Scaling DevTools

Jack Bridger
  • 5.0 (3)
  • MARKETING
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY
Scaling DevTools

We investigate what it takes to grow a developer tool. Topics include developer marketing, DevRel, developer advocacy and developer experience.

  1. 1D AGO

    Raycast founder Thomas Paul Mann - quality, YC and AI

    Thomas Paul Mann is the cofounder of Raycast. I use Raycast every day as a replacement for Spotlight. For me, shortcuts are the most useful feature. I put curl requests I commonly use as well as random things like email snippets. It's a massive time saver and really well built. Raycast is a genuinely well built product so Thomas talks quality, getting feedback and how they ship features.  We also talk about their unique YC experience and how they've been building AI into Raycast.  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: RaycastRaycast Extensions StoreTerminal Coffee x RaycastThomas on Twitter/X

    45 min

  2. APR 10

    The startup behind ChatGPT voice - Russ d'Sa from LiveKit

    Russ D’Sa is the founder of LiveKit. They are an open source tool for real time audio and video for LLM applications and they power the voice chat for ChatGPT and Character AI. We discuss:- How lightning works (using ChatGPT/LiveKit)- How LiveKit started working with OpenAI- Why Russ turned down an early 20m acquisition offer- What it’s like to work with the fastest growing company (ever?)- How to prepare for massive scale challenges- Russ’s 3 letter twitter handle 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:- LiveKit  - Russ’s Twitter

    54 min

  3. APR 3

    Chris Evans & Pete Hamilton: Incident.io cofounders

    Pete Hamilton and Chris Evans are cofounders of Incident.io. Incident is an incident management tool.  We discuss: How they think about brand and how it comes from their deep understanding of incident cultureLawrence’s article asking for new macbooks that went viralGallows humor in incidents Why incident.io started on Heroku despite being an incident response platform—and why “shipping fast” mattered more than “scaling perfectly.”The benefit of building for users who are just like youHow Incident is using GenAIThis 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: Pete Hamilton on Twitter Chris Evans on TwitterIncident Macbook articleThe flight plan that brought UK airspace to its kneesHow Netflix drives reliability across their organizationNote: this was recorded on 13th December 2024.

    49 min

  4. MAR 27

    David Cramer, founder of Sentry - why you should consider M&A

    David Cramer, co-founder of Sentry talks M&As and why they should be utilized more when you don’t achieve huge success. Plus we talk about the importance of good branding. We discuss: The biggest mistake small startup founders make by not exploring potential acquisitions.The role of ego in startupsProduct-market-fitHiring entrepreneurial talent and why acqui-hiring is so big.The significance of branding beyond just marketing – how it builds trust, recognition, and demand.Sentry’s approach to branding, emphasizing authenticity, community, and accessibility.What DevTools can learn from Liquid Death and PorscheWhy brand mattersThis 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: David Cramer's blogDavid Cramer on XSentry

    54 min

  5. MAR 20

    raylib founder Ramon Santamaria - #2 most popular open-source game-engine in the world

    Ramon, creator of Raylib, joins us to discuss his journey from building an educational tool to establishing one of the most popular open-source game engines. As of February 2025, Raylib is the second most popular open-source game engine behind Godot, boasting 25,000 GitHub stars, 13,000 Discord community members, and over 8,000 subreddit members. Ramon has transitioned from lecturing and consulting to focusing on his paid tools built around Raylib. We discuss: How Raylib started as a teaching project to help art students learn programming through simple and intuitive function naming.The active community behind Raylib and how Ramon personally engages with new members, contributing to the project's growth.Why simplicity and not making assumptions about prior knowledge can create a strong foundation for both beginners and experienced developers.The benefits of using a low-level library like Raylib versus higher-level game engines like Unity, particularly for small indie games.Ramon's approach to managing his workload as a solo developer, emphasizing organization, automation, and using his own tools to build tools.His method of testing new tools by quickly launching them, observing market response, and iterating on the most successful ones.The importance of enjoying the process of building an open-source project rather than focusing solely on commercial success.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: Raylib (https://www.raylib.com/)Cat and Onion game (https://store.steampowered.com/app/2781210/CAT__ONION/)Raylib GitHub (https://github.com/raysan5/raylib)Raylib Discord (https://discord.gg/raylib)Raylib Subreddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/raylib/)Ramon's Tools (https://raylibtech.com/tools/)

    33 min

  6. MAR 13

    Temporal founders: Samar Abbas and Maxim Fateev

    Maxim Fateev and Samar Abbas from Temporal join us to discuss how their durable execution platform ensures processes complete reliably at scale. We discuss: How Temporal gained enterprise adoption with companies like Airbnb, HashiCorp, and Snapchat.Why Temporal compensates salespeople based on customer consumption.Temporal’s role in Snapchat’s story processing and Taco Bell’s Taco Tuesday scalability.How Temporal earns enterprise trust through security, reliability, and scalability.The structure of Temporal’s sales team and their focus on long-term customer success.Exciting trends in AI and low-code/no-code development.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:  Temporal Temporal GitHub

    49 min

  7. MAR 6

    Nikita Shamgunov - founder of Neon: storytelling, pricing and hiring execs

    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. We discuss: 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 strategyThis 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: NeonSingleStore Khosla Ventures Fusion Talent

    47 min

  8. FEB 27

    How to name your startup: David Placek - named Vercel, Azure & Blackberry

    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

    47 min
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Trailer

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About

We investigate what it takes to grow a developer tool. Topics include developer marketing, DevRel, developer advocacy and developer experience.

Information

  • Creator
    Jack Bridger
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2025
  • Episodes
    133
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Jack Bridger
  • Show Website
    Scaling DevTools

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