Podcast
Discussions with DevTools founders about developer marketing, sales, DevRel, product development, open source and much more.
46:12Episode 192
Robby Russell on Oh My Zsh, Developer Experience, and Open Source
In this episode, Robby Russell joins to talk about how Oh My Zsh went from a tool for a few coworkers to one of the most popular open source developer tools in the world. They cover developer experience, open source maintenance, AI-assisted pull requests, and how AI could reshape software consulting.
Links:
• Robby Russell
• Oh My Zsh
• Maintainable podcast
• Ruby on Rails Podcast
• Planet Argon
Links:
• Robby Russell
• Oh My Zsh
• Maintainable podcast
• Ruby on Rails Podcast
• Planet Argon
53:49Episode 191
Swyx and Louis Knight-Webb @ AI Engineer Europe: DevTools, code mode, and the future of AI engineering
In this episode, Swyx, founder of AI Engineer, joins us live from AI Engineer Europe in London, alongside Louis Knight-Webb. We cover how AI Engineer grew from a single San Francisco conference into a global community, why industry AI work needs better venues for sharing, and what is changing in AI DevTools, code execution, research, PLG, enterprise sales, and human-written content in the age of AI.
41:16Episode 190
Acquiring a startup: what to do AFTER the deal closes - with Dan Moore from FusionAuth
In this episode, Dan Moore from FusionAuth breaks down how the company integrated Permify after the acquisition. We talk about customer communication, pricing and packaging, migration planning, internal enablement, and the practical work that turns an acquisition into a successful product integration.
Links:
• FusionAuth
• Permify
• Dan Moore on Bluesky
Links:
• FusionAuth
• Permify
• Dan Moore on Bluesky
44:35Episode 189
Joel Griffith from browserless: from GitHub issue to bootstrapped business
In this episode, Joel Griffith, founder of browserless, shares how he built browserless from a painful browser automation problem into a profitable, bootstrapped DevTools company. We cover the first customer, content-led growth, selling to developers, and the realities of building a durable software business.
Links:
• Joel's LinkedIn
• browserless
• Browserless' YouTube
• Browserless' blog
• Browserless' Linkedin
Links:
• Joel's LinkedIn
• browserless
• Browserless' YouTube
• Browserless' blog
• Browserless' Linkedin
16:51Episode 188
Cloudflare devs @ AI Engineers Europe (Sunil Pai, Matt Carey & Thomas Ankcorn)
In this episode, some of Cloudflare's dev team - Sunil Pai, Matt Carey, and Thomas Ankcorn join us from AI Engineers Europe to discuss code mode, radical simplicity and Pi.
Links:
- Cloudflare
- Sunil Pai
- Matt Carey
- Thomas Ankcorn
Links:
- Cloudflare
- Sunil Pai
- Matt Carey
- Thomas Ankcorn
17:39Episode 187
Making AI multiplayer with Maggie Appleton from GitHub Next @ AIE Europe
In this episode, Maggie Appleton from GitHub Next explains why "single player" AI tools are creating a team alignment crisis. We discuss the shift from solo CLI instances to multiplayer agentic environments, the launch of ACE (Agentic Collaboration Environment), and why the future of software isn't just about writing code faster—it's about using proactive agents to bridge the gap between developers, researchers, and the social fabric of a company.
This was recorded at AI Engineer Europe.
This was recorded at AI Engineer Europe.
Links:
- Maggie Appleton https://maggieappleton.com/
- GitHub Next https://githubnext.com/
10:51Episode 186
AI broke traditional infra - with Kyle from Depot.dev @ AIE Europe
In this episode, Kyle Galbraith from Depot shares the story behind building Depot CI and why traditional infrastructure is "crumbling" under the weight of AI-generated code. We discuss the shift from human-centric pipelines to agent-augmented workflows, the challenge of managing a 10x increase in code volume, and Kyle’s perspective on the rising tech hubs across Europe.
Links:
- Depot
- Kyle Galbraith
Links:
- Depot
- Kyle Galbraith
28:28Episode 185
Nick and Zack from WorkOS @ AIE: building real-world AI tools & running conference workshops
In this episode, Zack Proser and Nick Nisi from WorkOS share what they’ve learned from building real-world AI tools and running high-impact workshops for AI engineers. We talk about finding "developer balance" by feeding biometric data into LLMs, the evolution of "skills" as a software primitive, and how to build seamless agentic loops that connect Slack, Linear, and Notion to eliminate context switching.
Links:
- WorkOS
- Zack Proser
- Nick Nisi
Links:
- WorkOS
- Zack Proser
- Nick Nisi
43:46Episode 184
What’s Working in DevTools Marketing Right Now? with Karl Hughes from Draft.dev
In this episode, Karl Hughes from Draft.dev shares what he learned from surveying DevTools marketers about budgets, AI, content, and ROI. We talk about budgets, AI workflows, content strategy, distribution, and why events and human relationships still drive some of the best results in developer marketing.
Links:
• Draft.dev
• Karl Hughes
• Karl's LinkedIn
Links:
• Draft.dev
• Karl Hughes
• Karl's LinkedIn
41:13Episode 183
Charity Majors on AI, Observability, and the Future of Software
In the episode Charity Majors, founder and CTO of Honeycomb, talks about what changes when the cost of generating code drops toward zero. She explains why observability becomes the source of truth, why great products still depend on taste, and how fast feedback loops let teams ship faster without breaking everything.
We also get into why engineering teams need to speak in terms of business value, and how Charity thinks about writing, credibility, and building a public voice as a technical founder.
Links:
• Honeycomb
• Charity's blog
• Observability Engineering book
We also get into why engineering teams need to speak in terms of business value, and how Charity thinks about writing, credibility, and building a public voice as a technical founder.
Links:
• Honeycomb
• Charity's blog
• Observability Engineering book
56:18Episode 182
Jakub Czakon - founder of Developer Markepear and former CMO of Neptune.ai (acquired by OpenAI)
Jakub Czakon (Kuba) was until very recently the CMO of Neptune.ai, which was just acquired by OpenAI for an undisclosed amount.
He also writes Developer Markepear - my favourite DevTools marketing resource.
Links:
He also writes Developer Markepear - my favourite DevTools marketing resource.
Links:
11:50Episode 181
Matt Aitken from Trigger.dev @ AIE
Matt Aitken is the cofounder and CEO of Trigger.dev - an AI workflows platform.
Links:
- Trigger.dev
- Matt Aitken
- AIE Europe
Links:
- Trigger.dev
- Matt Aitken
- AIE Europe
9:26Episode 180
Lawrence Jones from Incident.io @ AIE Europe: building an AI SRE
Recorded at AI Engineers Europe, Lawrence Jones is an AI engineer at Incident.io and he shares his experiences building an AI SRE.
Links:
- Incident.io https://incident.io/
- Lawrence Jones https://www.linkedin.com/in/lawrence2jones/
Links:
- Incident.io https://incident.io/
- Lawrence Jones https://www.linkedin.com/in/lawrence2jones/
45:31Episode 179
Finding your first 10 customers, with Andy Lee from DeepTrace
Andy is the cofounder of DeepTrace, an AI reliability platform that helps engineering teams investigate incidents and fix problems in production. In this conversation, Andy shares how a team of technical founders learned sales, got their first 10 customers, and approached go-to-market with the same mindset they used for engineering. We discuss outbound volume, messaging, targeting, sales tooling, paid ads, sales calls, pricing, trials, and the thinking behind DeepTrace
Links:
Links:
46:23Episode 178
DatoCMS: bootstrapping to €6.5M ARR
Stefano Verna and Matteo Giaccone from DatoCMS share how their side project in a web agency turned into a €6.5M ARR company with a 13-person remote team. We talk about building sustainable, bootstrapped businesses, instead of the all-or-nothing VC approach, and about their 6-week shipping cycles, prioritizing simplicity, and building trust with customers.
Links:
•. Dato CMS
•. Matteo's Linkedin
•. Stefano's X
Links:
•. Dato CMS
•. Matteo's Linkedin
•. Stefano's X
45:12Episode 177
Ahmad Sadeddin, founder of Corgea: you don't need to raise (much) to find PMF
Ahmad Sadeddin is the founder and CEO of Corgea. Corgea provides the security tools to find, triage, and fix insecure code.
Ahmad shares:
Ahmad shares:
- Why you don't need to raise much to find PMF - stay lean: you should surprise people with how few people you are.
- What is a small amount to raise? And what team size do you need?
- Pivoting during YC and how Corgea found their first customers and the signs of Product Market Fit
- The journey to Product Market Fit never stops
- How Corgea worked towards Product Market Fit
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 is a small amount to raise? And what team size do you need?
- Pivoting during YC and how Corgea found their first customers and the signs of Product Market Fit
- The journey to Product Market Fit never stops
- How Corgea worked towards Product Market Fit
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:
- Ahmad Sadeddin https://www.linkedin.com/in/asadeddin/
- Corgea https://corgea.com/
- The Fatal Pinch by Paul Graham https://paulgraham.com/pinch.html
49:43Episode 176
Retool founder David Hsu: AI, future of DevTools & how Retool got their first customers
David Hsu is the founder of Retool, the low-code platform for building internal tools used by companies like Amazon, Airbnb, and the US Army. David recounts building Retool's first version in weeks with just three components, early outreach failures, shifting to "tomorrow's developers," and LLM use cases.
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:
• Retool
• David's Linkedin
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:
• Retool
• David's Linkedin
42:28Episode 175
Louis from Vibe Kanban - 20,000 GitHub stars and walking away from 6-figure deals
Louis Knight-Webb is the co-founder of Vibe Kanban, an open-source tool for orchestrating AI coding agents. After years of building for enterprise legacy code, Louis pivoted and saw his new project explode to over 20,000 GitHub stars in just a few months. We talk about the "startup university" of the last five years, why he walked away from 6-figure enterprise deals to find true founder-market fit, and why he thinks most people are wrong about AI-generated pull requests.
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:
• Vibe Kanban
• Louis' Linkedin
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:
• Vibe Kanban
• Louis' Linkedin
45:50Episode 174
The Roadmap to PMF (Jason Cohen's essay)
This episode breaks down an article by Jason Cohen, founder of WP Engine and SmartBear, outlining his step-by-step roadmap from idea to product-market fit (PMF) for startups, especially DevTools. His 8 step roadmap provides insights on personal fit, market validation, customer interviews, building an SLC (simple, lovable, complete) MVP, sales focus, retention, prioritization, and founder psychology, drawing from Cohen's unicorn success and pitfalls to avoid.
Links:
• Jason Cohen
• WP Engine
• Smart Bear
• Jason Cohen's article
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:
• Jason Cohen
• WP Engine
• Smart Bear
• Jason Cohen's article
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.
25:35Episode 173
Product Market Fit - the only thing that matters
This episode breaks down Marc Andreessen's 2007 article on why market matters most in startups, plus some great wisdom from Michael Seibel on spotting real PMF through explosive growth and customer pull.
Links:
• Marc Andreessen's article
• Michael Seibel's post
• Product Market Fit collapse
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:
• Marc Andreessen's article
• Michael Seibel's post
• Product Market Fit collapse
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.