Dev Propulsion Labs Zeno Rocha of Resend on cutting scope ruthlessly and shipping perfect products fast
Oct 23, 2025
Zeno Rocha, founder and CEO of Resend, discusses his journey from Brazil to building an $18M email API company. He shares insights on the importance of brand in attracting customers and talent, advocating for a zero-ego hiring approach. Zeno emphasizes cutting scope to deliver high-quality products quickly and the value of seeking rejection to accelerate sales. He also highlights the strategic role of open source and the need for a proactive customer focus in a competitive market.
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Handbook As A Quality Signal
- Zeno treats the public handbook as a scaling tool that signals quality and self-selects customers and candidates.
- A concise, well-edited handbook helps preserve culture and attract aligned people quickly.
DX Is More Than The Surface
- Developer experience extends beyond APIs to uptime and security, which define infrastructure-level expectations.
- Recognizing Resend as infrastructure forced investment in anti-abuse and reliability work.
Phishing Near Home Fueled Security Push
- A personal phishing attack around a Brazilian flood moved Zeno to invest more in anti-abuse and safety work.
- That incident highlighted the human cost of spam and shaped Resend's security priorities.