I define “web infrastructure” companies as those (at least initially) targeted primarily at developers. They typically take the form of APIs and make life easier on the web for developers. I’ve invested early in many such companies including SendGrid, Twilio, FullContact, Stream and RunScope.
Recently, one of our newer portfolio companies was looking for some advice from our network regarding hiring a developer evangelist.
Fortunately, our network around Techstars is huge and active. John Sheehan of RunScope (he was formerly at IFFFT & Twilio) quickly said:
“Unfortunately this is about the most in demand position out there. If you don’t have one yet, I would suggest picking the most active member of your dev community (that’s what I was for Twilio at the time). If you don’t have one of those, are you sure you need developer marketing yet?”
I thought this was terrific succinct advice so I wanted to share it. The thread went on:
“There is a large community around our open source project. Unfortunately nobody in the <our town> area stands out. “
To which John further replied:
“Why is local a requirement? I spent first 12 months at Twilio remote. You can do outreach locally already. Watch this and see which parts require a specific location.”
Then I watched that video, and it provides great insight on this topic. If you’re building something where you need to evangelize to developers, I hope John’s experience can be helpful to you as well.
