Developer Marketing Stories

The launch of Major League Hacking

Jon Gottfried recounts the founding story of Major League Hacking (MLH), from its origins in connecting university hackathon communities to becoming a platform that has reached over one million developers. He discusses pivotal moments like landing Dell as their first major sponsor and explains why word-of-mouth marketing outperformed paid acquisition for their developer audience. Jon reveals their intentional strategy of using branded merchandise as identity markers and demonstrates how initially unscalable personal connections evolved into systematic community-building processes. Throughout the conversation, Jon emphasizes that measuring impact through changed lives has been far more meaningful than tracking vanity metrics, offering valuable insights for anyone building developer communities. Developer Marketing Stories is brought to you by Developer Marketing in Practice [https://developer.marketing], the training and coaching program that helps you level-up your developer marketing career. https://developer.marketing [https://developer.marketing]

The launch of GitHub Copilot

Launching GitHub Copilot wasn’t just another product launch—it was a shift in how developers interact with AI. Alyss Noland breaks down the challenges of taking an experimental product from a skunkworks project to a widely adopted tool, while managing internal expectations and developer trust. Alyss shares what worked, what didn’t, and the lessons that apply to any developer-focused go-to-market strategy. From balancing executive priorities to making pricing decisions with limited data, this conversation is packed with insights for anyone bringing a developer product to market. See the transcript and more at https://developer.marketing

The Accidental Rise of Live Coding on Twitch

What happens when you accidentally discover a whole new developer audience?   At Twitch, Katie Penn and her team set out to build a platform for game integrations—but instead found developers eager to live code. She shares how they recognized the opportunity, leaned into it, and built a thriving developer ecosystem.   Sponsored by Developer Marketing in Practice [https://developer.marketing]: The coaching and training program to level-up your developer marketing career.   Episode outline:   01:26 – Understanding Twitch’s developer audience Katie explains how Twitch initially focused on gaming integrations but saw the opportunity to expand into a broader developer ecosystem. 03:35 – Using live streaming to engage developers Katie shares how her team experimented with live coding streams, unexpectedly drawing in developer advocates and growing a new community. 07:21 – The challenge of trust in developer marketing Reflecting on Twitter’s Fabric launch, Katie highlights the difficulty of rebuilding developer trust after past missteps. 10:17 – Why showing ‘under the hood’ matters Katie emphasizes how transparency—whether through blog posts or live demos—helps developers connect with a platform. 12:29 – Segmenting developer audiences effectively Katie discusses how different types of developers (enterprise, hobbyists, mobile app developers) have distinct motivations and engagement patterns. 19:19 – Strategies for engaging different developer types Katie outlines how different audiences require tailored approaches, from partnerships to content marketing to meetups. 26:30 – Metrics for tracking developer engagement Katie breaks down key metrics Twitch used to measure the health of its developer community, from API calls to extension adoption. 30:06 – Lessons from Twitter and Twitch Katie reflects on the risks of overpromising to developers and why developer programs need to be core to a company’s business. 35:18 – Advice for new developer marketers Katie shares why product marketing skills are essential in DevRel and how marketers can establish themselves as strategic partners.

Postman's developer marketing with Kasey Byrne

Kasey Byrne shares lessons from her time at Postman and NPM, including how to grow free users into power users without crossing the line. She talks about the importance of showcasing creative use cases, avoiding buzzwords, and building authentic relationships with technical audiences. We also dig into the challenges of attribution in developer marketing and why curiosity about the product and user pain points is crucial. Whether you're in DevRel or developer marketing, this conversation offers fresh insights into what works—and what doesn’t. See the transcript and more at https://developer.marketing [https://developer.marketing] Get developer marketing for you or for your team [https://developer.marketing].

Marketing Duckbill Group with Corey Quinn

Corey Quinn is hard to miss if you're even slightly interested in the AWS ecosystem. As founder of Duckbill Group, Corey built his brand on speaking frankly—and often humorously—about AWS billing headaches. In this episode, he reveals how he transformed Duckbill from a one-person consultancy into a trusted cloud cost management team. he shares his thoughts on balancing personal and business branding, engaging multiple audiences without losing credibility, and building a content engine that keeps Duckbill top of mind. And, although Corey isn't your typical developer marketer, he has actionable advice to share with anyone building a brand that connects with engineers.   This podcast is brought to you by Developer Marketing in Practice, the coaching and training program to elevate your developer marketing career.   See the transcript and more at https://developer.marketing/