Dev Propulsion Labs Zeno Rocha of Resend on cutting scope ruthlessly and shipping perfect products fast
6 snips
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.