions, product development, tech podcast

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 discussAI 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/ KeywordsAI 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

David is the CEO of Arcjet. Arcjet is a tool that helps developers protect their apps once they go into production. It offers Bot detection, rate limiting, email validation, attack protection, data redaction.David is also the creator of the console.dev newsletter and podcast. It's where thousands of developers discover developer tools. In this episode we discuss how David thinks about creating content. Why he believes go-to-market is more difficult than product and how he works on creating great developer experience. Links:- Arcjet https://arcjet.com/- David Mytton - https://davidmytton.blog/ - Console https://console.dev/AI DevTools hackathon this weekend in SF:- Event page https://lu.ma/devtools-hackathon- More info https://www.devtoolshackathon.com/

Vlad Matsiiako is the CEO and co-founder of Infisical. Infisical is an Open Source Secret Management tool.What we discuss:- The story of Infisical- How the team has made Infisical easy to adopt- How being open source helps you with trust at the beginning stages- How do enterprises adopt Infisical- How do developers at enterprises discover tools like Infisical- The different mini-games at various stages of a startup (Dalton Caldwell)  LinksVlad - https://www.linkedin.com/in/vmatsiiako/Infisical - https://infisical.com/

Andrew Lisowski is the cohost of devtools.fm. In this episode we talk about why Andrew started devtools.fm and what he's learned along the way. Life as an open source maintainer.How the JavaScript ecosystem is different to other developer ecosystems.The importance of dogfooding.The power of DHH.Why obsessing over one problem eventually leads to great resultsShould DevTools start podcasts and how?Links:devtools.fm - https://www.devtools.fm/Andrew's Twitter - https://x.com/HipsterSmoothiedevtools.fm Twitter - https://x.com/DevtoolsFMInterview with DHH https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEZNbM4MUdoInterview with Evan You https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycuYlzuBqcAInterview with Richard Harris https://www.devtools.fm/episode/15

Robby (Amanda Robson) is the co-host of Open Source Startup Podcast (with Tim Chen).In this episode we discuss:There are many ways to open source successWhen open source is a good strategy and when it isn'tWhy open source projects usually need time to brewHow to know if your project is venture scaleWhy Robby believes in the Open Source modelRobby is working on a highly mysterious new thing 👀Links:- Robby's Twitter/X https://x.com/amanda_robs?lang=en- Open Source Startup Podcast https://oss-startup-podcast.launchnotes.io/- Interview with Paul from Supabase https://oss-startup-podcast.launchnotes.io/announcements/episode-43-building-supabase-the-open-source-firebase-alternative- Interview with Leyland from Mobile Dev https://oss-startup-podcast.launchnotes.io/announcements/episode-63-mobile-dev-s-new-mobile-testing-framework-maestro - mobile dev https://www.mobile.dev/- Tim's Twitter/X https://x.com/tnachen

Hamzah Chaudhary is the cofounder of Lightdash, an open source, self-serve BI tool. In this episode, Hamzah shares:Their initial plan to build a consultancy and how it morphed into a product to solve their customer's needsHow open source works as a strategyBringing software engineering tools to the BI domainHow they reach their usersHow they partner with bigger organizationsLinks:Lightdash https://www.lightdash.com/Lightdash GitHub https://github.com/lightdash/lightdashHamzah's Twitter https://x.com/hamzahc1

Han Wang is co-founder of Mintlify - modern, out the box documentation.In this episode, Han shares the story of Mintlify and how to make great docs.We even talk about the time Paul Graham told them to change their name.What we cover:- the origin story of Mintlify- what is good documentation- the process of documentation- how AI is affecting documentation- why PG told them to change their nameLinks:- Han https://han.dev/- Mintlify https://mintlify.com/

Kate Holterhoff - an analyst from RedMonk - shares why frontend developers are increasingly dictating the adoption of new developer tools.Kate shares specific examples, including Supabase. Links:Frontend Developers: the Newest New Kingmakers https://redmonk.com/kholterhoff/2024/02/15/frontend-developers-the-newest-new-kingmakers/Kate's website https://www.kateholterhoff.com/RedMonk https://redmonk.com/Kate's Twitter/X https://x.com/KateHolterhoff

Vivian Dufour is the CEO and co-founder of Meterian.Meterian is an open source vulnerability scanner.In this episode we talk about topics like:Selling to enterprisesWhy you need to make your product easy to testHiring and managing salespeopleLinks:Meterian: https://www.meterian.io/Vivian Dufour - https://www.linkedin.com/in/viviandufour/ 

Ellen Chisa is a partner at Boldstart Ventures. Prior to Boldstart, Ellen founded Darklang - a programming language. Before Darklang, Ellen worked in product. What we discussed: Startups should focus on building one SDK and doing it well, rather than trying to build multiple SDKs at once.North Star metricsDeveloper tooling companies can learn from consumer-facing companies in terms of marketing and creating an identity for their product.Being authentic as a founder and actively engaging with the community can help establish a strong brand and attract users. Recognize and leverage your unique strengths and skills.Busy work can be valuableThe importance of segmenting your messageLinks:Ellen's Twitter/X https://x.com/ellenchisa?lang=enBoldstart Ventures https://boldstart.vc/darklang https://darklang.com/

How do you write a developer quick start guide that they will love?That's what we talk about with Amit Jotwani. Amit is the founder of HelloDX and previously worked in developer experience at Retool and Amazon Alexa.This came about because I was reading Amit's fantastic guide on EveryDeveloper. Links:Amit's website https://ajot.me/HelloDX https://hellodx.co/Craft Quick Start Guides That Developers Will Love https://everydeveloper.com/quick-start-guides/Amit's Twitter/X https://x.com/amitThis episode is sponsored 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.

James Hawkins is the cofounder and CEO of PostHog. PostHog is a platform to analyze, test, observe, and deploy new features.This is the second time James has been on and the episode is mostly about how they run PostHog.It's a pretty unconventional approach - probably because James thinks very deeply about how organizations should operate. What we discuss:How PostHog hireHis approach to one-on-one meetingsThe role of engineers in product developmentThe impact of open source projects on PostHog's successA surprising secret to success (fun)Importance of listening to developersLinks:James's Twitter https://x.com/james406PostHog https://posthog.com/The Mental Workload of Hoovering https://jefhawkins.com/blog/mental-workload-of-hooveringRay Dalio's Principles https://www.principles.com/  James's first interview https://podcast.scalingdevtools.com/episodes/working-with-enterprise-clients-with-james-hawkins This episode is sponsored 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.

Greg Lazarus and Matt Althauser are two of the cofounders of Polychrome - a company that buys small to medium sized B2B software businesses: with a focus on Developer Tools. Their portfolio includes the feature flagging tool Flagsmith (we recorded an episode with them last week) and the browser automation tool Browserless.In this episode we cover the ins and outs of buying developer tools. Links:- Polychrome https://www.polychrome.com/- Matt Althauser https://x.com/malthauser?lang=en - Greg Lazarus https://x.com/greglaz5This episode is sponsored 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.

Ben Rometsch is the founder of Flagsmith. Flagsmith is a Feature Flag & Remote Config Service that recently reached $3m ARR.Ben candidly shares exactly how they started, how they got enterprise customers and how they worked with Polychrome to take Flagsmith to the next level.Links:Ben's Twitter https://x.com/dabeeeensterFlagsmith https://www.flagsmith.com/Polychrome https://polychrome.com/This episode is sponsored 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.

Aaron Francis is someone who needs little introduction. Especially if you've ever used Laravel or MySQL. Aaron built up the highly acclaimed PlanetScale YouTube channel and now publishes content on his own channel and founded Try Hard Studios to help developer tools make amazing video content.Here are some quotes from Aaron's viewers:hey man your videos kick ass and i cannot thank you enough for your approach with these. your videos can be watched once and understood... every single one of them... i don't know how you do it, but the way you have picked to teach anything you teach is incredible. you freaking rock! thank you!Great stuff! Love that you mix in a bit of fun with the content, it's what got me to subscribe!I have been working with MySQL for last 17 years and I never use cursor but your video helped me to understand MySQL cursor. Thank youiterally laughing out loud several times. absolute gold.(partner's like "what are you watching?!" "a guy seeding a database!"In this episode, we take a deep dive into how Aaron makes videos and what you can learn from his approach.This episode is sponsored 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:Aaron's channel: https://www.youtube.com/@aarondfrancisAaron's Twitter https://x.com/aarondfrancisMostly Technical Podcast - https://mostlytechnical.com/ Try Hard Studios: https://tryhardstudios.com/Aaron's Handwriting robots - https://x.com/aarondfrancis/status/1438888219471491074?lang=en 

Dani Grant is the founder of Jam.dev - bug reporting that developers love.In this episode we discuss:Product development & user retentionIterating to product market fitBranding - what it is/why it mattersPrioritising product features based on feedbackAI powered debuggingLinks:Jam.dev https://jam.dev/ Dani’s Twitter https://twitter.com/thedanigrant This episode is sponsored 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.

Chris Bell is the founder of Knock.app - flexible, reliable notifications infrastructure.In this episode we discuss:Designing APIsThe importance of champions when selling to enterpriseHow do you justify cost of a developer tool?Selling to platform teamsLinks:Knock https://knock.app/Twitter https://twitter.com/cjbell_This episode is sponsored 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.

Jason Bosco is the founder of Typesense. Typesense is the Open Source alternative to Algolia. Typesense is a batteries-included Search API.We discuss how Jason built Typesense to be a hugely successful company without VC funding. We talk about what revenue-funding means and why it should be considered as a viable option for founders.This episode is sponsored 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:- Jason's Twitter: https://twitter.com/jasonbosco- Typesense https://typesense.org/ 

An interview with Igor Zalutski & Utpal Nadiger from Digger.dev.Digger is an Open Source Infrastructure as Code management tool that helps orchestrate Terraform and OpenTofu within your CI/CD system.We talk about:What changed since Jack worked with DiggerHow they pivoted four times to find PMFHow do you know you have somethingOpenTofu & ThePrimeagenThis episode is sponsored 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:https://digger.dev/Igor - https://twitter.com/igorzijUtpal - https://twitter.com/NadigerUtpal

Dana Oshiro is a General Partner at Heavybit. Heavybit is a VC that invests exclusively in developer-first startups.What we discuss:One sharp thing. Finding an addressable chunk of a bigger opportunity. Thinking big & smallAre 5 people seriously going to support our migration from DataDog? At Facebook you had a lot of support people/systems you're forgettingFinding the sidedoorStepping up as a founderFear of hitting up the people you respect.Best founders build for themselvesDo founders get better at putting themselves out there?  Speaking in front of people to make change - "there's a new approach. We deserve better!"MovementsDevOps & JamStackDon't try to control the movementJoining into other movementsLinksDana Oshiro https://twitter.com/danaoshiroHeavybit https://heavybit.com/Thanks to Adam DuVander from https://everydeveloper.com/ for introducing us.This episode is sponsored 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.

Alex Bouchard is the cofounder of Hookdeck. Hookdeck is an event gateway for asynchronous applications.What we discuss:- What is Hookdeck?- Category vs pivot- Gartner categoriesLinks:- Alex: https://twitter.com/AlexBouchardd- Hookdeck https://hookdeck.com/ This episode is sponsored 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.

Glauber Costa is the founder of Turso - a fully managed SQLite database platform.Glauber shares how to make great CLIs, the story of Turso's pivot. Their pricing. And the importance of moving fast. Links:Turso - https://turso.tech/Glauber's Twitter - https://twitter.com/glcstThis episode is sponsored 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.

Anders Borum shares how he created the number 1 git app in the app store - Working Copy.What we talk about:The origins of Working CopyWord of mouth vs App Store OptimisationOne time vs recurring subscriptionLinks:Anders - https://twitter.com/palminWorking Copy - https://workingcopy.app/Rauno https://twitter.com/OvalSoftware This episode is sponsored 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.

Zeno Rocha is the founder of Resend. Zeno is also the founder of React Email. Resend is a simple-to-use email API built for developers. Previously Zeno was the VP of DX at WorkOS and the creator of the popular Dracula VS Code theme as well as the popular open source project Clipboard js.  This episode is sponsored 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.What we talk aboutBuilding trust and a great developer experienceCreating a successful open-source project (Clipboardjs)The importance of storytelling and a coherent (launching react email and Resend)The importance of a great readmePrioritization, descoping and making something worthy of being shared by Guillermo RauchLinks:Zeno's Twitter Rocha - https://twitter.com/zenorochaResend - https://resend.com/React email - https://github.com/resend/react-emailDracula theme https://draculatheme.com/visual-studio-code Clipboardjs - https://clipboardjs.com/WorkOS - https://workos.com/

Stefan Avram recently tweeted that "You shouldn't have devrels. Your customers should be your devrels"So I invited Stefan on to debate this with one of the industry's most respected DevRels Dan Moore from Fusion Auth. This is episode is sponsored 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:Stefan's tweet https://twitter.com/StefanTMD/status/1735022106822295920Dan Moore https://twitter.com/mooreds Fusion Auth https://fusionauth.io/Wundergraph https://wundergraph.com/ 

Michael is the founder of WorkOS. WorkOS helps startups cross the enterprise chasm - it's a bit like the Stripe of Enterprise features. In this episode, we focus on selling to enterprises: the features you need, the team you need (e.g. sales!) and the common pitfalls Michael has seen. We also talk about things like: what even is an enterprise customer?This episode is sponsored by WorkOS. Thanks so much for supporting us as our first ever sponsor Michael and 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:- https://workos.com/- https://x.com/grinich- Crossing the Enterprise Chasm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IR2QZQrzoiA&t=368s&ab_channel=BriKimmel 

Flo Merian is a developer marketer who has run successful Product Hunt launches for numerous developer tools.Flo is also a maintainer of the Developer Marketing community and curates LaunchWeek.devFlo is a Product Marketer at Clerk - a user management tool Links:https://twitter.com/fmerianhttps://marketingto.dev/https://launchweek.dev/https://github.com/fmerian/awesome-product-hunt

Lu Wilson AKA todepond is one of the people behind tldraw, the infinite canvas for the internet.Lu also has a youtube channel, todepond.Lu also built the [hilarious] programming language dreamberd Lu is also a researcher with Ink & Switch - an independent research labIn this episode Lu shares how tldraw went viral again and again and again this year.My biggest takeaways were to share your whole process and default to visual communication. Links:- https://www.todepond.com/- https://www.youtube.com/@TodePond- https://github.com/TodePond/DreamBerd- https://www.tldraw.com/- https://www.inkandswitch.com/

Dennis Pilarinos is the founder of Unblocked. Unblocked allows lets you talk to your code base.Dennis previously founded Buddybuild - a CI/CD tool for mobile developers. In 2018, Buddybuild was acquired by Apple, and Dennis became a director in Development Technologies at Apple. Some topics we cover:- The story of Buddybuild and the Apple acquisition- Why did Apple buy Buddybuild?- Segmenting when building a tool for everyoneLinks:- Dennis' Twitter - https://twitter.com/dennispilarinos- Buddybuild acquisition - http://tcrn.ch/2CG9s4G- Unblocked - https://getunblocked.com/

Guest: Logan Kilpatrick, member of OpenAI’s developer advocacy team, often described as OpenAI’s first DevRel.Highlights:Challenges and Growth: Logan discusses the evolution of developer engagement from GPT 3.5 to the explosive growth following ChatGPT's success. Initially faced with the challenge of generating developer interest, the release of ChatGPT marked a significant shift, highlighting the shift from awareness to scaling and improving developer experience amidst high demand and compute-intensive operations.Developer Experience Focus: Logan emphasizes the focus on developer experience, detailing the balance between improving platform features and releasing new models and APIs. Despite past trade-offs, the goal remains to enhance core platform functionalities and developer-friendly features.Decision Making and Prioritization: Logan shares insights into the dynamic and fast-paced environment at OpenAI, which requires flexibility in planning and prioritization. Key focus areas include documentation, product improvements, direct developer interactions, internal coordination, and supporting launches, especially the GPT Store.Impact of Documentation: Underscoring the critical role of documentation, Logan points out that effective documentation is paramount for developer success, guiding the use of OpenAI's API and models. Efforts are underway to improve documentation quality and support various user personas beyond developers.Developer Community Engagement: Lessons from engaging with the developer community include the need for diverse content formats and accommodating various user personas. Logan acknowledges the challenge of keeping documentation and resources updated in a rapidly evolving API landscape.Building a Superior Developer Experience: Logan stresses the importance of OpenAI's mission to benefit everyone and the role of the API in achieving widespread impact. The commitment to providing the best tools for developers is seen as a differentiator in the competitive landscape of AI model providers.Managing Attention and Feedback: Despite the challenges of being a public figure within the developer community, Logan values direct feedback for continuous improvement. Balancing public engagement with deep work, especially on documentation and launch support, is highlighted.Community Questions and Answers: Logan addresses questions from the community, touching on the desire for innovative applications of OpenAI technology, plans for global events, prioritizing documentation, addressing developer concerns about scaling, and sharing personal preferences for deep dish pizza in Chicago.Rapid Fire Community Q&A:Innovative Applications: Logan hopes to see development of multiplayer, multimodal text-first AI assistants.Global Events: OpenAI is expanding its presence, including hiring in London and considering events in cities like Atlanta.DevRel Strategy for 2024: Focus on creating excellent documentation.Developer Concerns: Addressing challenges around freedom to scale and capacity constraints.Personal Time: Logan plans to take vacation during the end-of-year code freeze in 2024.Chicago Deep Dish Recommendation: Lou Malnati's and Paradise Park are Logan's picks for the best deep dish pizza.Links:Logan's Twitter - https://x.com/OfficialLoganKRomain's Twitter https://twitter.com/romainhuetOpenAI https://platform.openai.com/tlDraw https://www.tldraw.com/Bloop https://bloop.ai/ Joyfill https://joyfill.io/https://portkey.ai/Stripe docs https://stripe.com/docs This episode provides a behind-the-scenes look at OpenAI's efforts to enhance developer engagement, the challenges of balancing innovation with platform stability, and the importance of community feedback in shaping the future of AI development tools.Show notes generated with gpt4 (using a blog post I wrote) 

Ivan Burazin is the cofounder of DaytonaWhat we cover:- Scaling a 5,000 attendee conference- How to drive change in big organizations- Top down vs bottoms up approaches to growthDaytona is an enterprise-grade GitHub Codespaces alternative for managing self-hosted, secure and standardized development environments.Ivan Burazin - https://twitter.com/ivanburazinDaytona - https://www.daytona.io/

DevCycle is a feature flag management tool.DevCycle was founded in 2014 originally as Taplytics (an A/B testing tool) by Jonathan Norris, Aaron Glazer, Andrew Norris and Cobi Druxeman, raising $7.8m. Despite creating a million dollar business, in 2022, they raised $5m and pivoted to DevCycle.In this episode, we cover their pivot and how they think about developer experience. 

Erik Bernhardsson is the founder of Modal Labs. Modal Labs is a tool to run generative AI models, large-scale batch jobs, job queues, and much more.Links:- https://twitter.com/bernhardsson- https://erikbern.com/- https://modal.com/

Felix is the founder of Hanko. Hanko is the Open source auth and passkey infrastructure for developers.We talk about:- The challenges of pivoting- Layoffs- The intangible goal of developer loveCheck out Hanko: https://www.hanko.io/