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. 2 DAYS AGO

    Mitchell Hashimoto: Ghostty, libghostty & chasing the human experience

    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/)

    57 min

  2. FEB 14

    Guillermo Rauch, founder of Vercel: Developer Experience, AI and v0

    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 now Links:- Guillermo Rauch - Vercel - v0 - NextJS- Socket.IO - Browserbase - LiveKit- Languine 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/

    56 min

  3. FEB 7

    Jacob Eiting - CEO of RevenueCat: Extreme dogfooding

    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/ Links: Jacob Eiting (https://x.com/jeiting)RevenueCat (https://www.revenuecat.com/)Dipsea (https://www.dipseastories.com/)

    53 min

  4. JAN 30

    Taylor Otwell - founder of Laravel

    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 Honnold 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:  Laravel  Taylor Otwell Laravel Cloud Open jobs at Laravel Adam Wathan Chapters:00:00 The Journey of Laravel's Creator02:48 Transitioning from Bootstrap to VC Funding06:10 Building Laravel Cloud: A New Challenge09:04 The Shift in Company Structure and Culture11:50 Maintaining Quality and Usability in Development15:09 Community Impact and Collaboration17:56 Craftsmanship and Design Philosophy20:45 Navigating Growth and Market Needs23:54 Advice for Aspiring DevTool Founders26:48 Future Directions and Innovations in Laravel Thank 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.

    39 min

  5. JAN 23

    Four tips for early stage DevTools

    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.

    20 min

  6. JAN 16

    Søren Bramer Schmidt - founder & CEO of Prisma

    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. We discuss: 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.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/)

    46 min

  7. JAN 9

    The future of DevRel, with "Danger" Keith Casey

    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?

    54 min

  8. JAN 2

    Louis Knight-Webb from Bloop.ai - the YC startup turning COBOL into Java

    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 - Bloop  Chapters:00:00 The Legacy of Mainframes and COBOL03:05 The Evolution of Bloop and Code Search05:58 Challenges in Modernizing Legacy Code08:48 Navigating the Enterprise Code Landscape12:11 The Transition from COBOL to Java15:05 Innovative Approaches to Code Translation18:02 Ensuring Code Quality and Functionality20:56 The Future of Development and AI Integration23:52 Building Relationships in the Enterprise Space26:45 The Long-Term Vision for Legacy Code Modernization

    46 min
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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
    125
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Jack Bridger
  • Show Website
    Scaling DevTools

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