Olle Pridiuksson

Again and again, each time I am consulting a #middleware #startup they're asking the same question: "when is it the right time to show the devs what we're working on". My answer each time is: NOW And then I hear: "but we're not ready yet" - YES YOU ARE! (#devrel #dx thread)

1) #middleware user and purchase decision maker is a developer, so the earlier you start forming a #community and talking to #devs, the faster you figure out what is your main value and the killer feature in their eyes. Often it differs from your #investor slides.

2) #software product is never ready, esp while we're talking #middleware, so you may as well show it in its infancy and be humble and open about where you're going. Even if you're 12 months before the release and everything is a mess with no docs and nothing actually working yet

3) Think about building trust with #developer #community. It takes time to build it, and credibility is crucial to 12 months later when you're ready to ship and do #sales.

Shall I talk more about how do you build developer community trust when you're 8-12 months from shipping your tool/plugin/thing...? Let's do the one like-->one advice =) So I know people read what I scribble here. #devrel #dx #middleware #software #startups

1. think about a place where your potential future users/customers may hang out. Then think about kind of content that you can produce there. It should be of OK value but super cheap to produce for you. Maybe a sort of weekly thoughts on a tech problem you're solving?

2. medium and long reads overall are cool but take so much time to do that they happen once or twice a year. Maybe. Can you convert your scrum demos or even morning standups to short stories, thoughts on a topic/problem that you care?