How to Start a Dev Tools Company

"Engineers should do support, and that's going to lead to two great things."

• Improves customer satisfaction with knowledgeable support.
• Developers gain insights into user needs and issues.
• Leads to better product development informed by real feedback.

"Documentation is marketing. That's how people are going to interact with your product... Developers have become very demanding. That's something you should invest in."

• Enhances user experience and satisfaction.
• Demonstrates professionalism and builds trust.
• Sets you apart from competitors.

"Developers really hate being marketed at. Please don't insult their intelligence. You know that because you are developers, right?"

• Use authentic, value-driven communication.
• Avoid traditional marketing tactics that feel salesy.
• Engage developers through helpful content and community involvement.

"Start by selling yourself. Don't delegate away. The truth is that you are the only person in the company today capable of selling your own product. If you, as the founder, cannot sell your product, nobody else can."

• Founders understand the product and users best.
• Early sales provide valuable direct feedback.
• Proves market demand before scaling a sales team.

"I would argue that you must be open source if you are working on things like a library or a framework... Think about it before making a choice."

• Open source builds trust and community.
• Developers prefer open source frameworks.
• It can differentiate your product.

"A great example of a team that did things that don't scale is Stripe. Early on, the Stripe team were going to their customers... helping them implement their own product."

• Personal interactions give invaluable insights.
• Hands-on support builds strong relationships.
• Direct engagement informs product development.

"You want to learn ASAP right away if you are solving a real problem, then people will be ready to pay for."

• Early user feedback validates your product's value.
• Outreach and launches help find initial users.
• Don't wait for perfection before engaging users.

"The most important thing here is not to overengineer it. You should do that quick and dirty... the most important thing at that stage is to iterate as fast as you can."

• Prioritize speed over perfection early on.
• Testing assumptions quickly outweighs robust code.
• Focus on identifying the valuable 10% of code.

"I would actually encourage you, if that's the idea you have, just start. That's OK, even if you don't differentiate yourself right away, that's OK. You learn as you go and eventually you'll be able to pivot or you'll change your idea."

• Starting now accelerates learning.
• Initial ideas evolve with user feedback.
• It's okay to pivot based on insights.

"Well, first you need a founding team and the key aspect of Dev Tool is that you are going to build a technical product for developers. Obviously you need to be a developer yourself."

• As developers, founders understand user needs deeply.
• They build products they would use, ensuring PMF.
• Developer teams can iterate quickly using their expertise.